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The Only Game in Town: Sportswriting from The New Yorker
For more than eighty years, The New Yorker has been home to some of the toughest, wisest, funniest, and most moving sportswriting around. Featuring brilliant reportage and analysis, profound profiles of pros, and tributes to the amateur in all of us, The Only Game in Town is a classic collection from a magazine with a deep bench.
Including such authors as Roger Angell and John Updike, both of them synonymous with New Yorker sportswriting, The Only Game in Town also features greats like John McPhee and Don DeLillo. Hall of Famer Ring Lardner is here, bemoaning the lowering of standards for baseball achievement—in 1930. A. J. Liebling inimitably portrays the 1955 Rocky Marciano–Archie Moore bout as “Ahab and Nemesis . . . man against history,” and John Cheever pens a story about a boy’s troubled relationship with his father and “The National Pastime.”
From Tiger Woods to bullfighter Sidney Franklin, from the Chinese Olympics to the U.S. Open, the greatest plays and players, past and present, are all covered in The Only Game in Town . At The New Yorker , it’s not whether you win or lose—it’s how you write about the game.
Including such authors as Roger Angell and John Updike, both of them synonymous with New Yorker sportswriting, The Only Game in Town also features greats like John McPhee and Don DeLillo. Hall of Famer Ring Lardner is here, bemoaning the lowering of standards for baseball achievement—in 1930. A. J. Liebling inimitably portrays the 1955 Rocky Marciano–Archie Moore bout as “Ahab and Nemesis . . . man against history,” and John Cheever pens a story about a boy’s troubled relationship with his father and “The National Pastime.”
From Tiger Woods to bullfighter Sidney Franklin, from the Chinese Olympics to the U.S. Open, the greatest plays and players, past and present, are all covered in The Only Game in Town . At The New Yorker , it’s not whether you win or lose—it’s how you write about the game.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
45 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
David Remnick
220 books383 followersDavid Remnick (born October 29, 1958) is an American journalist, writer, and magazine editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book Lenin s Tomb The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker magazine since 1998. He was named Editor of the Year by Advertising Age in 2000. Before joining The New Yorker, Remnick was a reporter and the Moscow correspondent for The Washington Post. He has also served on the New York Public Library’s board of trustees. In 2010 he published his sixth book, The Bridge The Life and Rise of Barack Obama.
Remnick was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of a dentist, Edward C. Remnick, and an art teacher, Barbara (Seigel). He was raised in Hillsdale, New Jersey, in a secular Jewish home with, he has said, “a lot of books around.” He is also childhood friends with comedian Bill Maher. He graduated from Princeton University in 1981 with an A.B. in comparative literature; there, he met writer John McPhee and helped found The Nassau Weekly. Remnick has implied that after college he wanted to write novels, but due to his parents’ illnesses, he needed a paying job—there was no trust fund to rely on. Remnick wanted to be a writer, so he chose a career in journalism, taking a job at The Washington Post. He is married to reporter Esther Fein of The New York Times and has three children, Alex, Noah, and Natasha. He enjoys jazz music and classic cinema and is fluent in Russian.
He began his reporting career at The Washington Post in 1982 shortly after his graduation from Princeton. His first assignment was to cover the United States Football League. After six years, in 1988, he became the newspaper’s Moscow correspondent, which provided him with the material for Lenin's Tomb. He also received the George Polk Award for excellence in journalism.
Remnick became a staff writer at The New Yorker in September, 1992, after ten years at The Washington Post.
Remnick’s 1997 New Yorker article “Kid Dynamite Blows Up,” about boxer Mike Tyson, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 1998 he became editor, succeeding Tina Brown. Remnick promoted Hendrik Hertzberg, a former Jimmy Carter speechwriter and former editor of The New Republic, to write the lead pieces in “Talk of the Town,” the magazine’s opening section. In 2005 Remnick earned $1 million for his work as the magazine’s editor.
