Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods, and the Big, Big Game [Paperback]

Charles P. Pierce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2000

Here, at last, is Charles Pierce's best writing on sports, collected for the first time in one volume. All of these pieces, first published in GQ, the National, and Esquire, showcase Pierce's trademark humor. Some are spot-on profiles of famous sports personalities such as Tiger Woods, Magic Johnson, and Peyton Manning, while others are portraits of lesser-known figures such as Nebraska basketball coach Danny Nee, a former Vietnam vet who openly opposed the Gulf War, Cool Papa Bell, a ballplayer from the Negro Leagues who is ripped off by memorabilia hounds, and Mike Donald, an obscure golfer on the PGA tour who played the best golf in his life only to lose a tournament by one stroke. Pierce also takes us on unforgettable journeys into the wide world of sports, from a snake-charming pole-vaulter to life on the Hooters Golf Tour, from the fashion accessories of the modern ballplayer to how a small community—Warroad, Minnesota—bonds over ice hockey. Sports Guy will delight Pierce's devoted readers and is certain to win him many, many more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A self-described "rummager and scuffler" among sportswriters, Charles Pierce displays his drive to illuminate the nooks and crannies of the American sporting life in this collection of 30 essays. "My own personal America," he writes, "comes with six seconds left, and the home teamAanybody's home teamAwith the ball and trailing by a point or a goal." Pierce admits to having little regard for the celebrity profiles he has included, because, for him, they pale alongside the tales in which context plays as vital a role as does the subject. He's right: essays on Tiger Woods and Shaquille O'Neal fall flat alongside the moving soliloquies and hearth-and-home portraits making up the rest of the book (his tale of the corkball leagues of St. Louis is particularly endearing). He avoids the two demons currently plaguing sports dialogue: sentimentality and the indictment of athletes as the sole agents of sedition in sport. Attending a game during Tiger Stadium's final season, Pierce notes that he has no attachment to aging concrete, despite hailing from Boston, "where ballparks... find themselves afflicted with talismanic characteristics, as though they were concrete Kennedys." Ten years after the Seoul Olympics, he wonders aloud how Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson's steroid use made him a villain, while Mark McGwire's made him a hero. One wonders, in fact, why these fluff pieces were included at all, since they tend to work at cross purposes with Pierce's thesis: "Big games are not about trophies and banners.... [M]emories are at stake, entire lifetimes of them." Pierce's finely detailed pieces should resonate with any sports fan who has watched in desperate agony as his team succumbs to inadequacy, and who knows the passionate optimism that springs when the season starts anew. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Pierce is a weekly commentator on National Public Radio noted for his humorous sports writing and for last year's Hard To Forget: An Alzheimer's Story. This book is a collection of sports pieces he has previously published in Esquire, GQ, and the New York Times Magazine. Pierce is at his best when exploring offbeat topics like those noted in the subtitleDcorkball, smalltown hockey, professional athlete jewelry, the Hooters Golf Tour, and so on. However, even in more conventional profiles of nationally famous figures like Tiger Woods or Larry Bird, he has a real talent for finding a unique angle from which to approach his subject. The writing is regularly engaging and, despite the sports focus, sprinkled with offhand liberal political commentary. This book has a place in any general sports collection.DJohn Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (December 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306810050
• ISBN-13: 978-0306810053
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles P. Pierce was born December 28, 1953 in Worcester, MA. Six months earlier, his mother hid in the basement as a massive tornado leveled his future hometown of Shrewsbury, MA The effect of prenatal imprinting is still being debated in medical circles, but a connection does not seem implausible.

He is a 1975 graduate of Marquette University, where he majored in journalism and brewery tours. He was delighted to combine his vocation and his avocation once again when he returned to Milwaukee to cover the trial of Jeffrey Dahmer.

He attended graduate school at Boston College for two days. He is a former forest ranger for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and still ponders the question of what possesses people to go into the woods and throw disposable diapers up into trees.

He began his journalism career writing bowling agate for the Milwaukee papers, and remains justly proud of his ability to spell multi-syllabic, vowel-free Eastern European names. He has written for the alternative press, including Worcester Magazine and the Boston Phoenix, and was a sports columnist for The Boston Herald. He was a feature writer and columnist for the late, lamented sports daily, The National. He has been a writer-at-large for a men's fashion magazine, and his work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the LA Times Magazine, the Nation, the Atlantic and The Chicago Tribune, among others. Although he is no longer a contributor, he remains a devoted reader. He is a frequent contributor to to Eric Alterman's Altercation, the American Prospect and Slate. Charlie appears weekly on National Public Radio's sports program Only A Game and is a regular panelist on NPR's game show, Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. Since July 1997 he has been a writer at large at Esquire, covering everything from John McCain to the Hubble telescope, with more than a few shooting stars thrown in between. In April 2002, he joined the staff of the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, where he writes political and general interest features.

Charles Pierce is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors. On several occasions, he was named a finalist for the Associated Press Sports Editor's award for best column writing, and it has been suggested that if only he would wear a tie, they might have let him win. He was a 1996 National Magazine Award finalist for his piece on Alzheimer's disease "In the Country of My Disease," and has expanded the piece into a book Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer's Story for Random House. In 2004, he won a National Headliners Award for his Globe Magazine piece, "Deconstructing Ted". Depending on which year this is, Charlie Pierce has appeared in Best American Sportswriting more times than any other writer, or has tied with Roger Angell for most appearances in Best American Sportswriting, or is sulking in second place and plotting to regain the top spot soon, or has fallen plumb off the court. Charlie's sportswriting has been anthologized in Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods, and the Big, Big Game. He was awarded third place in the PBWAA Dan S. Blumenthal Memorial Writing Contest. When he won Phone Jeopardy, Alex Trebek sent him a plaque.

