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Best American Sports Writing 2011: The Best American Series
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
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
- GenresSportsNonfictionEssays
ebook
First published January 1, 2011
31 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Jane Leavy
13 books134 followersJane Leavy is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Last Boy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy and the comic novel Squeeze Play, which Entertainment Weekly called “the best novel ever written about baseball.” Her latest book is The Big Fella. She was a staff writer at The Washington Post from 1979 to1988, first in the sports section, then writing for the style section. She covered baseball, tennis, and the Olympics for the paper. She wrote features for the style section about sports, politics, and pop culture, including, most memorably, a profile of Mugsy Bogues, the 5’3″ guard for the Washington Wizards, which was longer than he is tall.
Before joining the The Washington Post, she was a staff writer at womenSports and Self magazines. She has written for many publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice, and The New York Daily News. Leavys work has been anthologized in many collections, including Best Sportswriting, Coach: 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a Difference, Child of Mine: Essays on Becoming a Mother, Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports, Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend: Women Writers on Baseball, A Kind of Grace: A Treasury of Sportswriting by Women, and Making Words Dance: Reflections on Red Smith, Journalism and Writing.
She grew up on Long Island where she pitched briefly and poorly for the Blue Jays of the Roslyn Long Island Little League. On her parents first date, her father, a water boy for the 1927 New York football Giants, took her mother to a Brooklyn College football game. She retaliated by taking him to Loehmanns after the final whistle. It was a template for their 63-year union. As a child, Jane Leavy worshipped Mickey Mantle from the second-floor ballroom in the Concourse Plaza Hotel where her grandmothers synagogue held services on the High Holidays.
Jane Leavy attended Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she wrote her masters essay (later published in The Village Voice) on Red Smith, the late sports columnist for The New York Times, who was her other childhood hero.
She has two adult children, Nick and Emma, and she lives in Washington, DC, and Truro, Massachusetts.
Before joining the The Washington Post, she was a staff writer at womenSports and Self magazines. She has written for many publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice, and The New York Daily News. Leavys work has been anthologized in many collections, including Best Sportswriting, Coach: 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a Difference, Child of Mine: Essays on Becoming a Mother, Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports, Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend: Women Writers on Baseball, A Kind of Grace: A Treasury of Sportswriting by Women, and Making Words Dance: Reflections on Red Smith, Journalism and Writing.
She grew up on Long Island where she pitched briefly and poorly for the Blue Jays of the Roslyn Long Island Little League. On her parents first date, her father, a water boy for the 1927 New York football Giants, took her mother to a Brooklyn College football game. She retaliated by taking him to Loehmanns after the final whistle. It was a template for their 63-year union. As a child, Jane Leavy worshipped Mickey Mantle from the second-floor ballroom in the Concourse Plaza Hotel where her grandmothers synagogue held services on the High Holidays.
Jane Leavy attended Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she wrote her masters essay (later published in The Village Voice) on Red Smith, the late sports columnist for The New York Times, who was her other childhood hero.
She has two adult children, Nick and Emma, and she lives in Washington, DC, and Truro, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 2, 2020
So far this collection has been brilliant.
Essay One: Risks, Dangers Always in Play. A discussion of the risks that athletes take, especially people participating in the luge race. An excellent essay that discusses the reasons why people pursue risky sports
Essay Two: Breathless. A wonderful essay about someone who is trying to dive deeper than any human has, without any equipment. The person has done substantial research on how people respond to oxygen deprivation. The author does an excellent job of explaining the limits to deep sea diving and how our body responds when it is starved of oxygen.
Essay Three: The Surfing Savant. A masterpiece. The author does such a good job of drawing us into the story, explaining the surfing community, and giving a vivid portrait of the surfing savant. This story alone is worth the price of the book.
Essay Four: School of Fight. Another masterpiece about two hockey players who open up a camp where kids learn how to fight. The author, who played hockey, gives a ringing defense of the role of fighting in games, and his discussion of what is learned in the camp is outstanding.
Essay Five: The Franchise. A great essay talking about the development of the Madden game. He does a great job of talking about the business model, the breakthroughs that the developers had to make before the product could succeed and the essential role Madden plays in the development of the game.
Essay Six: Eight Seconds. Another masterpiece about the winning goal Team Canada scored in overtime to beat Team USA and win the gold medal in 2010. I think it is quite difficult for authors to write about sports plays without losing the reader in an avalanche of details. But the author does an amazing job of describing the goal, he has talked to all the players involved in the play, and he has brief biographies of the key players involved. A stunning piece of writing.
Essay Seven: ABC News Investigation. Not a masterpiece of writing but an important story to preserve. I had not remembered anything about this story. It is sadly familiar: young girls being abused and attacked and no one stepping forward to stop what they knew what was going on. And then the people in charge of the investigation issuing such awful statements that try to deflect blame from them.