In 2003 he wrote an editorial supporting the Iraq war in the days when it started. In 2004, for the first time in its 80-year history, The New Yorker endorsed a presidential candidate, John Kerry.
In May 2009, Remnick was featured in a long-form Twitter account of Dan Baum’s career as a New Yorker staff writer. The tweets, written over the course of a week, described the difficult relationship between Baum and Remnick, his editor.
Remnick’s biography of President Barack Obama, The Bridge, was released on April 6, 2010. It features hundreds of interviews with friends, colleagues, and other witnesses to Obama’s rise to the presidency of the United States. The book has been widely reviewed in journals.
In 2010 Remnick lent his support to the campaign urging the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of ordering the murder of her husband by her lover and adultery.
In 2013 Remnick ’81 was the guest speaker at Princeton University Class Day.
Remnick provided guest commentary and contributed to NBC coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia including the opening ceremony and commentary for NBC News.
Remnick was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of a dentist, Edward C. Remnick, and an art teacher, Barbara (Seigel). He was raised in Hillsdale, New Jersey, in a secular Jewish home with, he has said, “a lot of books around.” He is also childhood friends with comedian Bill Maher. He graduated from Princeton University in 1981 with an A.B. in comparative literature; there, he met writer John McPhee and helped found The Nassau Weekly. Remnick has implied that after college he wanted to write novels, but due to his parents’ illnesses, he needed a paying job—there was no trust fund to rely on. Remnick wanted to be a writer, so he chose a career in journalism, taking a job at The Washington Post. He is married to reporter Esther Fein of The New York Times and has three children, Alex, Noah, and Natasha. He enjoys jazz music and classic cinema and is fluent in Russian.
He began his reporting career at The Washington Post in 1982 shortly after his graduation from Princeton. His first assignment was to cover the United States Football League. After six years, in 1988, he became the newspaper’s Moscow correspondent, which provided him with the material for Lenin's Tomb. He also received the George Polk Award for excellence in journalism.
Remnick became a staff writer at The New Yorker in September, 1992, after ten years at The Washington Post.
Remnick’s 1997 New Yorker article “Kid Dynamite Blows Up,” about boxer Mike Tyson, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 1998 he became editor, succeeding Tina Brown. Remnick promoted Hendrik Hertzberg, a former Jimmy Carter speechwriter and former editor of The New Republic, to write the lead pieces in “Talk of the Town,” the magazine’s opening section. In 2005 Remnick earned $1 million for his work as the magazine’s editor.
In 2003 he wrote an editorial supporting the Iraq war in the days when it started. In 2004, for the first time in its 80-year history, The New Yorker endorsed a presidential candidate, John Kerry.
In May 2009, Remnick was featured in a long-form Twitter account of Dan Baum’s career as a New Yorker staff writer. The tweets, written over the course of a week, described the difficult relationship between Baum and Remnick, his editor.
Remnick’s biography of President Barack Obama, The Bridge, was released on April 6, 2010. It features hundreds of interviews with friends, colleagues, and other witnesses to Obama’s rise to the presidency of the United States. The book has been widely reviewed in journals.
In 2010 Remnick lent his support to the campaign urging the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of ordering the murder of her husband by her lover and adultery.
In 2013 Remnick ’81 was the guest speaker at Princeton University Class Day.
Remnick provided guest commentary and contributed to NBC coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia including the opening ceremony and commentary for NBC News.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
August 16, 2012
Good New Yorker articles are like black holes: when you get sucked into one you cease to exist in time and space...for about 25 minutes. A compilation of the best sports articles from the New Yorker is just a bigger black hole, in a good way. There are 512 pages in this collection, and I read it slowly, over the course of a few months, picking it up and putting it down at leisure. Of every five articles, one was just pretty good, three were great, and one was so incredibly consuming that I briefly considered becoming, for example, an extreme skier, or a matador, (or a stud horse). If you enjoy sports and the New Yorker this is absolutely a worthwhile read.