Charles Pierce lives in metro Boston with at least some of his three children all of the time, the rusted remains of a malfunctioning Toro lawnmower and his extremely long-suffering wife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, May 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods, and the Big, Big Game (Paperback)

I am a fan of the game behind the game when it comes to sports. I do like to watch the games, but what I find really interesting is stories of the individuals and the stories about what happens off the field. That is why I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Pierce's book.

I believe the reason sports fascinates us so much is not do to the game but the people who play the game, and how the "game" effects the rest of the world. Mr. Pierce provides that much-needed insight into sorts. He pushes beyond the box scores to bring reader to the heart of sports.

In this collection there is a wide range of topics and sports covered, each with Pierce's attention to detail and sharp wit. He goes from the back roads to the inner offices to find the stories behind the sports. He handles each subject with care, and though he may not handle each person or more appropriately ego with care it is done only to breathe reality into the Hollywood and marketing of sports.

Pierce has a writing style that is refreshing and each piece has its own flavor. Sitting down with his book is almost like sitting down with a collection of different authors. While Piece does have his own style he does not let that interfere with writing the story they way it needs to be written. He does not try to shoe horn events or people into his style instead he lets his subjects pick the tone and the pace, and he adds the frame and the lighting for us to better understand them.

But please do not take my comments about Pierce style to mean that his work is heady or inaccessible. In fact its quite the opposite, after all this is a man who likes to sit in the bleachers with a paper cup of beer in his hand and cheer loudly for the home team. Instead I offered my comments to point out that this book is not just for sports fan, but also for people who enjoy stories.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, and not just for sports guys, January 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods, and the Big, Big Game (Paperback)

Charlie Pierce has been writing about sports for about a quarter-century, and Sports Guy anthologizes some of his work of the past 10 years. Lots of sportswriters would like you to think they are essayists and that they are writing not about athletics, but about life and its profundities. However, boxing and food and travel and history and war correspondent A.J. Liebling is dead, so Pierce has the center ring to himself.

There are 30 pieces here. Take one a day, save some for your flight delay, or read them all at once. Here are some favorites:

"Soul on Ice," where Pierce's sentences swoop like chittering bats in the soft night to scoop up another tasty adjective, only to halt in mid-air for the kill: "Community is virtually lost to sports today. A team does not rise within a city. It is laid upon it ..." Plus the history of the Ojibwe.

"The Snake-Handling Pole Vaulter," which is every bit as funny and quirky and charming as the title, until the end.

The racism in the distinction between "smart" ball player and the one with "natural ability," and how Larry Bird and Magic Johnson messed with this.

And how Magic Johnson sentenced Earvin Johnson to exile and possibly to early death.

"The Man. Amen" is notorious, and important, and not funny. It is the Tiger Woods piece, where Pierce ripped the façade of sainthood off the golfer. This chapter should carry a graphic-language disclaimer. And for that very reason, every journalism student should read it.

Other celebrity interviews include Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Deion Sanders. Even better are the talks with the unknowns: Bob Marley's son the linebacker. Wolfman the lottery-winning traveling wrestler. The golf pros who teeter on the edge of fame and fall back to the other side. The corkball players.

There are not a lot of women here. But "Two Tough Mothers" features two women who are not softball pitchers or soccer goalies, but who play hardball. And get in trouble for it.

As alluded to, Pierce quotes both the foul-mouthed and the well-mannered athlete accurately. But if teachers and parents are comfortable that, this is a fine book to give to the student whose intellectual high point of the day has been ESPN's Sportscenter. And give it to those who know who Dickie Beardsley is, and what happened to him, and to those who don't.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pierce is THE sports guy., March 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods, and the Big, Big Game (Paperback)

I am a fan of the game behind the game when it comes to sports. I do like to watch the games, but what I find really interesting is stories of the individuals and the stories about what happens off the field. That is why I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Pierce's book.

I believe the reason sports fascinates us so much is not do to the game but the people who play the game, and how the "game" effects the rest of the world. Mr. Pierce provides that much-needed insight into sorts. He pushes beyond the box scores to bring reader to the heart of sports.

In this collection there is a wide range of topics and sports covered, each with Pierce's attention to detail and sharp wit. He goes from the back roads to the inner offices to find the stories behind the sports. He handles each subject with care, and though he may not handle each person or more appropriately ego with care it is done only to breathe reality into the Hollywood and marketing of sports.

Pierce has a writing style that is refreshing and each piece has its own flavor. Sitting down with his book is almost like sitting down with a collection of different authors. While Piece does have his own style he does let that interfere with writing the story they way it needs to be written. He does try to shoe horn events or people into his style instead he lets his subjects pick the tone and the pace, and he adds the frame and the lighting for us to better understand them.

But please do not take my comments about Pierce style to mean that his work is heady or inaccessible. In fact its quite the opposite, after all this is a man who likes to sit in the bleachers with a paper cup of beer in his hand and cheer loudly for the home team. Instead I offered my comments to point out that this book is not just for sports fan, but also for people who enjoy stories.