Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter [Hardcover]

Frank Deford (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 1, 2012

Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter is as unconventional and wide-ranging as Frank Deford’s remarkable career, in which he has chronicled the heroes and the characters of just about every sport in nearly every medium. Deford joined Sports Illustrated in 1962, fresh, and fresh out of Princeton. In 1990, he was Editor-in-Chief of The National Sports Daily, one of the most ambitious—and ill-fated—projects in the history of American print journalism. But then, he’s endured: writing ten novels, winning an Emmy (not to mention being a fabled Lite Beer All-Star), and last week he read something like his fourteen-hundredth commentary on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

From the Mad Men-like days of SI in the ‘60s, and the “bush” years of the early NBA, to Deford’s visit to apartheid South Africa with Arthur Ashe, and his friend’s brave and tragic death, Over Time is packed with intriguing people and stories. Interwoven through his personal history, Deford lovingly traces the entire arc of American sportswriting from the lurid early days of the Police Gazette, through Grantland Rice and Red Smith and on up to ESPN. This is a wonderful, inspired book—equal parts funny and touching—a treasure for sports fans. Just like Frank Deford.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Deford went to work for Sports Illustrated in 1962, fresh out of college. Since then, in addition to magazine work, he’s won a Peabody and an Emmy, written 10 novels, and delivered more than 1,500 commentaries on NPR’s Morning Edition. His accomplishments are many, but in this wildly entertaining and informative memoir, he refers to himself only as the scrivener. His subjects are what matters, and he gives them their due, as in a poignant chapter on the late Wilt Chamberlain, which offers more insight into that enigmatic basketball icon than any half-dozen books. Fortunately, despite the self-deprecating tone, Deford does portray the highlights of his remarkable career, including his early stint covering the NBA at a time when players flew commercial, played doubleheaders to boost the gate, and hung out with sportswriters because they could expense the bar tab. He was also ahead of the pack in covering women’s sports, especially tennis, and he offers some insight into why women’s team sports have never moved beyond a niche level of popularity in the U.S. A lifetime sportswriter, he’s very aware of the history of his craft, and, along the way, he shares his thoughts on “then-and-now,” including pointed anecdotes on some sportswriting legends from the past. Put this one on the shelf alongside such other classic sportswriters’ memoirs as Robert Lipsyte’s An Accidental Sportswriter (2011), Roger Kahn’s Into My Own (2006), and Ira Berkow’s Full Swing (2006). --Wes Lukowsky

Review

“Equal doses of self-deprecating humor and anecdotal history of American sports journalism are the essence of Frank Deford's entertaining new memoir.”—Chicago Tribune

“Deford is the Holy Grail. He's simply one of the greatest sportswriters of all time. ... [Over Time] has a little bit of everything -- great stories about interviewing everyone from Richard Nixon … to Jerry Jones. … Deford played with the Harlem Globetrotters, introduced the world to Bill Bradley, really disliked Rodney Dangerfield, edited the only national sports daily in our history (The National), and has great takes on the history and characters of Sports Illustrated in its formative years. . . . Deford's the best.”—Peter King, SI.com

"Deford's cred is incredible, his accolades deserved... He does not pull a punch when it comes to boxing or even to the tastes-great, less-filling Miller Lite commercials he once made... [Deford] has long been the genuine article." —Los Angeles Times

“He sketches insightful remembrances of stars like Wilt Chamberlain and Billie Jean King and lavishes affection and admiration on Sports Illustrated colleagues Andre Laguerre, Dan Jenkins, and the ‘tortured’ writer Mark Kram … [Deford is] sports writing's Sinatra.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Endearing... Over Time imparts a sense of a life well lived and fully enjoyed.”—The New York Times

"The mixture of homage to sportswriters who came before him, such as Grantland Rice; sometimes wistful vignettes of sports figures like Arthur Ashe; and his own personal reflections on the evolution of sports journalism combine to offer a cultural perspective that transcends a mere job." —Publishers Weekly (Top 10 in Sports)

“Frank Deford is the best there is. His memoir Over Time is beautiful, funny, poignant and poetic.” —Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights and Father's Day

“A wonderful book. Over Time is both a treasure and a treasury.”—Sally Jenkins, Washington Post columnist and New York Times bestselling author of It’s Not About the Bike

“Frank Deford is the best sportswriter I’ve ever read. If there’s a Mount Rushmore of sportswriting, Deford is up there, purple ties and all.”—Tony Kornheiser

“Wonderful. … [Deford is] the gold standard for modern sportswriting.”—Frank Murtaugh, Memphis Flyer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; 2nd Printing edition (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802120156
• ISBN-13: 978-0802120151
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Journalism
  • #38 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Essays

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegy for sports and scribes that covered the games. Excellent. May 13, 2012

By Narut Ujnat VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Frank DeFord (not Deford thank you, sir) is someone I have grown up seeing on television and in articles that I have come across as a kid in Sports Illustrated.

To be sure, one look at the author, and you just know he is a character (the pencil-thin mustahce and the sideburns distinguish that this is one far-out cat). And, in this book, you will realize that DeFord is an excellent writer with a great eye for details large and small which, unfortunately, have begun to escape newer generations with ESPN, Fox, Youtube, Twitter and all the other accouterments of the modern age that actually make athletes less available in some ways.

There was a time, not too long ago, when you either saw certain moments or you turned to Sports Illustrated to read articles about your heroes and their unseen feats. As DeFord makes amply clear in this book, sometimes the writers were able to make myths from what today seems pedestrian. Man, I was lucky to read Jim Murray's work in the LA Times growing up, and having people like DeFord in copies of Sports Illustrated I was able to purloin from various sources (plus Vin Scully, Chick Hearn and Dick Enberg, and Stu Nahan to see and hear on TV and radio). Writers that transcended simple descriptions of sports and allowed me to enjoy good examples of writing.