February 24, 2024
Loved every page. Sports writing including articles spamming 100 years of coverage for the New Yorker. From baseball to parkour, a little bit of everything. Some informational, some heart breaking, some thrilling but all wonderfully written.
February 9, 2018
I made a huge mistake, reading this book when I did. We've just entered the slowest season in sports. And I just finished this survey course in the wide world of sports.
Football just ended and baseball is two months away. Meaningful baseball is another two months after that. Don't start with your "but hockey and college hoops!" Ignore the Olympics for the sake of this argument, please. Real sports are a ways off.
What would sate the sports fan? Why, the best intelligent sports-writing of all time!
Too bad I read it during the football playoffs. What a mistake.
The highlights of this book are obvious: read the scorching take on why Babe Ruth & co aren't real baseball players and are ruining the game. Read Updike covering Ted's last game at Fenway. But there are so many slim little numbers that will make your sports fan's heart alight. It's really like a New Yorker magazine. Just when Talk and the Profile and the Hard News disappoint, there'll be that little review of a few books in the form of an incisive memoir that makes your weekend. This book will make your February. And god knows you need it.
How many weeks until pitchers and catchers report?
Football just ended and baseball is two months away. Meaningful baseball is another two months after that. Don't start with your "but hockey and college hoops!" Ignore the Olympics for the sake of this argument, please. Real sports are a ways off.
What would sate the sports fan? Why, the best intelligent sports-writing of all time!
Too bad I read it during the football playoffs. What a mistake.
The highlights of this book are obvious: read the scorching take on why Babe Ruth & co aren't real baseball players and are ruining the game. Read Updike covering Ted's last game at Fenway. But there are so many slim little numbers that will make your sports fan's heart alight. It's really like a New Yorker magazine. Just when Talk and the Profile and the Hard News disappoint, there'll be that little review of a few books in the form of an incisive memoir that makes your weekend. This book will make your February. And god knows you need it.
How many weeks until pitchers and catchers report?
October 20, 2023
Wonderfully written essays that will rekindle your love of sports or have you rooting for the first time.
March 28, 2024
I enjoyed this collection for the most part. Some articles were fantastic, others were more dry and tougher to get through. The writing is strong enough to keep me engaged in all of the stories but I found myself more interested in those related to sports I was more familiar with. That was a little disappointing because it felt like it should have been a good opportunity to learn more about other sports. Oh well. A good read.
November 27, 2020
In the engaging fashion typical of The New Yorker, the selection of articles makes the reader care about sports and figures in them that he or she may not have encountered before, placing the moment in time in historical context.
March 6, 2012
The best essays are the ones about insane skiers and surfers and boxing managers. Screw the pieces on Lance Armstrong, Shaquille O'Neal, and Tiger Woods.
September 1, 2018
I was at the Bookworm Frolic, an outdoor book sale held at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society a few weeks ago, when I stumbled across this anthology. Understand, I have been a sports enthusiast since the age of 9 y/o & an avid reader since I was far younger than that, but I find that reading about sports can be a cure for insomnia. Even the best writers leave me cold in that I would rather be either attending an event or watching one on television as opposed to reading about a past event or an athlete.
Given those kinds of misgivings, it would probably follow that I would give it a low rating. Instead, I have done quite the opposite. I took it with me on a recent Amtrak foray up to BOS, where it fared beautifully. I actually attended a game at Fenway Park during my trip & so I made sure to reread John Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" for the umpteenth time in preparation.
Bill Barich's "Race Track" took me back to my Navy days at Long Beach, CA where I caught the racing bug. I didn't have a lot of $, nor did I like living aboard the ship as a single sailor, so I would look for things to do on the cheap. Hollywood Park was a great place to take the bus to & spend the day drinking cheap draft beer & betting on the ponies. I also hit Los Alamitos & a couple of others so this was all memory dredging.
