Synopses & Reviews
Bears, Bulls, Cubs, Sox, Blackhawks—there’s no city like Chicago when it comes to sports. Generation after generation, Chicagoans pass down their almost religious allegiances to teams, stadiums, and players and their never-say-die attitude, along with the stories of the city’s best (and worst) sports moments. And every one of those moments—every come-from-behind victory or crushing defeat—has been chronicled by Chicago’s unparalleled sportswriters.
In From Black Sox to Three-Peats, veteran Chicago sports columnist Ron Rapoportassembles one hundred of the best columns and articles from the Tribune, Sun-Times, Daily News, Defender, and other papers to tell the unforgettable story of a century of Chicago sports. From Ring Lardner to Rick Telander, Westbrook Pegler to Bob Verdi, Mike Royko to Hugh Fullerton , Melissa Isaacson to Brent Musburger, and on and on, this collection reminds us that Chicago sports fans have enjoyed a wealth of talent not just on the field, but in the press box as well. Through their stories we relive the betrayal of the Black Sox, the cocksure power of the ’85 Bears, the assassin’s efficiency of Jordan’s Bulls, the Blackhawks’ stunning reclamation of the Stanley Cup, the Cubs’ century of futility—all as seen in the moment, described and interpreted on the spot by some of the most talented columnists ever to grace a sports page.
Sports are the most ephemeral of news events: once you know the outcome, the drama is gone. But every once in a while, there are those games, those teams, those players that make it into something more—and great writers can transform those fleeting moments into lasting stories that become part of the very identity of a city. From Black Sox to Three-Peats is Chicago history at its most exciting and celebratory. No sports fan should be without it.
Review
“This is a great book for a great sports town.”
Review
“Growing up in Chicago, I was privileged to read some of the sports columnists that Ron Rapoport includes in this marvelous collection. Though I moved to New York to write my own sports column, I continued to enjoy the contemporary Chicago sportswriters. Now, we can re-read all of them, plus greats from past years. From Black Sox to Three-Peats is pure pleasure from beginning to end.”
Review
"Some cities can boast of more winners, but no town ever had more good people to write about than Chicago. What writers, what characters, what moments!"
Review
"The emotional richness of the pieces selected by Moehringer and Stout defines this frequently riveting collection." -- Publishers Weekly "Excellent . . . A no-brainer pickup for the sports collection." -- Booklist "An affirmation of the strong state of American sportswriting." -- Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Well established as the premier sports anthology, The Best American Sports Writing brings together the finest writing on sports to appear in the past year. Edited by the award-winning Peter Gammons, the pieces in this volume embrace the world of sports in all its drama, humanity, and excitement.
Synopsis
The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very 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 2005 includes
Michael Lewis Gary Smith Steve Coll Tom Verducci Ira Berkow Bill Plaschke Linda Robertson Michael Bamberger L. Jon Wertheim Thomas McGuane John Brant Pat Jordan David DiBenedetto and others
Mike Lupica, guest editor, has been a columnist for the New York Daily News since 1977 and is the best-selling author of numerous books, including, most recently, Travel Team, a number one New York Times bestseller.
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
In this exciting new collection, William Nack, veteran sportswriter and author of the classic Secretariat, honors the years finest sports journalism and thus upholds the tradition that began seventeen years ago, with David Halberstam at the helm. In these pages, you will find the most provocative, compelling, tragic, and triumphant moments in sports from 2007, captured by the knights of the keyboard who make sports come alive for us day after day, week after week, year after year.
Here youll find Paul Solotaroffs excellent and uncompromising take on the neglect that a growing number of crippled NFL players continually face from the NFL players union. Jeanne Marie Laskass G-L-O-R-Y!” offers a rousing inside look at the pregame rituals of the Cincinnati Bengals cheerleaders. A riveting online diary by Wright Thompson reveals a bleak and merciless landscape in China, which that countrys government would rather not have the world see during preparations for the Olympics.
Nack finds a place for the fascinating offbeat story as well as the sensational. Alongside Eli Saslows captivating article about an obscure seventeenth-century sport, similar to a giant rugby scrum, carried out in the streets of Kirkwall, Scotland, stands Franz Lidzs scoop of the year,” a controversial and rare look into the life of George Steinbrenner, baseballs largest but recently most enigmatic figure.
This years collection marks another wonderful addition to one of the most consistently satisfying titles in the Best American series” (Booklist).
Contributors include Scott Price, Rick Bragg, Gary Smith, J.R. Moehringer, and others.
Synopsis
Well established as the premier sports anthology, The Best American Sports Writing brings together the year's finest writing on sports. Chosen from more than 350 national, regional and specialty publications, the twenty five pieces here 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
Synopsis
The Best American Series(R)
First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume's 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. O'Rourke, Selena Roberts, and others
Synopsis
Peter Gammons selects the year's best in sports writing.
