The Best American Sports Writing 1999 [Paperback]

Richard Ford (Editor), Glenn Stout (Editor), Richard, guest editor Ford (Author), Glenn, series editor Stout (Author)

Book Description

Series: Best American Sports Writing | Publication Date: October 29, 1999

Well established as the premier sports anthology, The Best American Sports Writing embraces the world of sports in all its drama, humanity, and excitement. This year's illustrious contributors join the ranks of such celebrated writers as George Plimpton, David Remnick, and David Halberstam. Their exceptional talent and experience continue the series' tradition of excellence, which prompted the Boston Globe to hail it as a "venerable institution".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A couple of years ago, Richard Ford himself was included in this annual anthology with a personal--and funny--meditation on hunting with his wife. It's no surprise, then, that Ford, one of America's finest novelists (The Sportswriter), would turn to David Mamet, one of America's finest screenwriters and playwrights (Glengarry Glen Ross) to anchor his superlative collection of the year's best with a very personal and very funny meditation on a deer-hunting trip in Vermont to mark his 50th birthday. "As a hunter, of course, I am a fraud," Mamet admits without much prodding; as an observer of the macho milieu, however, he hits the bull's-eye: "To hunt deer in thick woods in a snowstorm is one of the most beautiful, happiest, things that I know. I was enjoying it so much," he confesses, "that I missed the deer," which were passing in front of him a mere 20 yards away.

If Mamet missed his deer, Ford misses nothing, bagging trophy pieces on Ali (by David Remnick), Michael Jordan's finale (by David Halberstam), a Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo (by John McPhee), the end of Cal Ripkin's streak (by Thomas Boswell), bowling (by Steve Friedman), pool (by J.D. Dolan), and women's pick-up hoops (by Melissa King). Tradition--and seven decades of good craftsmanship--brings Shirley Povich's final Washington Post column into Ford's sights as well.

"There's just something in the American sensibility that values joining the often primal yet contrived acts of sport to the intensities and suave logics of well-made prose," writes Ford in his kick-off to the volume. "It seems to free us.... Plus reading sports may be the only reading for pleasure most Americans ever do." The Best American Sportswriting 1999 certainly adds to that. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

Among those profiled in this eclectic collection are a trophy hunter with a God complex, a Texas couple suing a local high school athletic director because their son failed to win a college scholarship and a squirrel-hunting immigrant who becomes the first Hmong elected to city office in Wisconsin. In short, these are not your father's sports stories. In fact, about the only throwback to traditional sports writing is the unhappy fact that, of the 17 essays chosen by novelist Ford (The Sportswriter, etc.), only one is by a woman (Melissa King on playing playground hoops), and none focuses on the current explosion in women's sports. Still, most of the writers assembled here, among them Simon Winchester of Conde Nast Traveler, Houston Press staffer Randall Patterson and Wisconsin English professor John Hildebrand, stand out not just for the captivating way they tell their stories, but for the way they avoid the trendy and overhyped subjects that tend to occupy newspaper sports sections and sports magazines. There are a few familiar topics and namesADavid Halberstam on Michael Jordan, Shirley Povich on recent baseball feats and David Remnick on Muhammad AliAbut for the most part, this collection offers engrossing studies of lesser-known folks whose quirks and flaws are more interesting than their athletic abilities. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (October 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395930561
• ISBN-13: 978-0395930564
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #471,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Journalism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Run, Touchdown, Triumph, February 10, 2008

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Avid Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best American Sports Writing 1999 (Paperback)

If you've liked previous editions, you'll enjoy this one, too. Same formula, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of human-interest stories from the sports world. Choosing a favorite or two is tough, but I love the bittersweet ones, such as about one of baseball's great "bonus baby" players who never panned out, or about the insane distance bicycle racer.

I'm delighted to see an article from a blog breaking through the "print barrier" in the series. I'm a little disappointed that so many stories came from the NY Times, as well as a couple of plain things from the Washington Post. A little more edge and a little less conventionality has been nice in other editions.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sporyswriting as Literature, April 27, 2003

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

This review is from: The Best American Sports Writing 1999 (Paperback)

The 1999 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 1999 edition include Thomas Boswell's account of Cal Ripken's voluntary stoppage of his historic games played streak, Steve Friedman's biographical article on tormented 2nd generation professional bowler Pete Weber, Allen Abel's hilarous tribute to the long-folded World Hockey Association, and Adam Gopnik's insightful explantion of why World Cup Soccer fails to excite American fans. 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.

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been longer, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Best American Sports Writing 1999 (Paperback)

Hard to believe Amazon.com can't keep their years straight when it comes to reviewing this series. Anyway, the latest collection of sports writing was all right but nothing special by the usual high standards. It's a smaller collection than normal, and there are a few hunting and fishing pieces that I couldn't get into. That didn't leave a whole lot, although what was left was pretty darn good. I particularly enjoyed the articles on the parents of a benched high school football player suing the school, and on the 1998 World Cup.