John McPhee's piece on Bill Bradley was fascinating, if a tad long. I had no interest in Lillian Ross' "El Unico Matador" since I find bullfighting distasteful. The profiles on Lance Armstrong & Tiger Woods show a sense of innocence on the writers' part that would eventually be belied. "Playing Doc's Games" by Wm. Finnegan was echoic of early writings by Tom Wolfe, especially "The Pump House Gang". Adam Gopnik's "Last of the Metrozoids" was a bit of a tear-jerker.
I can FINALLY say that I have read something by Ring Lardner! "Br'er Rabbit Ball" was truly hilarious as was Martin Amis' "Tennis Personalities", followed by Don DeLillo's taking the piss WRT football in "Game Plan".
Ben McGrath's "Project Knuckleball" reminded me of how scarce such pitchers really are.
Malcolm Gladwell's "The Art of Failure" was a good exercise in semantics & linguistics.
Kudos to Editor David Remnick for choosing Charles Sprawson's "Swimming with Sharks", ending with an allusion to John Cheever & then following it with a piece by … John Cheever! Brilliant!
That was not all of the stories, although I did read all of them. It was a fantastic find.
One bone to pick with Editor David Remnick -Did you choose the cartoons which were included or were they added after you had culled your choices? Some of them were simply misplaced, with the one on p. 151 needing to accompany Cheever's "The National Pastime" & the ones on pp. 208 & 309 needing to accompany Sprawson's piece. There were some cartoons which were perfect accompaniments, but some were utterly discordant.
Given those kinds of misgivings, it would probably follow that I would give it a low rating. Instead, I have done quite the opposite. I took it with me on a recent Amtrak foray up to BOS, where it fared beautifully. I actually attended a game at Fenway Park during my trip & so I made sure to reread John Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" for the umpteenth time in preparation.
Bill Barich's "Race Track" took me back to my Navy days at Long Beach, CA where I caught the racing bug. I didn't have a lot of $, nor did I like living aboard the ship as a single sailor, so I would look for things to do on the cheap. Hollywood Park was a great place to take the bus to & spend the day drinking cheap draft beer & betting on the ponies. I also hit Los Alamitos & a couple of others so this was all memory dredging.
John McPhee's piece on Bill Bradley was fascinating, if a tad long. I had no interest in Lillian Ross' "El Unico Matador" since I find bullfighting distasteful. The profiles on Lance Armstrong & Tiger Woods show a sense of innocence on the writers' part that would eventually be belied. "Playing Doc's Games" by Wm. Finnegan was echoic of early writings by Tom Wolfe, especially "The Pump House Gang". Adam Gopnik's "Last of the Metrozoids" was a bit of a tear-jerker.
I can FINALLY say that I have read something by Ring Lardner! "Br'er Rabbit Ball" was truly hilarious as was Martin Amis' "Tennis Personalities", followed by Don DeLillo's taking the piss WRT football in "Game Plan".
Ben McGrath's "Project Knuckleball" reminded me of how scarce such pitchers really are.
Malcolm Gladwell's "The Art of Failure" was a good exercise in semantics & linguistics.
Kudos to Editor David Remnick for choosing Charles Sprawson's "Swimming with Sharks", ending with an allusion to John Cheever & then following it with a piece by … John Cheever! Brilliant!
That was not all of the stories, although I did read all of them. It was a fantastic find.
One bone to pick with Editor David Remnick -Did you choose the cartoons which were included or were they added after you had culled your choices? Some of them were simply misplaced, with the one on p. 151 needing to accompany Cheever's "The National Pastime" & the ones on pp. 208 & 309 needing to accompany Sprawson's piece. There were some cartoons which were perfect accompaniments, but some were utterly discordant.
March 9, 2019
I can probably go ahead and review this - it's been on my bedside table for almost a year. I've read a lot of it. Great bedside table book. The essays vary widely in length, so you can decide how tired you are and then choose accordingly.
