Masters of the Games

December 8, 2014
Chicago-born sportswriter Epstein makes himself the focal point of nearly every essay in this cavalier collection of previously published pieces by the former editor of the American Scholar. A review of David Halberstam’s 1999 Michael Jordan bio, Playing for Keeps, for example, transforms into Epstein’s own memories of growing up a young athlete and sports fan in Chicago. Multiple pieces seem to exist for no other reason than for Epstein to drop Gene Siskel’s name while marveling at the fantastic on-the-floor seats the renowned film critic snagged for him. Mercifully, Epstein includes three solid pieces of fiction set in Chicago in the middle of this collection, the best of which is simply titled “The Goldin Boys,” a coming-of-age story told through the melancholy eyes of a physician whose best boyhood friends were popular twin athletes. Epstein’s eulogy for the long-gone magazine Sport, from which he turned down a $500 writing assignment in 1970, is also worth a read—in part because the author, in a rare moment of humility, admits regret for passing up the gig.

December 1, 2014
The erudite and witty Epstein, former editor of the American Scholar, has from the time of his Chicago childhood been a devoted, habituated sports fan, although in a prolific career, this is his first book on the subject. There are long and short nonfiction pieces here and three related short stories. Some are only tangential to sports (on gambling, on juggling). In a collection obviously written at various times (dating is absent) and necessarily with a strong personal dimension, there is some repetition, but there is also a good deal of eloquence and insight. His opening piece on John R. Tunis, the author of children's sports books, is especially well done and will stir memories in several generations of mostly male readers. Essays on standout individual sports figures, sometimes in the context of reviews of others' books, are also quite good. The emphasis is on the Windy City (Michael Jordan, Bob Love, the Cubs) and secondarily on Jewish athletes, including Hank Greenberg, but neither focus is a detriment. Indeed, one is saddened when, in the penultimate piece, Epstein expresses (and convincingly justifies) his current-day disenchantment. Of course, in the final essay, the TV stays tuned in to the game.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)