Essay Eight: Own Goal. A great essay about a soccer tournament created for people who are homeless. The author takes things seriously, writes well, and gives compelling portraits of the people he writes about. One person he writes about is someone who appears to be someone who will find redemption but as the story moves on, the author has to deal with that person and realizes that dealing with people is more complicated than it might seem. There is no neat and happy ending but rather a moving account of people struggling through life.
Essay Nine: Culture of Silence. An excellent essay by Sally Jenkins on, as the title indicates, the culture of silence that allows top college and pro athletes to abuse and kill women. People could have stepped forward but didn't. Especially the pro athletes are surrounded by people who allow them to get away with sexual assaults.
Essay Ten: High School Dissonance. A short but powerful essay that shows how poorly people in charge behave, the lack of courage, the lack of moral principles, and their willingness to lie about what happened in order to justify their behavior.
Essay Eleven: Gentling Cheatgrass. I was not able to connect with this essay.
Essay Twelve: Pride of a Nation. Another great essay in which the author tells the story of native Americans playing lacrosse. The writing is outstanding, the story is powerful, and he treats all the people with respect.
Essay Thirteen: The quality of these stories is at such a high level. This one is another masterpiece. The author recounts the day when a 14 year old was asked to help in a rescue mission for a charter plane that had crashed and the years he has spent trying to come to terms with what he did and did not do that day.
Essay Fourteen: The Patch. Another essay I couldn't get into. I must say I find much of John McPhee's writing to be difficult to connect with.
Essay Fifteen: Fetch Daddy a Drink. Well not all the essays are going to be good and this one is just awful. It is not surprising because I have found few, if any, of P.J. O'Rourke's works worthy of reading.
Essay Sixteen: Trick Plays. Humor is tricky and this piece did not interest me in the least.
Essay Seventeen: Yet another masterpiece. The author's account of being a wrestler, coming to terms with his losses, dealing with his father, and dealing with his children is just outstanding.
Essay One: Risks, Dangers Always in Play. A discussion of the risks that athletes take, especially people participating in the luge race. An excellent essay that discusses the reasons why people pursue risky sports
Essay Two: Breathless. A wonderful essay about someone who is trying to dive deeper than any human has, without any equipment. The person has done substantial research on how people respond to oxygen deprivation. The author does an excellent job of explaining the limits to deep sea diving and how our body responds when it is starved of oxygen.
Essay Three: The Surfing Savant. A masterpiece. The author does such a good job of drawing us into the story, explaining the surfing community, and giving a vivid portrait of the surfing savant. This story alone is worth the price of the book.
Essay Four: School of Fight. Another masterpiece about two hockey players who open up a camp where kids learn how to fight. The author, who played hockey, gives a ringing defense of the role of fighting in games, and his discussion of what is learned in the camp is outstanding.
Essay Five: The Franchise. A great essay talking about the development of the Madden game. He does a great job of talking about the business model, the breakthroughs that the developers had to make before the product could succeed and the essential role Madden plays in the development of the game.
Essay Six: Eight Seconds. Another masterpiece about the winning goal Team Canada scored in overtime to beat Team USA and win the gold medal in 2010. I think it is quite difficult for authors to write about sports plays without losing the reader in an avalanche of details. But the author does an amazing job of describing the goal, he has talked to all the players involved in the play, and he has brief biographies of the key players involved. A stunning piece of writing.
Essay Seven: ABC News Investigation. Not a masterpiece of writing but an important story to preserve. I had not remembered anything about this story. It is sadly familiar: young girls being abused and attacked and no one stepping forward to stop what they knew what was going on. And then the people in charge of the investigation issuing such awful statements that try to deflect blame from them.
Essay Eight: Own Goal. A great essay about a soccer tournament created for people who are homeless. The author takes things seriously, writes well, and gives compelling portraits of the people he writes about. One person he writes about is someone who appears to be someone who will find redemption but as the story moves on, the author has to deal with that person and realizes that dealing with people is more complicated than it might seem. There is no neat and happy ending but rather a moving account of people struggling through life.
Essay Nine: Culture of Silence. An excellent essay by Sally Jenkins on, as the title indicates, the culture of silence that allows top college and pro athletes to abuse and kill women. People could have stepped forward but didn't. Especially the pro athletes are surrounded by people who allow them to get away with sexual assaults.
Essay Ten: High School Dissonance. A short but powerful essay that shows how poorly people in charge behave, the lack of courage, the lack of moral principles, and their willingness to lie about what happened in order to justify their behavior.
Essay Eleven: Gentling Cheatgrass. I was not able to connect with this essay.
Essay Twelve: Pride of a Nation. Another great essay in which the author tells the story of native Americans playing lacrosse. The writing is outstanding, the story is powerful, and he treats all the people with respect.
