The Best American Sports Writing 1997 [Paperback]

George Plimpton (Editor), Glenn Stout (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Best American Sports Writing | Publication Date: November 3, 1997

Well established as the premier sports anthology, The Best American Sports Writing brings together the finest writing on sports to appear in the past year. Chosen from more than 350 national, regional, and specialty publications, the 25 pieces embrace the world of sports in all its drama, humanity, and excitement.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

George Plimpton, that most peripatetic of sporting literati, takes the reins on the latest edition of sportswriting's annual all-star team, and lets these thoroughbreds run. As usual, the smart money is on Roger Angell, Rick Reilly, David Remnick, and Tom Boswell, all of whom are represented, and long-shot David Halberstam makes his comeback with a fascinating profile of a fencer. But the roses go to the real derby winner in this year's group, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford for his long, lyrical, sometimes funny, sometimes profound meditation from Sports Afield on, of all thought-provoking arenas, hunting with his wife.

From Publishers Weekly

In his introduction, Feinstein (A Good Walk Spoiled) disparages sports columnists who appear at a big event and then start peppering the beat reporters with basic questions. His choices, then, are based primarily on good reporting. In terms of follow-up, Michael Bamberger's "Living with a Lie" ranks among the year's best. When a reporter did a story on TV announcer Ben Wright's apparent prejudice against lesbians in golf, CBS backed its celebrity and attacked the reporter. But Bamberger didn't let it rest, and his reporting turned up much the same conclusions. David Davis's "The 13th Round" indicts the horrors of boxing through a touching, devastating account of heavyweight Jerry Quarry, who at 49 suffers pugilistica dementia (60% of boxers do). Tom Verducci captures the fast-lane drug route of former Mets teammates Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden in "The High Price of Hard Living," while in "Polite, Feminine, Can Bench Press Dennis Carter," Karen Karbo describes the first all-female crew in the 148-year history of the America's Cup and suggests they might find an edge not with biceps but with egoless cooperation. Many of the writers make clear how the promise of big-bucks TV endorsements for mostly undereducated athletes has vulgarized many sports. Roger Angell in "The Game's the Thing" puts it this way: "Baseball feels like the rest of America: it feels like television." Feinstein says he refused to be bound by a quota system for his selections and not every sport gets equal coverage. Nonetheless, if there's any flaw in this wonderful, gutsy collection, it's that 14 of the 26 selections come from only four of the 300 publications purportedly reviewed.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (November 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395797624
• ISBN-13: 978-0395797624
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,027,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great series that's focusing more on alternative sports, December 29, 2000

By 

Brian Leverenz - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best American Sports Writing 2000 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

Many readers may take issue with the fact that this series represents sportswriting at its best. THe editor, Dick SCHaap is really a hack writer, at best. I'm sure there are many other examples of fine sportswriting out there. The series seems to be making efforts to dig up newer, alternative writers who often become as much a part of the story as what they are writing about, though no one will do that better than Hunter THompson! The strength of this series is that its increasingly focusing on lesser known or alternative sports, or just on activities that are beyond our normal view of what constitutes recreation. There are pieces on cockfighting, long-distance swimming, poker playing, bullriding, ultra-running, and guns. In fact, there are only a few pieces of writing on the big 4 sports of football, baseball, hockey and basketball. While this may turn off many a reader who prefers to read about their larger than life heroes, to me its a strength in that we get to read about people who are just as dedicated to their craft (however obscure), perhaps more so, than those athletes in the well known sports. But just when we get comfortable with a new sport, there will be a piece written totally tongue-in-cheek, such as the one by Garirison Keillor. I've read the books in the series going back a number of years and the series seems to be going more and more in this direction. This to me is its appeal, though those of you who are fans of the more conventional sports may take issue. Its not the best of American Sportswriting, but is among the most diverse of American sports writing. Many of the pieces were interesting enough to make me wish there was more to read on the event or sport, or that I could find a longer version of the story by the same author. Looking forward to next year's book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure of Great Writing About Sports, April 27, 2003

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best American Sports Writing 1997 (Paperback)

The 1997 edition of "The Best American Sports Writing" has plenty of moments that will enthrall avid sports fans and even those less avid who merely like a good story. The series is a national treasure, which collects the best sports related writing every year and puts it into a single easy-to-read volume. The sports included run the gamut from the traditional team sports of baseball and football to more extreme examples like mountaineering. The main requirement for inclusion is great writing, and that's wht this series delivers consistently.

The best articles in the 1997 edition include New Yorker editor David Remnick's hilarous book review of Dennis Rodman's "Bad As I Wanna Be," Rick Reilly's revealing (and revolting) interview with former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air," the Outside Magazine piece that later became a runaway bestselling book, Gary Smith's account of how Tiger Woods destiny was largely predetermined by his father, and Padgett Powell's biography of an American arm wrestling champion. As always, the quality of the reporting means that even if you have only a margainal interest in the sport described, you'll still find it entertaining.

Overall, another fine entry in an outstanding series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American Treasure, April 27, 2003

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best American Sports Writing 2000 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

The 2000 edition of "The Best American Sports Writing" has plenty of moments that will enthrall avid sports fans and even those less avid who merely like a good story. The series is a national treasure, which collects the best sports related writing every year and puts it into a single easy-to-read volume. The sports included run the gamut from the traditional team sports of baseball and football to more extreme examples like mountaineering. The main requirement for inclusion is great writing, and that's wht this series delivers consistently.

The best articles in the 2000 edition include Jeff Macgreggor's disturbing account of the violence that permeats Candian youth league hockey, Robert Hubert's sad biographical piece on Joe DiMaggio's only son, Michael Finkel's story about the cult of extreme marathoning, Allison Glock's entertaining biography of Robbie Knievel, and Charles Sprawson's tale of the feats of extreme swimmers. As always, the quality of the reporting means that even if you have only a margainal interest in the sport described, you'll still find it entertaining.

Overall, another fine entry in an outstanding series.