The Best American Sports Writing 2019

by Charles P. Pierce

The latest addition to the acclaimed series showcasing the best sports writing from the past year For over twenty-five years, The Best American Sports Writing has built a solid reputation by showcasing the greatest sports journalism of the previous year, culled from hundreds of national, regional, and specialty print and digital publications. Each year, the series editor and guest editor curates a truly exceptional collection. The only shared traits among all these diverse styles, voices, and stories are the extraordinarily high caliber of writing, and the pure passion they tap into that can only come from sports.  

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Charles P. ("Charlie") Pierce is a nationally known American sportswriter, author, and game show panelist. His best known work is Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free.

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read several of these and this is the weakest collection. Besides the second article about aging athletes, Larry Nasser and the imprisoned cross-country runner story which may be false or at least exaggerated is intriguing(shows what these books do really well), Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the Australian Tent Boxing, Golden Globe race, I was underwhelmed. The NCAA college football game entry was ok but it's not really funny enough to have the general attitude of "hey aren't people who like sports stupid" in a sports-based book. The next scavenger hunt article was so smarmy I made it about 2 pages, yuck.

I'm convinced the guest editor didn't read half of these and just picked the first few based on the subject or the first few lines of the story for example the Joel Embiid article- a fluff profile from GQ that is just like any other athlete profile you'll find in any magazine but has a killer first line(which is revealed just a few paragraphs later not to be true). There's several like this where the title, subject or first line make it sound like it could be good but the article is so mundane. Another one is the article on the tennis player who was attacked in her apartment-it should be intriguing but there's just nothing to it(she does not talk about the incident so it becomes just a standard athlete coming back from an injury type story and I could barely get through it). Maryland Football abuse is another that's felt like it sets up a good story but just completely fails to deliver anything of value. The Arlee Warriors story was ok, I had to skip pages though. A murder story of a NFL player that is tragic but the writer makes such a twisty freaky story so prosaic. The Lionfish one is another that had good merit but I can't believe it allowed to be that long in a magazine, dragged on and on. Many of these were like that, unsatisfying.

As much as I like Wight Thompson's work he does seem to lean into the bleak far too much. Everything is tragedy and it was not that compelling an article.

I feel like also this series every year there's a tragic story of a young man who does outdoor sports in the western US and is suicidal in some way. It's weirdly becoming a cliche(though this article was ok but since I've read something like this many times before, it just washed over me). And we get yet anther Aaron Hernandez article which there must be at least the third which he is the subject in this series-and it's not great.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid addition to the great annual series. I especially liked the back-to-back pieces by women who aren't sports fans and who attended the NCAA football championship and the Super Bowl. It's great to see those ridiculous events cut down to size by a wry third party who has zero rooting interest in the game and (in one case) didn't watch the action on the field.

I found a lot of other stories to be compelling too, including the ones about extreme sports people and climber types. Sometimes I find those types of stories too filled with the jargon of their activity, but these captured the real people, and didn't just fill my head with nonsense words that describe a toehold on a mountain or a type of jump off a skiing cliff. There was some of that junk in the story near the end about Hawaii, but the main driver of that story was so much more compelling that I was able to skim past that stuff and get a lot out of it anyway.

There's a charming story about Rubik's Cube contestants, and a hilarious (and sad) one about boxing the Australian outback. In a sign of the times, there are several about sexual exploitation -- Larry Nasser, and one about a baseball prospect accused of abusing his niece. And there's a really good classic sports story of tennis player Petra Kvitova coming back from an injury that gives you a really good understanding of what it takes to play tennis at a super-high level (not my level).

Overall, a very solid year for the Best in American Sportswriting.

[Mike Calvert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Too many average stories about fringe sports. Sacrificing quality for diversity. Weakest in the series.

[Katlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

the more of these i read, the harder it is to rate individual volumes. also really starting to see the patterns (always at least one like anthropological “i don’t know anything / care about sports and i went to the super bowl / wimbledon,” one outdoor / mountain / often everest piece from outside etc). there is some great (hard to read) writing about larry nassar, an engaging joel embiid profile, and a much better reporting of aaron hernandez after the absolute trash that was in the 2014 collection. i bought a bunch of these from the thrift store, so i’ll continue reading them slowly while watching various sports.

[Lud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie Pierce did a fine job with this excellent collection. Very happy that it includes several female writers, among them the estimable Jackie MacMullan who started her career back when women were not allowed in the locker room. My favorite essays were: "When Making the NBA Isn't a Cure-All: Black Athletes and Mental Health" by the aforementioned Jackie Mac; "Holding Her Own" by Bonnie D. Ford; "Everyone Believed Larry Nassar" by Kerry Howley; and "Another Voyage for Madmen (And, This Time, One Woman)" by Maggie Shipstead.

[Jonathan Worley]

These books, which come out every year, are a great source for thinking about what to teach PE students in writing skills (composition) classes. Even better, most of the articles are still available online without cost from the original magazine publishers. "Urban Meyer Will Be Home for Dinner" is about a workaholic NFL coach who is a version of Steve Jobs. "Did Football Kill Austin Trenum" is about a boy believed to have committed suicide on account of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) (brain injury from being hit in the head repeatedly).

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong as always.

Standouts include "Children of the Cube" by John Branch, "My Magical Quest to Destroy Tom Brady and Win a Philadelphia Eagles Mini-Fridge at Super Bowl LII" by Caity Weaver, and "Everyone Believed Larry Nassar" by Kerry Howley.

[Lilly Randolph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite stories: Everyone Believed Larry Nassar, My Magical Quest to Destroy Tom Brady, Taming the Lionfish, What the Arlene Warriors Were Playing For

Least favorite stories: Who’s Lookin for a Fight, The Aging Curve, Another Voyage for Madmen

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better years. Good stories on

[Peter Nakos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great articles. Would've liked to see a few more profiles in the book, too many narrative features this year.

[PG Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not your mainstream sports writing. More of a social commentary. Some of it offbeat which I liked.

[Doug Stotland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took longer to read than most editions as the stories were less engaging for me. I still found a lot to enjoy and these selections were more challenging and provocative than any I can remember.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a pleasure to read.