I simply loved this book. I greatly enjoy DeFord when I hear or see him (and infrequently read) him these days because of his great writing and some great stories. He covered the NBA when it was only a sport for oddballs (hard to believe these days) and got to actually befriend athletes rather than discuss their injuries or latest contracts. In the many wonderful chapters of this book, we get stories of so many heroes and villains and some autobiographical details of a vanishing world.

DeFord is a hell of a writer, and this book proves it. There are some lines (probably unrepeatable here) that I re-read several times marveling at their construction and context (Man, how come I didn't think of some of these lines, after all?). A joy for readers who enjoy sports and are fans that are probably a little more introspective than just watching SportsCenter on a regular basis, I was sad to see this book end.

Highly recommended.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Deford remains America's best sportswriter May 14, 2012

By K. Swanson TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Frank Deford may have taught me to write. As a kid I read every SI from about 1970-1982 cover to cover, and his were invariably the funniest and most enjoyable pieces (Dan Jenkins was the other highlight). Looking at my style now, it sure resembles Frank's then. If not nearly as fine. And he's still going strong, as this memoir attests.

Like his sports articles it's breezy and conversational, yet also surprisingly literate and intelligent. The man gets to the core of a person or issue mighty quick, and his unerring eye for quality and truth is a thing of much beauty. DeFord (you coulda been a name contender, Frank!) is also a people person, as they say, and his understanding of what makes us tick as humans as well as athletes lends his words real depth of meaning beyond their athletic subjects. Few sportswriters, or really any writers, can do that consistently.

Along with endless funny and touching anecdotes here are a number of tributes to sportswriting/editing greats from years gone by who never got their due from the general reading public. FD is here to fix that, and generously extols the many virtues of quite a few guys I'd never heard of but am glad to know more about now. Likewise his admiration of Rice and other forebears. Not many guys use their autobiographies to talk about how great everyone else is, but then that's another measure of this man.

I also enjoyed his various footnotes about colloquialisms and terms that have fallen out of usage; Frank loves our crazy language and its inane intricacies, and his good-humored, often ironic wordplay is one of the most appealing things about his writing.

This book is in fact just a flat-out pleasure to read, especially if you enjoy sports. But even if you don't, it's worth reading for the quality of the writing, and the quality of the man. In a world where profit and fame have become the only things that seem to matter, not just in sports but in business and all else, guys like Frank Deford make us realize what old school can and should mean. The man has character. He knows what matters in life as well as sports, and to read his words is to learn many fine and useful things about how to live and be as a human being. Plus he's always willing to insert some humor, and he can be mighty funny.

Let's just say it once and for all: Frank DeFord is not just the best American sportswriter, he's one of the best American writers period.

Thanks for sharing, my friend.
Our friend!
You helped me love words as a kid, and that love has served me as well as any I've ever found.
Peace and all good things to you and yours, Mr. Deford.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Over Done May 3, 2012

By Randy Keehn VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

When I saw that Frank Deford wrote a book about his life as a sportswriter, I jumped at the opportunity to get an advance copy. In my 20's and 30's I learned to read the articles in Sports Illustrated that were written by Frank Deford. Otherwise I just looked at the articles that had to do with the sports and teams I followed. Frank Deford made everything interesting and, more often than not, he wrote in a way that touched you deeply. I was sorry when I read that he went on to be the managing editor (if I didn't get his title right, at least I spelled his name right) of a thing called "The National". The actual title of the publication was the "National Sports Daily" and I never ever saw a copy of it. My initial reaction to "The National" is that you don't create something new and immediately give it a nickname. I was glad to find out what that was all about. In fact, there is a lot in "Over Time" that I was glad to find more about.

There are a number of excellent chapters in "Over Time" but my rating of the book overall is largely a reaction to the number of chapters that didn't interst me at all. One of those chapters has to do with the proper spelling and construction of his name. Although I alluded to it above, it came across rather flat. There was a rather meandering chapter or two (it seemed way too long) about an athlete he knew of in Princeton. Somehow he managed to sleepwalk us into some sort of connection of this athlete and Bill Bradley. Along the way he seemed to minimize the mention of Hobey Baker, the Collegiate Hockey great whose name is on the annual award for the best collegiate hockey player of the year.

Mr. Deford is properly respectful of the many people who helped him on the way but that, for me, gets into a key problem of the book; name dropping vs the annonymous people who helped in his career. We tend to thrive on the chapters about Wilt Chamberlain, Arthur Ashe, Mickey Mantle and others whose names and reputation are familiar to us. The managing editor of Sports Illustrated may have done a great job but the accounts of him and many others (despite Deford's complimentary descriptions) leave us skimming to the next great persona. There are very interesting account of the Miller Lite commercial allumni and Deford lets us have a lot of fun with his recollection. (What has happened to beer commercials the last 10 years or so!)

Deford is not adverse to letting us know about some of the jerks he met along his career. Indeed, his career makes for a lot of interesting reflections. Much of the best of the book is saved for the last chapters including a Defordian sketch of Jimmy the Greek. That chapter reminded me (as much as anything else in the book) why I wanted to read the book in the first place. Oh well, glimpses like The Greek make up for his accounts of his career in NPR (I had no idea!). It just may be that Frank Deford is too humble to write about himself with the quality that he wrote about others. I give the book a C (based on what he could have done with it) and I give Mr. Deford an A- (for what he DID do with his life).