Essay Thirteen: The quality of these stories is at such a high level. This one is another masterpiece. The author recounts the day when a 14 year old was asked to help in a rescue mission for a charter plane that had crashed and the years he has spent trying to come to terms with what he did and did not do that day.
Essay Fourteen: The Patch. Another essay I couldn't get into. I must say I find much of John McPhee's writing to be difficult to connect with.
Essay Fifteen: Fetch Daddy a Drink. Well not all the essays are going to be good and this one is just awful. It is not surprising because I have found few, if any, of P.J. O'Rourke's works worthy of reading.
Essay Sixteen: Trick Plays. Humor is tricky and this piece did not interest me in the least.
Essay Seventeen: Yet another masterpiece. The author's account of being a wrestler, coming to terms with his losses, dealing with his father, and dealing with his children is just outstanding.
March 4, 2017
Some of these stories were extraordinary - fascinating subjects, very well-written, and totally worth reading the volume for those. Others were less compelling, but most were interesting, and you could see why there were included.
October 9, 2013
Anytime you read a collection of writing as take place in the variety of Best American writings each year you are going to find stories that you love and some that you are not so enamored of.
In reading this 2011 collection edited by Jane Leavy I found some stories that were simply fantastic.
These include Gentling Cheatgrass, a story about the wild mustang program that was featured in the always underrated Texas Monthly. Also included from Sports Illustrated's S.L. Price is Pride of the Nation, an article about lacrosse and it's importance to American Indian culture.
Mark Pearson's story The Short History of an Ear featured in Sport Literate was unique and interesting and I will be reading more from them.
Bill Plaschke's short article from The LA Times titled A Gift That Opens Him Up shines a light into his beginnings as a writer.
Howard Bryant's article from Espn about Dusty Baker is especially timely in the wake of his recent firing in Cincinnati and an SI story about University of California women's crew coxswain Jill Costello who simultaneously led her team while fighting what would be terminal cancer is nothing short of inspiring.
An article from GQ about the troubles of Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison is enlightening if disturbing.
This leaves us with my favorite article by probably on of the greatest, and certainly most underrated writers, of the last forty years The New Yorker's John McPhee. His short story The Patch combines a lesson about pickerel fishing with the authors saying good bye to his father as he fades from the effects of a debilitating stroke. Simply put few write better about anything than McPhee.
There are several articles I had little use for but any collection of stories as strong as those above is well worth your time. Some of these are amazingly well written.
In reading this 2011 collection edited by Jane Leavy I found some stories that were simply fantastic.
These include Gentling Cheatgrass, a story about the wild mustang program that was featured in the always underrated Texas Monthly. Also included from Sports Illustrated's S.L. Price is Pride of the Nation, an article about lacrosse and it's importance to American Indian culture.
Mark Pearson's story The Short History of an Ear featured in Sport Literate was unique and interesting and I will be reading more from them.
Bill Plaschke's short article from The LA Times titled A Gift That Opens Him Up shines a light into his beginnings as a writer.
Howard Bryant's article from Espn about Dusty Baker is especially timely in the wake of his recent firing in Cincinnati and an SI story about University of California women's crew coxswain Jill Costello who simultaneously led her team while fighting what would be terminal cancer is nothing short of inspiring.
An article from GQ about the troubles of Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison is enlightening if disturbing.
This leaves us with my favorite article by probably on of the greatest, and certainly most underrated writers, of the last forty years The New Yorker's John McPhee. His short story The Patch combines a lesson about pickerel fishing with the authors saying good bye to his father as he fades from the effects of a debilitating stroke. Simply put few write better about anything than McPhee.
There are several articles I had little use for but any collection of stories as strong as those above is well worth your time. Some of these are amazingly well written.
February 26, 2013
I get this anthology every year and enjoy reading some of the best work that has skipped past me over the past year. That said, there was a section in the middle of the book where I simply flipped past 3 or 4 stories in a row. Some of the outdoorsy stuff is fantastic and some of it seems to be a stretch.
As a sports writer myself, I found Bill Plaschke's "A gift that opens him up" to be inspiring and wonderful...all condensed into a quick 5-minute read.
Others among my favorites...
Michael Farber's "Eight Seconds"
Jason Fagone's "The Dirtiest Player"
Tom Friend's "The Old College Try"
Howard Bryant's "Dusty Baker a Symbol of Perseverance"
Chris Ballard's "The Courage of Jill Costello"
On the bad list...
I have no idea who Yoni Brenner's "Trick Plays" was included in the Best of...it seemed like a failed attempt at something clever that you would find in a college paper somewhere — just idiotic.
As a sports writer myself, I found Bill Plaschke's "A gift that opens him up" to be inspiring and wonderful...all condensed into a quick 5-minute read.
Others among my favorites...
