Sporting Life, The: Horses, Boxers, Rivers, and a Russian Ballclub [Hardcover]

Bill Barich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

Understated and witty compilation of selected essays that explore unique facets of games with the manliest appeal: horses, boxing, fishing, and baseball.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of sports' more elegant chroniclers, Bill Barich admits from the start of this superb collection of journalism--most appeared first in The New Yorker--that "I still look to the sporting life for escape and maybe even transcendence, if that isn't too grand an idea." In less skillfully versatile hands, it might be. In Barich's, it feels just right. The eight individual pieces Barich builds this Life upon swing in mood from deeply meditative to wryly comic. They traverse diverse terrain, inhaling nuance and detail: from the haughtiness of Ascot's steeplechase races to the whiff of liniment that permeates Santa Anita's backstretch, and from musty gyms filled with struggling fighters to secret trout streams. Even better, they shine a light into some unexplored corners of sporting and glow with the remarkable specifics they find.

The light burns particularly bright in "Going to the Moon," a remarkable piece about the Red Devils, a team of Russian baseball players barnstorming across America. To supplement their very un-American salaries, their equipment manager hawks souvenirs like Russian army hats, lacquered boxes, nesting dolls, and Red Devils baseball cards in the stands, then splits the proceeds. New converts to the game, they're not very good; indeed, they get blown out, game after game, by American junior college squads. But athletes are still athletes and pride is still pride, and Barich captures that truism stunningly as he describes 22-year-old Andrei Tzelikovsky, who spits like a ballplayer and wishes "he had the uncanny grace of his batting hero, Ted Williams, whose book The Science of Hitting he'd read more than 20 times." Twenty times. It's the kind of lush--even transcendent--reportage readers expect from Barich. In The Sporting Life, he displays his ability to deliver it on several different playing fields. --Jeff Silverman

From School Library Journal

YA-A collection of engaging true-life stories about horse racing, boxing, fishing, and baseball. In a polished and prose-filled style, the author presents his views of spectators and competitors, amateurs and professionals, bettors and bystanders. The book begins with a rousing race and friendly postulating of the horses at Royal Ascot in England. Readers can feel the nip of the weather, the excitement of having the Queen Mother in the stands, and the thrill of watching the fate of a wager on a favored equine. Colorful description and dialogue reveal the emotions and fervor attached to life in the boxing ring. Barich writes about the travails of an Irish amateur who has more heart than skill, and more skill than publicity. It is as clear as the sweat on the boxers' faces how they feel about their sport and how Barich rates them. When turning his attention to Russia's first attempt at baseball, he is also respectfully caring. The Moscow Red Devils tour the United States, stopping at high schools and junior colleges to display their prowess, even though perseverance is all that shows. They pick up more experience and English phrases than wins. Whether fishing solo or with a friend, Barich enjoys every minute of the play between man and fish, and sometimes between fisherman and fisherman or between fly caster and bait seller. His love of nature is evident. Throughout the entire book, the author comes across as a good-humored guy fascinated by the sporting life.
Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558219358
• ISBN-13: 978-1558219359
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,079,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but slight, December 22, 1999

By 

E. Hawkins (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sporting Life, The: Horses, Boxers, Rivers, and a Russian Ballclub (Hardcover)

Barich writes beautiful clean prose, and there's always a sly sense of humour in his stories, but this volume is a bit of a disappointment. Only the piece on Irish Pat Lawlor really seems to have been worked up; the others have the appearance of having been dashed off quickly and a bit carelessly -- the endings, in particular, look hurried -- although the prose is always fine. Two pieces in particular make one feel let down. 'Going to the Moon', the story of a Russian baseball team, looks to be just building up steam when it ends; and 'Feather River Country' just goes nowhere at all. That said, 'The Sporting Life' is still a pleasant light read, and I'll keep my eye out for what Barich does in the future.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Warmed over gruel, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sporting Life, The: Horses, Boxers, Rivers, and a Russian Ballclub (Hardcover)

Bill Barich's slim volume, The Sporting Life, was a monumental disappointment. A review in the San Diego Union compared this book to A River Runs Through It. I disagree...lustily. I'd like to toss this book into a river. A book about horse racing, boxing and fly-fishing...three of my favorite vices inside one set of covers. But each of these essays is merely warmed over gruel. The boxers are long retired, the horses don't run, and the fly fishing stories are merely tedious. You have the feeling that Barich collected a handful of articles that were so poor no one else would print them and then foisted them on us. It's a truly dreadful book. Don't buy it.