Eric Betts has made a career out of covering interests on the border between niche and mainstream. He wrote an essay collection about Waffle House as his senior thesis in college. He's been a regular contributor at Slate for nearly a decade, mostly covering American and global soccer. He has written about The Legend of Zelda for The Cleveland Review of Books and The Sixth Axis, about the spiritual connection between Super Mario and Michael Jordan for The Curator, and about pop culture for Tor.com (now Reactor), The Millions, Slate, Bridge Eight, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and many more.

Eric grew up in a small town in southeastern Alabama, connected to the outside world by an NES and a Movie Gallery (Eufaula was not big enough for a Blockbuster). Today he lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, two children and approximately 16 Legend of Zelda games. He once told Alex Trebek that he hoped to pursue a career as a ninja and stands by that, so long as his knees aren't giving him too much trouble that day.