Sports humor columnist David Thomas' beat is the off-beat. A native Texan, David joined the Star-Telegram in 1996 and began writing his Fans' Insider columns in 2002 to inject (in a non-steroids sort of way) humorous perspective in the sometimes-too-serious sports world. Along with that, he plays the role of the Sports department's Mikey, because he will try anything to write a first-person story that takes fans behind the scenes with their favorite teams and athletes.

E-mail: dthomas@star-telegram.com