I can't decide if I wish these had been arranged chronologically or not. They chose to jumble them up (I guess there's some kind of system here, but I still haven't been able to figure out what it is). This means, though, that you can read a long piece about Shaq, say, from 2002, and then the next thing you flip to is about boxing or something from the 30s. It feels strange. The old pieces are still good, don't get me wrong, but the contrast is jarring.
It's also funny how dated even the newer stuff is. I just read this long piece about Tiger Woods written around 1999 or 2000, when everyone just assumed he was never going to stop winning because he was just destroying everyone. LOT of history since then. The piece about Shaq doesn't feel like it should be dated (it makes me feel old to type that) but it does, because Shaq is a TV guy now and it feels like he's been retired forever. I guess my dad's generation would feel even older reading the Bill Bradley piece or something.
I can't decide if I wish these had been arranged chronologically or not. They chose to jumble them up (I guess there's some kind of system here, but I still haven't been able to figure out what it is). This means, though, that you can read a long piece about Shaq, say, from 2002, and then the next thing you flip to is about boxing or something from the 30s. It feels strange. The old pieces are still good, don't get me wrong, but the contrast is jarring.
It's also funny how dated even the newer stuff is. I just read this long piece about Tiger Woods written around 1999 or 2000, when everyone just assumed he was never going to stop winning because he was just destroying everyone. LOT of history since then. The piece about Shaq doesn't feel like it should be dated (it makes me feel old to type that) but it does, because Shaq is a TV guy now and it feels like he's been retired forever. I guess my dad's generation would feel even older reading the Bill Bradley piece or something.
March 16, 2018
From Net Worth by Henry Louis Gates Jr
A recent study by four experimental psychologists published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology employs the term 'spontaneous trait transference' ... Over time, speakers are seen as themselves possessing the qualities that they describe in others.
The basic notion is hardly new: It's what underlies talk about basking in reflected glory, or the urge to kill the messenger. Even so, the strength of such 'trait transference' is startling. For instance, in the recent study participants were shown a video tape of a man talking about an acquaintance who was cruel to animals. In follow-up surveys, they associated that specific trait with the communicator: He was viewed as cruel to animals. And the effect was equally strong when the participants were told what was going on--when they knew that the 'interview' might have been scripted. Even when you eliminate rational warrant for the inference, people still make the association: Somehow we can't not. It is, the researchers conclude, a 'relatively mindless' process, and one that may powerfully affect our impression even of those well-known to us.
May 18, 2020
A really fun collection. I read it cover-to-cover, and it might be better appreciated in small doses (read two or three stories . . . then pick it up a week or two later). John Updike on Ted Williams is pure poetry, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. presents a terrific overview of the Michael Jordan phenomenon long before ESPN's "The Last Dance."
There are stories well outside mainstream sports. Extreme skiing. Open-water swimming. Ever heard of parkour? Some of these will engage your interest, some probably won't. But it's nice to have so much wonderful writing in one volume. (And the stories are MUCH better than any New Yorker cartoon!)
There are stories well outside mainstream sports. Extreme skiing. Open-water swimming. Ever heard of parkour? Some of these will engage your interest, some probably won't. But it's nice to have so much wonderful writing in one volume. (And the stories are MUCH better than any New Yorker cartoon!)
May 25, 2017
Sometimes you read 512 pages, and the only value you really get out of it is one five page sliver. That's not exactly true here-- I enjoyed the stories on Joe Wood (Angell), Anthony Lane's acerbic take on the Beijing Games (because of the fluidity of his writing), and maybe Gates' article on Jordan...? But the best was Murakami's running piece. Not because it was exceptionally well-written, but because it was the perfect motivation for me at this time.
April 29, 2020
You usually don't think of the New Yorker as a source of great sports writing, but over the years a number of excellent sports articles have appeared on its pages. I particularly enjoyed Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu by John Updike ( a classic), Race Track by Bill Barich, the Art of Failure by Malcolm Gladwell, The Long Ride by Michael Specter and The Chosen One by David Owen, to name a few.
