Customer Reviews

Everything They Had: Sports Writing from David Halberstam

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very solid collection, and a reminder of what a talented writer Mr. Halberstam was. The themes he would turn into books can be found throughout the essays. He was, it seems, most interested in the combination of race, the media, fame, and friendship. There is a certain weight toward his more recent writings (much of it available online through espn.com and other sites). Certainly worth reading, and for those of us who found Halberstam to be the most gifted writer who happened to write about sports, it is a must have book.

Halberstam was an even more prolific writer than I had thought, as demonstrated by this collection of his short sports pieces published in various magazines over the years. The collection demonstrates his keen eye for the cultural changes mirrored in sport and his appreciation for character. As for the latter, the portrayals of Ted Williams, Joe Torre, Reggie Smith, Muhammad Ali, and Pat Riley are excellent.

Two pieces on basketball are exceptionally strong -- a 1985 article about Indiana high school basketball (with some Bobby Knight mixed in) that captures the State's passion for basketball and the changes in society and sport since the 1950s. Another excellent piece concerns Halberstam's friendship with a little known basketball player who was part of the North Carolina team that beat Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in the 1950s and who had a brief stint in the NBA.

Many of the pieces explore male friendships and bonding in the context of sports. Halberstam does not delve much into the darker side of sport, perhaps getting his fill of that in his political writing.

Some of the pieces in the collection are a bit superficial and lack the depth of reasearch and passion that gave so much life to Halberstam's longer works. They smack of taking a break and making a quick buck.

On the whole, a worthwhile collection.

This collection of essays from various magazines spans more than two decades. It reflects on fathers and young sons going to their first pro baseball game together. It covers how youngsters become involved as sports fans and fanatics. It explains how a boy can be a Yankees fan, or a Sox fan or even both, and why. It discusses how baseball is suited well to radio, and football to television. Women's ice hockey is given a good analysis. I haven't started the fishing section. Halberstam is very much an observer of people and personalities, many from more than fifty years ago. An excellent purchase.

In a number of these essays, Halberstam shows us why he was the best chronicler of our times of the intersection of sports and society, and all the different angles that complex and convoluted connection had.

He reminisces about sports and adolescence, takes several looks at triad of race/sports/society, gives his take on lesser as well as "major" sports and more.

It's also a gift of Halberstam the craftsman. The essays range from just a couple of pages long to 10 or more. So, Halberstam practices his writing craft in several different ways.

Finally, often for better, occasionally perhaps for a bit worse, you get a look at how a magazine journalist, and former newspaper journalist, practices the art of recycling stories, or of turning the same interview or event into three different articles for different publications.

In "Everything They Had," we get the lighter side (in the best sense) of David Halberstam. A noted Pulitzer winning journalist and writer of contemporary history, he also wrote many books and articles about sports such as baseball, football, basketball, and fishing. Sports were the fun part of his life as a writer. In fact he noted that taking time for his sports projects were his way of taking a sabbatical. This shows in the sheer love and wonder he displays through half a century of sports writing. At times, I felt as I was reading an autobiography. Not being a professional sportwriter, Halberstam was able to pick and choose his subjects. Through his writing from the 1950's to the new millenium we see the rise and role of sports in America against the backdrop of the sociological and technological changes. Halberstam describes the rise of the NFL, the continual hold of baseball in the hearts of America, and the excitement brought by the NBA. We also gain insights into personal sports Halberstam loved such as fishing and rowing. Halberstam does not always present a rosy picture, but "Everyting They Had" is the work of an optimist and a man who looked for the best. It is not an all inclusive anthology as many sports such as Ice Hockey, Golf, and Motor Sports are left out. However, this compilation is Halberstam's story of a part of his life's journey and the writing quality is wonderful and memorable.

David Halberstam was perhaps better known for his books on history and politics, He was also a great sportswriter. This collection of essays demonstrate the breadth of his knowledge as well as his keen insight. His great strength was using his knowledge of history and politics and placing his sports stories within these larger contexts. His major premise was that sports precedes the larger society in key cultural changes. His biggest case for this was racial integration, where it occured first in baseball before it was made law later for the rest of society. As Halberstam touched on various sports and personalities, from baseball, to basketball, to boxing, for example, he repeatedly gave texture to his individual and group tales as he recounted how the sports phenomema impacted the larger culture. There is a great sense of nostalgia in his writings, particularly when he covered some of the less popular sports, like fencing or women's hockey, where the lack of big money and media attention retain a level of purity not found elsewhere. There are also fascinating historical bits, like how coach Frank McGuire and a bunch of Irish Catholic and one Jewish player from New York turned college basketball into a virtual religion in North Carolina and other parts of the south, or how basketball became a way of life in Indiana, given the weather and its rural demographics. Halberstam also weaved into his stories perspectives on male bonding, father and son relationships, and brother-to-brother issues, and how these can be affected and faciliated by sports. All-in-all, this should be a satisfying read for any sports fan.

In the Golden Age of sportswriting, Grantland Rice, Damon Runyan, Red Smith, and Paul Gallico ran their fingers over the keyboards of some of the major daily newspapers, providing images and backdrops of the sports heroes of the 1920's and 1930's. Some of these athletes were such major crossover stars, that they became household names, and attained larger than life status. Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones, Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis were stars that readers wanted to know about, and hung on the words of some of these wonderful scribes.

David Halberstam was a lineal descendant of some of these wonderful writers. this book is a collection of many of his articles. Halberstam does not always write about the Superstars at the top of their abilities. The book has passages about Muhammud Ali, but it was from nearly twenty five years after he won his last title. Although nearly mute, Ali apologized to Joe Frazier for belittling and humiliating him. Halberstam speaks of how both diminished his legacy of greatness in the ring by admitting to his weakness, yet elevates his legacy as a man.

He writes of Michael Jordon during his comeback on the Washington Wizards as a diminished player with a less than average team, where he can no longer will his teams to constant victory.

He writes about some men who have achieved greatness, yet fallen to obscurity. Tommy Kearns, the starting guard for the Tar Heels during their historic upset against Kansas, who jumped center against Wilt Chamberlain.

Fishing seems to be one of his favorite topics, and as he writes about it, he seems to land in a softer, more rounded world.

Halberstam clearly brought a fresh perspective to sports and writing. He is worthy heir to some of the great writers of earlier generations. His untimely passing left a void in the world of sports and of writing. This is a small sample of his voluminous works. Reach for it. It will please.