Synopsis
For fans of sports and just plain great writing, this absorbing collection, featuring twenty-eight of the finest pieces from the past year, has something for everyone. Guest editor David Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, has assembled a fresh crop of the people and stories that dominated the sports world in 2006.
Michael Lewis gives a behind-the-scenes look at the legendary football coach Bill Parcells. Bob Hohler delves in the murky waters of modern amateur basketball, where teams blatantly dole out cash to players and shoe companies set their sights on prospects as young as twelve. William Rhoden traces the fate of an unknown filly injured on the racetrack. Jeff MacGregor describes the unforgettable Friars Club roast of boxing's provocative promoter Don King. Daniel Coyle follows a forty-year-old Slovene soldier who might be the worlds best ultra-endurance athlete. L. Jon Wertheim tells of a young pro-basketball player who found himself wrestling the shoe bomber Richard Reid to the ground during a transatlantic flight. And Derek Zumsteg provides a hilarious and utterly original in-depth account of the baseball career of Bugs Bunny, the greatest banned player ever.”
These pieces and many more go beyond the spotlight, revealing the people and issues that make sports so relevant and important to all of us.
Synopsis
THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING brings together the finest writing on sports to appear in the past year.
Synopsis
The Best American Sports Writing gathers the very best from sports journalists from the past year.
Synopsis
J. R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer and the author of The Tender Bar, has selected the best in sports writing from the past year. Chosen from more than 350 national, regional, and specialty publications and, increasingly, the top sports blogs, this collection showcases those journalists who are at the top of their game.
About the Author
PETER GAMMONS is currently an analyst and writer for the MLB network and makes regular appearances on MLB Tonight. Gammons began his career at the Boston Globe and also worked for Sports Illustrated. He was a long-time analyst for ESPN and regularly contributed to Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter, and ESPN, the Magazine. He was voted National Sportswriter of the Year for 1989, 1990, and 1993, and in 2004, he was awarded the J. G. Taylor Spink Award at the Baseball Hall of Fame for outstanding baseball writing.GLENN STOUT is the author of Young Woman and the Sea and Fenway 1912.
Table of Contents
Introduction
PioneersA Hot Tip from the Umpire
By Ring LardnerA Polecat in the Hotel: Major Leaguers Fail to Drop Color Bar
By Frank A. YoungThe Game of the Century
By Arch WardGeorge Halas: “I Always Liked the Tough Ones”
By Jack GriffinRay Meyer: The Name of the Game Is Loyalty
By David CondonBill Veeck: A Man for All Seasons
By Jerome HoltzmanDouble Duty Radcliffe: The One and Only
By Dave HoekstraLegends and HeroesIt’s a Beautiful Day for Mr. Cub
By David CondonWalter Payton: Records Are Like Dreams
By Bernie LincicomeThe Compelling Absence of Bobby Hull
By David IsraelA Whale of a Tale about Tony Zale
By John SchulianGale Sayers: Curtain Call for a Legend
By Ray SonsNellie Fox: The Mighty Mite Battles On
By David CondonDa Ex-Coach Hasn’t Mellowed One Bit
By Rick TelanderSummer Love: Harry Caray, a Radio, and Baseball
By Skip BaylessBack to the Bush Leagues with Minnie Minoso
By Tom FitzpatrickRyne Sandberg: Every Day Was a Battle
By Barry RoznerJust One Word for Terror: Butkus
By Don PiersonAndy Pafko and the Cubs: How Do You Explain a Love Affair?
By Steve DaleyWhat’s Up with Phil Cavarretta
By Joe GoddardFor Chico Carrasquel, White Sox Are Always There
By Mike DowneyRon Santo: “I’m Way Ahead of the Game”
By Paul LadewskiLeo Durocher: The Spit Take and the Bow
By Ron RapoportOnly in ChicagoWhat Is Wrong with the White Sox? Kid Gleason Asks
By James CrusinberryThe Called Shot Heard Round the World
By Westbrook PeglerTen Years after Woodstock, There Was Veeckstock
By David IsraelLee Elia Swings for the Seats, Hits Fans
By Robert MarkusWilliam Perry: Fat Is Where It’s At
By Mike ImremThe Bottom Line: Acupuncture Puts Jim McMahon’s Troubles behind Him
By Bob VerdiSteve Bartman: In the Middle of the Maelstrom
By John KassMagic MomentsSox Join Cubs, Pennant Is Won: Thousands of Baseball Fans Frantic with Joy over Victories Which Bring Both Flags to Chicago