December 29, 2021
A "good" 3 - 3.5
Glad I read this after wanting to for a long time. Love that this collection was put together, but I may have organized it differently. Read the essays I liked in full, skimmed some that I wasn't as interested in (#selfcare). This inspired me to start taking a peek at the weekly New Yorker though!
Glad I read this after wanting to for a long time. Love that this collection was put together, but I may have organized it differently. Read the essays I liked in full, skimmed some that I wasn't as interested in (#selfcare). This inspired me to start taking a peek at the weekly New Yorker though!
February 6, 2022
An collection of sportswriting over the decades, mostly on sports popular in the US, and many profiles of sport stars. Many of the great fiction writers of the 20th century (Updike, DeLillo, Murakami, Martin Amis, Cheever) provide their unique perspectives.
April 25, 2022
A very mixed bag here. Perhaps that is expected from a collection of essays. Some good. Others not so much. At over 30 entries, if there was an attempt to edit several long winded and serving little point could easily have been left off the menu. It would have made for a more enjoyable read.
October 9, 2025
3.75 Some gems (El unico matador, the greens of ireland, profiles on MJ, Shaq, Tiger, running novelist, last of the metrozoids) but also some stories I got to the end on and wished I had just skipped.
October 10, 2019
So many fantastic writers -- Roger Angell, John Updike and many more. Such lively writing and great topics. It inspired me to buy Rules of the Game -- Harper magazine's compilation of sports writing.
September 8, 2022
Does what it says on the tin, I guess. Some of the stories are great, many felt like meandering navel-gazing.
November 8, 2022
for a class!
February 11, 2015
This book was okay, but I think I read it at the wrong time. I had this book, The Only Game in Town, on my to-read list for about two years and should have read it earlier. Instead I read it very shortly after reading another sports collection on the best writing of the 20th century. That book was obviously much better than this one as this book was just the best sportswriting from one magazine while the previous was the best sportswriting period. Also I realized while reading this best of from the New Yorker, that I don't really go to the magazine for sportswriting. The writing in the New Yorker is outstanding, but I hardly ever go there for sports. That is what Sports Ilustrated is for.
That being said, there were some bright spots in the Only Game in Town. Although I have read them many times previously, Roger Angell and John Updike's writing on baseball is about as good as it gets. In fact, this book needed more Roger Angell. When anyone thinks sports in the New Yorker they think of Angell, who is possibly the best baseball writer of all time.
Still, this book has a wide variety of sport subjects and authors. Adam Gopnik's story on coaching kids football, Anthony Lane on the Beijing Olympics, John McPhee's story on Bill Bradley, Haruki Murakami's story on running, Rebecca Mead's story on Shaq, Michael Specter's story on Lance Armstrong, William Finnegan's story on surfing and Charles Sprawson's story on artic swimming were all good and interesting. The others stories were so-so to not that good. Usually because I didn't really like the style of the story. Still, if you are a fan of the New Yorker and haven't read as many sports books as I have, you will probably enjoy this.
That being said, there were some bright spots in the Only Game in Town. Although I have read them many times previously, Roger Angell and John Updike's writing on baseball is about as good as it gets. In fact, this book needed more Roger Angell. When anyone thinks sports in the New Yorker they think of Angell, who is possibly the best baseball writer of all time.
Still, this book has a wide variety of sport subjects and authors. Adam Gopnik's story on coaching kids football, Anthony Lane on the Beijing Olympics, John McPhee's story on Bill Bradley, Haruki Murakami's story on running, Rebecca Mead's story on Shaq, Michael Specter's story on Lance Armstrong, William Finnegan's story on surfing and Charles Sprawson's story on artic swimming were all good and interesting. The others stories were so-so to not that good. Usually because I didn't really like the style of the story. Still, if you are a fan of the New Yorker and haven't read as many sports books as I have, you will probably enjoy this.