Michael Farber's "Eight Seconds"
Jason Fagone's "The Dirtiest Player"
Tom Friend's "The Old College Try"
Howard Bryant's "Dusty Baker a Symbol of Perseverance"
Chris Ballard's "The Courage of Jill Costello"
On the bad list...
I have no idea who Yoni Brenner's "Trick Plays" was included in the Best of...it seemed like a failed attempt at something clever that you would find in a college paper somewhere — just idiotic.
October 31, 2011
When it comes to sports there are always winners and losers. The winners here are the writers themselves as well and editors who chose what to include. The book was full of excellent writing and it was obvious that careful and intelligent decisions were made on just who should be in this collection. But the looser here has to be the people in charge of proof reading the e books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. My edition contained a disgraceful amount of typos. Who does Houghton have working on their e books , a bunch of third graders ? Seriously, they should be embarrassed with this product. I actually feel like I deserve a refund.
February 1, 2012
I had heard Leavy talk about this book in an NPR interview, which made me want to read some of the stories mentioned. This book was well edited -- what you would expect as a "sports story" starts the book, but by the end it doesn't really matter that it's about sports. I laughed at the story about "Goon Camp," where young hockey kids learn how to fight in an underground lesson. It's impossible not to tear up at the determination of Jill Costello, the Cal coxswain on the crew team who battled lung cancer as she insisted on playing for the national championship. Not all stories ring such an emotional note, but they're all entertaining and well written.
January 25, 2012
This was a very diverse collection, taking you into realms beyond mainstream sports and athletes. From the perspective of the base-jumper to the world of the transgender, there are a lot of new angles to discover as a reader.
Like the other collections, this edition had its share of good and blah moments, but overall was novel enough to keep me intrigued. Leavy took a risky approach of avoiding big-time sports and athletes, but it paid off.
Like the other collections, this edition had its share of good and blah moments, but overall was novel enough to keep me intrigued. Leavy took a risky approach of avoiding big-time sports and athletes, but it paid off.
March 26, 2012
This is probably the fourth or fifth year in a row that I've read the sports writing collection and this, by far, was the least compelling collection so far. I couldn't really tell you why, but for me at least, the stories didn't catch my attention, didn't leave me scratching my head or feeling moved at the end, unlike the other collections.
March 22, 2015
Weakest of the 20+ editions of TBASW but still worth reading as there are several great pieces. The last 2 editions haven't been as strong. I'm wondering if the Web has drained much of the great long-form sports writing or if the editors haven't figured out how to find the great stuff in a world where a good chunk of the great writing is getting published online.
May 20, 2013
I had been reading older Best American Sports Writing books, and perhaps I got spoiled. This collection relied very heavily on blog posts and online publications. While I can acknowledge that there is some online sportswriting talent, I felt that this was certainly one of the weakest of the Best American books I've read thus far.
November 20, 2014
One of the best -- maybe THE best -- of the "Sports Writing" books. Selected articles not only portray the inspirational ("Own goal" -- homeless USA soccer tournament), but the criminal ("USA swimming coaches molested and secretly taped dozens of teen swimmers". All in all, an excellent book compiled from many sources.
January 16, 2012
I read this series every year and this edition was one of the best. Ranging from the psyche which brings on daredevil feats, life's tragedies, a world cup of homeless soccer, and a well respected surfer with Aspergers syndrome nearly every story captivated me and/or made me think.
April 11, 2012
Not all of the stories are great, but there are enough really, really good articles in here that it's worth reading. Especially liked the articles about the boxer who was an organ donor, the Cal crew coxswain and the creator of Madden football.
June 6, 2012
For sport stories, the writing and quality was uneven. There were a couple of very interesting stories, like the coxswain and boxer who died that gave his organs to others. Other than that, readable stories were pretty good.
August 7, 2015
Despite it taking me four full months to finish this, found it super enjoyable! Especially loved the pieces on free diving, surfing, skating, lacrosse, rowing, and hockey. Oh and the Madden franchise, oddly enough.
March 17, 2012
Contains a piece about Cal coxswain Jill Costello and her fight for life. May we all stove to live as fully as she.
April 5, 2012
A mixed bag. As it should be. Worthwhile.
March 12, 2012
More baseball and hockey, less skateboarding.
January 12, 2013
A few too many human-interest pieces that seemed almost nauseatingly precious and life affirming.
August 1, 2012
Liked! Fancy Family Book Group.
November 21, 2012
not as good as 2010, last 2 stories were the best
August 4, 2015
One of the best volumes in this anthology. Many more hits that strikeouts. Highly recommended if you enjoy excellent sports writing.
February 5, 2016
Best American Sports Writing 2011 was another excellent collection of writing in both print and online sports. I have the 2012-2014 volumes and need to get cracking.
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August 5, 2012can't wait to read this book
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews