Synopses & Reviews
For fans of sports and just plain great writing, this collection of twenty-seven of the finest pieces from the past year features "outstanding sports reporting on a wealth of different topics" (Booklist). Guest editor Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Moneyball and Coach, has assembled a compelling look at the sports stories and issues that dominated 2005.
Pamela Colloff reports from the politically and sexually charged world of competitive cheerleading in Texas. Paul Solotaroff meets the star of the University of Georgia wrestling team, a nineteen-year-old world-record weightlifter who was born with no arms or legs. Ben Paynter travels the gay rodeo circuit. Pat Jordan profiles the world's greatest poker player, a boyish thirty-year-old whose mom still packs him a brown bag lunch. Jeff Duncan travels to Florida, where a New Orleans high school and its football program are picking up the pieces in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We also discover Linda Robertson reporting on the supersizing of NFL players. S. L. Price profiles the most famous U.S. Paraolympian. Katy Vine introduces a girl who can dunk -- in eighth grade -- and more.
The pieces in this outstanding volume show the true reach and impact of sports, its importance often extending far beyond the playing field. As Lewis writes in his introduction, "What's reassuring about great sports writing is what's reassuring about great sports performances: facing opposition, and often against the odds, someone, at last, did something right."
Synopsis
Includes articles chosen from magazines and newspapers on topics ranging from bullfighting to basketball, baseball, and boxing
Synopsis
For fans of sports and just plain great writing, this collection of twenty-seven of the finest pieces from the past year features "outstanding sports reporting on a wealth of different topics" (Booklist). Guest editor Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Moneyball and Coach, has assembled a compelling look at the sports stories and issues that dominated 2005.
Pamela Colloff reports from the politically and sexually charged world of competitive cheerleading in Texas. Paul Solotaroff meets the star of the University of Georgia wrestling team, a nineteen-year-old world-record weightlifter who was born with no arms or legs. Ben Paynter travels the gay rodeo circuit. Pat Jordan profiles the world's greatest poker player, a boyish thirty-year-old whose mom still packs him a brown bag lunch. Jeff Duncan travels to Florida, where a New Orleans high school and its football program are picking up the pieces in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We also discover Linda Robertson reporting on the supersizing of NFL players. S. L. Price profiles the most famous U.S. Paraolympian. Katy Vine introduces a girl who can dunk -- in eighth grade -- and more.
The pieces in this outstanding volume show the true reach and impact of sports, its importance often extending far beyond the playing field. As Lewis writes in his introduction, "What's reassuring about great sports writing is what's reassuring about great sports performances: facing opposition, and often against the odds, someone, at last, did something right."
Synopsis
A premier anthology of the outstanding sports writing features the contributions of distinguished sportswriters and journalists--including Gary Smith, Pat Jordan, Paul Solotaroff, Linda Robertson, and L. Jon Wertheim--selected by the best-selling author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker--dealing with all kinds of athletic endeavors. Simultaneous.
Synopsis
Well established as the premier sports anthology,The Best American Sports Writingbrings togther the finest writing on sports to appear in the past year. Edited by the award-winning Jane Leavy, author ofSandy CoufaxandThe Lost Boy, the pieces in this volume embrace the world of sports in all its drama, humanity and excitement.
Synopsis
A collection of the year's best sportswriting
Synopsis
The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the countrys finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volumes series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind.
The Best American Sports Writing 2011 includes
Paul Solotaroff, Sally Jenkins, Wells Tower, John McPhee, David Dobbs, Wright Thompson, P. J. ORourke, Selena Roberts, and others
About the Author
JANE LEAVY is an award-winning former sportswriter and feature writer for the Washington Post. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy and The Last Boy: Micky Mantle and the End of America's Childhood.GLENN STOUT is the author of Young Woman and the Sea and Fenway 1912.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi Introduction by Michael Lewis xvii
Paul Solotaroff. There Is Nothing Special About Kyle Maynard . . . 1 from Mens Journal
Jeff Duncan. Desire Without End 15 from The New Orleans Times-Picayune
Kurt Streeter. The Girl 26 from The Los Angeles Times
Pamela Colloff. Flipping Out 87 from Texas Monthly
James Brown. Dirty Moves 101 from The Los Angeles Times Magazine
Steve Friedman. Driving Lessons 110 from Travel and Leisure Golf
Pat Jordan. Card Stud 124 from The New York Times Magazine
Greg Garber. A Tormented Soul 132 from ESPN.com
David Grann. Stealing Time 157 from The New Yorker
Dan Koeppel. Standing Still 172 from Bicycling
Steve Oney. Fallen Angel 180 from Los Angeles
S. L. Price. The Sprinter 202 from Sports Illustrated
L. Jon Wertheim. Saved by Sports 215 from Sports Illustrated
J. R. Moehringer. The Unnatural Natural 227 from The Los Angeles Times Magazine
Neal Pollack. The Cult of the General Manager 237 from Slate.com
Jonathan Miles. What Goes Ninety-five Miles per Hour for Seventeen Days Straight Through Mud, Sand, High-Speed Smash-ups, and Marauding Bandits? 240 from Mens Journal
Gary Smith. The Shadow Boxer 256 from Sports Illustrated
Pamela Colloff. Shes Here. Shes Queer. Shes Fired. 271 from Texas Monthly
Ben Paynter. So You Wanna Be a Cowboy? 279 from The Pitch
Jeff Pearlman. Moms the Word 291 from Newsday
Linda Robertson. XXL 297 from The Miami Herald
Michael Sokolove. Clang! 305 from The New York Times Magazine
Katy Vine. Brooklyn Heights 317 from Texas Monthly
Pat Jordan. The Magician 328 from The Atlantic Monthly
Kurt Streeter. Making the Time Count 337 from The Los Angeles Times
Tim Zimmermann. Raising the Dead 346 from Outside
Charlie Schroeder. A (Fishing) Hole in One 370 from The Los Angeles Times Magazine
Contributors Notes 379 Notable Sports Writing of 2005 383