Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper's Magazine

by Matthew Stevenson, Michael Martin (Editor)

Harper's Magazine has been America's preeminent monthly periodical for more than 150 years. Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper's Magazine takes a look into this storied magazine's unparalleled archive and uncovers funny, touching, exciting, intriguing stories of the sporting life, both professional and amateur, and what it means to us. These essays show that how we play and write about sports not only reflect our nation's character, but challenge it. Including stories from Mark Twain and James B. Connolly at the turn of the twentieth century, visiting with George Plimpton, Tom Wolfe, Bill Cardoso, and A. Bartlett Giamatti along the way, and continuing with Lewis Lapham, Rich Cohen, and Pat Jordan today, this collection is the definitive voice on sports-writing through the last hundred years. Edited by Matthew Stevenson and Michael Martin, with a humorous, insightful preface by Roy Blount Jr. (Fifth in the American Retrospective Series.)

Genres: Sports, Anthologies

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2010

Reviews

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of sportswriting, but it's from Harper's Magazine so it's sportswriting with the stamp of excellence. One of the contributors here, Gary Cartwright, a newspaper sportswriter, writes this in the first entry: "The New York Times' John Kieran was a sportswriter, but he was much more. When students at Yale protested that a sportswriter had been invited to address them, Kieran addressed them in Latin." The same essence is in some of the pieces included here. A few are written with the insight and prose styling of the classics. George Plimpton wrote an essay about Marianne Moore meeting Muhammad Ali (imagine that!) which has the sagacity of Johnson and Boswell. A. Bartlett Giamatti's essay on Ali is so intelligent in its analysis and written in such brilliant, authoritative prose it could easily serve as a scholarly text.

Not all of it worked for me. Some essays, though well-written, are dated. A piece about hunting turkeys by Mark Twain is an example, as is a 1937 essay by Bernard DeVoto on the popularity of games in general. Simply not interesting because they're no longer timely. Others, too, like "Hockey Nights," Greg Lawson's portrait of junior league hockey in Manitoba, seemed endless. But the collection succeeds in other areas. A long love of sports results in your being infected with nostalgia, and it's here. "Tennessee Lonesome End" by Peter Schrag made me hungry for Southeastern Conference football, eager for the hot, humid wind of today to be forgotten amid the color and spirit of gridiron noise in crisper air. Baseball never fails to please, and the stories here are a delight, especially "A Mickey Mantle Koan" by David James Duncan, which was originally sent to me by the writer Teresa Tumminello Brader and was the seedling inspiring my read of the Harper's collection.

The nostalgia bestowed by football and Duncan's tribute to his brother and Mickey Mantle are the high bar here. They strike the right note about sport and its meaning. But in my opinion the 2 essays by George Plimpton--the 2d on the 1980 Russian Summer Olympics--and the Muhammad Ali essay by Giamatti make this a more than satisfactory reading experience.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2000 I was in a fantasy baseball league played over the Internet. One of the guys in our league posted a story that year about Toe Nash: “He walked out of a sugarcane field with a bat over his shoulder, an unknown eighteen-year old man-boy, 6’6”, 240 pounds with chiseled muscles and a talent as prodigious as Babe Ruth’s.” He was an amazing, exciting find. But then he disappeared from sight.

And now, in this collection, in an essay by Pat Jordan, we find the truth: he never was the next Babe Ruth. A story posted on the Internet by ESPN was almost nothing but exaggerations and lies. He played one season in the minor leagues, hitting .240 with 8 home runs and 29 RBIs in 47 games. He was closer to becoming the next Mario Mendoza than the next Babe Ruth.

The rest of the truth is horrible: Nash committed a brutal anal rape of a small 15-year old girl. The rest of his crimes are too numerous to write about in this short review. Suffice to say, they were many, but he skated on all of them because, after all, “he is the next Babe Ruth”.

By the way, here’s the law in Louisiana: “Whoever commits the crime of forcible rape shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than 5 to 40 years. At least 2 years of the sentence imposed shall be without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.”

[Elizabeth K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was terrific. Highlights for me were:
-two George Plimpton pieces, one on attending the Moscow 1980 Olympic games, and another essay about the time he took poet Marianne Moore out to lunch with Muhammad Ali;
-a 1948 article about the genius of Branch Rickey;
-a 1973 profile of Boris Spassky after his defeat in Iceland;
-a terrific article about junior hockey in Canada;
-a 1970 - 1970 - piece about the integration of SEC football.

Grade: A-
Recommended: You would need to already like sports and sports history, but if you do, this is a great sampling that covers a good range of eras, and a reasonable mix of sports. It might be a little heavy on baseball, but hey, it's HARPER'S so what do you expect?

[Chatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag. Some great stories, some kinda boring. Favorites: confessions of a washed up sports writer by Gary Cartwright; the city game by Pete axthelm; Tennessee lonesome end by Peter shrag; these sporting poets by George plimpton; a Mickey mantle koan by David James Duncan; hockey nights by guy lawson; no joy in sorrento by Pat Jordan; the boys of winter by rich cohen.

[David Sweet · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Plimpton, Lewis Lapham and many other literary sportswriters whose prose is so engaging … a standing ovation! @harpersmag

[Kathy Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology contains the many articles about sports that have appeared in Harper's Magazine over the years. It covers all types of sports and the many aspects of these various games. There were articles on sports-writing and aging superstars. There was an article about the 1980 Olympics which the United States of America boycotted. The history of spectator tennis and yachting is included in this gem of anthology. I myself do not play many sports. I do not have the eyesight that enables one to be good at games involving balls coming at my head. Without contacts I do not have three dimensional vision and so I often sat out of games as a child. I have read about different players in baseball because that was my favorite sport as a child, but now I do not follow many sports except during the Olympics. I enjoyed reading about Hockey, basketball, baseball, and football. No bicycling in this anthology which is funny as my sport this spring seemed to be bicycling, but maybe I needed a breather and to read some other subjects.

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great essays, even if you don't care a lick about sports.

I'm not a freak about sports, or sports writers, but I appreciate great writing regardless of topic.

I prefer well written stories about sports, and the people around sports, than I like most sports themselves.

I can't wait to read the other collections of Harper's Magazine on other topics.

[Avnish Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of great sport writing. Not your usual kind and hardly any reference to action on the field. Worth reading for some awesome pieces. There are the George Plimpton pieces, the article on Branch Rickey, one by David James Duncan and a few more. Note for Indian readers - it is only about US sports.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this for the John R. Tunis piece on the Davis Cup, I think. I liked a few of the others, too. Dates approximate.

[Matthew Barlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for any sports journalist.