Book Review: Best American Sports Writing

By Chrys Kefalas CPKSports Editor-in-Chief

“Life is a journey not a destination.” And, through that journey we arrive at certain things in our lives that make each day a pleasure to behold.

I was asked by a marketing company, FSB Associates, to review legendary sports writer, news editor, and sports reporter Dick Schaap’s and Glenn Stout’s The Best American Sports Writing 2000 part of The Best American Series. Not knowing what to expect, I unsealed the package and sat down at my desk to read a book that was a joy to read and definite must-have for not just a sports fan but any person who enjoys reading good writing.

If I did this every day, I would say, like Mr. Schaap, that “I have never worked a day in my life.”

There are stories in this book that a “meat and potatoes sports fan,” as Mr. Schaap writes, may find odd: skiing, curling, bull-riding, poker playing, cockfighting, bowling, skateboarding, free-falling, yachting, bass fishing, ultra-marathoning, and shooting. These topics, however, provide for interesting reading that will surely captivate even the most discerning “meat and potatoes sports fan.”

With all due respect to our friends at the Outdoor Network, yes, even bass fishing can be interesting through vivid and fluid language and a dose of humor. Read Jonathan Miles’ “Ay Caramba! The Fish Drink Tequila Like Goatsuckers!,” a story from Sports Afield that appears in this anthology.

Team those stories with some football, baseball, basketball, and hockey and you have the ingredients for a book that won’t leave any sports fan or English professor disappointed.

In Dick Schaap’s introduction (a reason alone to buy his book), he writes: “I like to read stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end, that tell a story, that lead somewhere. I like to read stories that provoke a response, anger or sadness or terror or joy or, best of all in the case of sports stories, laughter. I think sports, at its best, is entertainment, and sports writing, at its best, is entertaining.”

The Best American Sports Writing 2000 is entertaining. It was a true pleasure to read.

Glen Stout and Dick Schaap did all the sifting, through thousands of stories produced in the year 1999, and have left us with articles that show the power of the written word and the triumph of some truly talented writers from Bryan Burrogh of Vanity Fair to Jeff MacGregor of Sports Illustrated to Pat Toomay of SportsJones (and more).

Schaap states: “Helping to assemble this collection forced me back into reading, and for that I am grateful. I hope you will be, too.”

I was and anyone who picks this book up at their local library, favorite book on-line retailer, or book store will discover some of the true gems of sports articles.

Open this book and open your eyes, your senses, your sports scope to a compilation that will leave you saying: “Wow, this was good.”

What more needs to be said?

Article courtesy of CPKSports.com