By Hugh S. FullertonCubs Supreme in Baseball World:Final Victory over Detroit gives Chicago Club Greatest Record in the History of the Game
By I. E. SanbornWhite Sox Beat Giants: Crepe Dims Happy Lights of Broadway—Chorus Girls Weep, Waiters Sulk, and Joy Is Gone
By James CrusinberryTan Tornado Tears Loose with a Right: Joe Louis Writes His Name in Book of Champions at Sox Park
By Dan BurleyThe Homer in the Gloamin’: “Lord God Almighty”
By John P. CarmichaelBears Shock Redskins, and Everybody Else, 73–0
By Warren BrownA Tale of Three Bears—and the NFL Title
By John P. CarmichaelNo Contest: Bears the Best, Win Super Bowl XX
By Don PiersonWhite Sox Seize the Day, Own the City
By Jay MariottiFrom Glad to Verse: for Sox Fans, There’s No Rhyme or Reason behind 2005 Season
By Mike DowneyWildcats Pinch Themselves—All the Way to Pasadena
By Gene WojciechowskiSay Cheesesteak: Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup
By David HaughAny Team Can have a Bad Century1918: The Curse of the Bambino, Chicago Style—Ruth Triumphs over Vaughn, 1–0, in First Game of World Series
By Charles Dryden1945: The Great, the Good, and the Awful
By Warren BrownBrock for Broglio: Joined at the Hip
By Jerome HoltzmanMadness in Wrigley Field; Enjoy It While It Lasts
By Brent Musburger1969: Trial by Torture, One Day at a Time
By Rick Talley45 Runs Later, Cubs Come Up One Short
By Dave Nightingale1984: “This One Will Hurt for a Long, Long Time”
By Bob VerdiA Very Solid Book
By Mike Royko1989: The Boys of Zimmer Leave Their Hearts in San Francisco
By Philip Hersh2003: One More Desolate Night at Wrigley Field
By Rick MorrisseyMichael“The Shot” Is Too Good Not to Be True
By Terry BoersWhen Jordan Cried behind Closed Doors
By Bob GreeneChampions: Bulls Stampede to First Title
By Sam SmithBaseball, Birmingham, and Dreams of His Father
By Melissa IsaacsonJordan Applies a Perfect Touch to One Last Masterpiece
By Jay MariottiSo Long, Michael: It’s Been Great
By Bernie LincicomeNeighborhoodsK Town
By John SchulianRoof Bums
By Ron RapoportThe Sun Sets on Cubs’ Illusions
By Bernie LincicomeNorth versus South—the Twain Shall Finally Meet
By Dave HoekstraA Space Invasion in Wrigleyville
By Carol SlezakSox Fan Enters Lineup at Comiskey Park
By Mark Brown“If They Don’t Have a Truce by Tuesday, Derrick Rose Day Will Never Happen”
By Rick TelanderSidekicks and Amateurs, Forgotten Men and Lost Teams, Hustlers and ClownsScottie Pippen Thrived in Jordan’s Shadow
By Sam SmithEric Nesterenko and the Examined Life
By Bob GreeneLou Novikoff: “I Am Dead and Only Waiting to Be Buried”
By Tom FitzpatrickDoug Plank Leaves a Lasting Impression
By David IsraelBlood, Sweat, Tears, and Worse at the Finish Line
By Carol SlezakDarren Pang Measures Up as a Goalie
By Terry BoersDoug Atkins: A Study in Pride and Pain
By Rick TelanderThe Chicago Football Cardinals: Fabric of a Champion
By Bill GleasonThe Wimp at Work
By Bob GreeneThere Were Lots of Clowns, but Only One Andy
By Richard Roeperthe real worldSlaying of Israelis Recalls Nightmare at Dachau
By Robert MarkusFor Troops, Sports Provide a Strong Link to Home
By Mike ImremThey Teach You a Special Lesson
By Bob VerdiAn Earthquake That Brings Out the Best in So Many
By Ray SonsRemembering Sarajevo
By Philip HershOklahoma City: “Part of My Hometown Died”
By Skip BaylessRemembering Ben Wilson: “We Must Rise Up and Seize Control”
By Taylor BellFrom the Depths of Darkness, Theo Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy Find Light
By Barry RoznerWhen Silence Is the Only Answer
By Rick MorrisseyBattles Won and LostLook Who’s Beating the Cubs Now
By Al Monroe“We Are Tired of Staying in Flop Houses”
By Wendell SmithTaking a Stand and Paying the Price
By Wendell SmithWhen Jackie Robinson Came to Wrigley Field
By Mike RoykoHigh Time for Bud Selig to Pardon Buck Weaver
By Mike DowneyCrystals on Top of an Iceberg
By Jeannie MorrisFrom Too Tall to Scaling the Heights
By Melissa IsaacsonFrom the Heart“God Is My Primary-Care Physician”
By Lacy J. BanksI Cannot Escape the Compulsion to Be Thin—Even though I Know It Could Kill Me
By Diane SimpsonFishing with Mother: Strangled Chicken for Dinner
By Jack GriffinI Was a Bears Baby, Too
By Greg CouchRemembering the Land of Enchantment
By John KuensterWishing for Dreams That Can’t Come True
By Skip BaylessThat Stinging Sensation: This One’s for You, Dad
By Phil ArviaA Short Walk Down a Long Corridor
By Carol SlezakSummer’s End Recalls Memory of a Faded Dream
By John SchulianContributorsAcknowledgmentsAbout the Editor