The Best American Sports Writing 2013

September 2, 2013
“Sports are a theater of loss, of struggle and despair, of real pain and real blood and primal disappointment, which is why the best sports writing seems to reach back, back like a discus thrower, to touch the ancient myths,” writes guest editor Moehringer (The Tender Bar) in his introduction to the 23rd edition of this reliably fine series. Highlights include Jason Schwartz’s thoroughly researched and nimbly written account of Curt Schilling’s dedicated but disastrous venture into making video games (“End Game”); Allison Glock’s haunting piece on the doomed love story between two women who were high school basketball stars in Wisconsin (“At the Corner of Love and Basketball”); and PW’s senior editor of digital media Jonathan Segura’s gutsy essay, “The Game of His Life,” which Moehringer singles out for its “lush and wanton profanity.” A few of the selections cover the same thematic ground—high school athletes dying young, scandalized runners—and some readers may be aggravated that their favorite sports are given short shrift or ignored entirely. The variety of writing, which includes everything from autobiography to reporting to profiles, and its quality atone for any shortcomings. The emotional richness of the pieces selected by Moehringer and Stout (who has been series editor from the start) defines this frequently riveting collection.

October 1, 2013
For more than two decades, this series has provided annual roundups of some of the best American writing about sports, broadly and generously defined, from the previous calendar year. The 2013 edition continues this tradition. Series editor Stout (Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year, 2011, etc.), who every year does the bulk of the culling of entries, and Pulitzer Prize winner Moehringer (Sutton, 2012, etc.), who edits this year's edition from Stout's initial selections, have done a credible job of pulling together a selection that, if not actually representing all of the best sportswriting of the last year, at least serves as a reasonable representation of the healthy state of writing about the games and pastimes that so occupy millions of Americans. Occasionally, the editors confuse a great story (the thing being written about) with the execution (the writing itself) and, in at least one occasion, allow an author's reputation to outstrip their judgment about the quality of that writer's contribution. Although professional athletes and famous coaches appear--in the form of the dysfunctions of the Kansas City Chiefs, the lies of Lance Armstrong and Urban Meyer's return to college football as the Ohio State coach--the best of the entries focus on high school athletes, competitors in individual sports and obscure activities away from the glare of the media. Tragedies feature prominently. This year's edition also serves as a reminder of the healthy state of long-form writing in magazines, newspapers and on the Internet. Stout includes a listing of "Notable Sports Writing of 2012," most of which will be available to readers with Internet access. Once again, the series captures the zeitgeist on writing about sports ranging from bullfighting to football, bowling to basketball, with sports almost always being incidental to the human interest beneath the surface. An affirmation of the strong state of American sportswriting.

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August 26, 2019
In this excellent edition, series editor Stout posits, with tongue in cheek, that journalism’s wobbly future will necessitate a switch to “Paylance”—writers will pay to get published. Esquire writer Pierce (Idiot America), who has expertly covered politics and sports for decades, laments the demise of a lost art. Fortunately, those conditions do not prevent another outstanding collection from being assembled. This great mix of essays shines a spotlight on all aspects of the human condition, whether it’s in a New York Magazine piece by Kerry Howley on how meek physician Larry Nassar engendered trust among the parents of the female gymnasts he sexually assaulted for years, or how California inmate Artis Monroe found happiness by giving old bicycles new life in Kim Cross’s essay for Bicycling. The volume also includes several funny and irreverent essays, such as GQ’s Caity Weaver’s scavenger hunt in Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium, related in “My Magical Quest to Destroy Tom Brady and Win a Philadelphia Eagles Mini-Fridge at Super Bowl LII.” The quality of the writing and diversity of the subjects will delight readers and inspire and enlighten the next generation of writers.

October 1, 2013
Moehringera self-described generalist whose Los Angeles Times feature story on a homeless man became the Samuel L. Jackson movie Resurrecting the Champhandles his guest-editing duties with care in this twenty-third volume of the excellent series. The 26 pieces here skew toward footballwhat doesn't these days?but there are big dollops of baseball and running, along with coverage of sports as wide ranging as bowling, weight lifting, surfing, and the Special Olympics. There's a very strong piece on bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla, making a triumphant comeback from an astonishing goring, the bull's horn entering beneath Padilla's jaw and exiting his left eye socket. And a bittersweet account of amateur bowler Bill Fong, who rolled 35 straight strikes before succumbing to a nine on the first ball of his final frame, coming up just short of bowling's holy grail: a perfect 900 score for three games. A profile of Curt Schilling shows the retired pitcher carrying the same confidence and competitiveness in forming a video-game company that he once took to the mound, with different results. A no-brainer pickup for the sports collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)