The Best American Sports Writing 2014

October 15, 2014

Journalist McDougall (Born To Run) takes the reins as the editor of the 24th installment of the renowned sports series. He presents 25 notable articles from publications such as The New Yorker, the New York Times, Outside, and Runner's World magazines as well as blogs such as Deadspin and Grantland. Overall, this is a fairly somber collection of subjects: the aftermath of the 2013 Boston marathon bombings; the disappearance of a man during the annual Mount Marathon Race in Seward, AK; the suicide of NASCAR driver Dick Trickle; the suspension of former Rutgers University basketball coach Mike Rice Jr.; and the quick rise and hard fall of boxing promoter Don King. Articles on lesser-known sports--street ball, backgammon, and big-wave surfing--make an appearance as well, as does an insightful piece from Rolling Stone on the media circus surrounding former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, whose legal troubles and murder convictions have haunted him for the past year. Each story in this volume attempts on some level to explain how sports can illuminate some facet of life, either in general, or at the level of specific individuals. VERDICT Recommended for avid sports fans and readers of narrative nonfiction.--John Helling, Bloomfield-Eastern Greene Cty. P.L., IN

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
McDougall, whose excellent Born to Run (2009) explored humanity's fascination with running faster and longer, performs an equally thoughtful guest turn as editor of this long-running, indispensable series. Many of these pieces, while interspersed with requisite profiles of courage and inspiration, very much reflect the doubts that thinking sports fans certainly harbor about the sports and the athletes they love, given so many awful truths revealed during the last few years. And so Chris Jones' piece from ESPN: The Magazine on 16-year-old Japanese pitching sensation Anraku poses the question, Does asking a 16-year-old to throw 772 pitches in five games over nine days constitute child abuse? Patrick Rhuby at Sportsonearth.com asks aloud whether parents should allow their children to play football, given recent evidence of the game's damage to the brain. And Amanda Ripley, writing in the Atlantic, argues the case against American high-schoolers pursuing any sports whatsoever, given how far they lag academically behind many of their international peers. A collection that does justice to its times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)