Read
July 15, 2016It's a little depressing that the quality of writing about sports seems to have declined quite a bit, based on the evidence herein. The best essays tend to be the earlier ones, such as AJ Liebling's 1955 "Ahab and Nemesis" about the Archie Moore - Rocky Marciano fight; or John McPhee's in-depth profile of Bill Bradley which later become the book _A Sense of Where You Are_. The later essays tend to be entirely solipsistic; or obsessed with the BUSINESS of sport rather than the non-monetary details. There are exceptions -- Malcolm Gladwell's analysis of choking vs failing, Adam Gopnik's moving eulogy of his friend the art historian and amateur football coach Kirk Varnedoe -- and I understand that one of the signal features of sport today is the financial aspect... but still, I yawned my way through a lot of words about Shaquille O'Neal and various writers' personal experiences of skiing/surfing/running.
June 27, 2015
Sports stories in the New Yorker are common, though it wasn't until I digested this that I realized how deep the magazine's bench is. If Sports Illustrated has a better reputation than the New Yorker, it's only because SI has pictures. The two big names in New Yorker sports writing are represented, Roger Angell and Herbert Wind Warren. I don't go nuts for Angell like some people and the Warren article, about golfing in Ireland, has been anthologized elsewhere. The underrated sports writers for the magazine are John Macphee and David Owen, and they're included. Best essay though is the John Updike one on Ted Williams' last game, second best is the Ring Lardner one that looks like he jotted it in about ten minutes but is the ultimate in sports-writing style. A great vacation read.
July 28, 2010
Some great essays, such as classic profiles of MJ and Ted Williams. The older works are the better ones, as they show us how the role of sport has changed in America over the past century.
But frankly, Adam Gopnik's essay stands head and shoulders above the rest ---- (it's also available in his own collection of essays "Through the Children's Gate"), and it's one of the single most beautiful essays I've ever read. Kinda/sorta about his friend Kirk dying, it involves football and teaching, and is worth the price of admission for either book.
But frankly, Adam Gopnik's essay stands head and shoulders above the rest ---- (it's also available in his own collection of essays "Through the Children's Gate"), and it's one of the single most beautiful essays I've ever read. Kinda/sorta about his friend Kirk dying, it involves football and teaching, and is worth the price of admission for either book.
January 29, 2016
You might think the best sports anthology would be "Sports Illustrated: Fifty Years of Great Writing: 50th Anniversary 1954-2004". At least that's what I was thinking. But the SI anthology turned out to be a dud full of cliched writing. The best sports writing can be found in "The New Yorker" magazine. This anthology features writers who know as much about sports as the writers for SI, but also know how to produce fine writing. But, just once, I'd like to read an anthology without an article about Michael Jordan. Give me Wilt, Kareem, or Bill Walton -- please.
July 3, 2013
Excellent sports writing from The New Yorker. The most intriguing stories are from the early-to-mid 20th century, as they reflect a time in which sports were viewed and experienced in a very different manner from today.
October 1, 2010
i found myself skipping portions of it--i had hoped that the high quality of writing from the new yorker would make things like horse racing, cycling, and golf interesting to me, but i did not find that to be the case. this is disappointing, but the rest was good.
June 12, 2011
A lot of the pieces in here were a bit overwrought and ultimately turned some very interesting subjects into incredibly boring material. Sometimes, I was amazed at just how painful some of the reading was. But, ultimately, it was OK. Maybe it's a New Yorker thang, and I wouldn't understand.
January 24, 2014
Loved "The Web of the Game"; "The Only Games in Town"; "A Sense of Where You Are"; "El Unico Matador"; "Net Worth"; "Dangerous Game"; "Last of the Metrozoids" (best); "Tennis Personalities"; "The National Pastime" (best); "Home and Away"; "A Stud's Life" (best)
February 3, 2015
This was a fun read. Some of the pieces were excellent, focusing on great athletes like Ted Williams or sports I was unfamiliar with like horse racing. Some were interesting, like Malcom Gladwell's piece on failure. And some were just okay.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews