When reading a collection of related, but non-sequential essays, who knows where to start? Well, "Bo Knows" so turn first to the essays by Joe Posnanski and Michael Weinreb about Bo Jackson. Before Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson was famous as a two-sport star in football and baseball. After a hip injury ended his careers, he simply went home and loved his family. His homeruns have achieved legendary proportions, but their distances and their sounds are all on tape. The great Buck O'Neil said that he had heard that special crack-of-the-bat sound only three times in his life. The first was Babe Ruth, the second was Josh Gibson, and the third was Bo Jackson. Posnanski concentrates on the provable legends; Weinreb concentrates on Jackson's life after sports.
Then, grab a handkerchief and turn to Rick Reilly's "Getting a Second Wind." Reilly's back of the magazine essays for Sports Illustrated varied in quality, but this short essay is nearly perfect. Read it and weep tears of profound sadness and exultant joy for Korinne Shroyer and the gift she gave in death. If you can read the question, "Can I put my hand on your chest for just a second?" without a catch in your throat, then you are lost.
Then, grab a handkerchief and turn to Rick Reilly's "Getting a Second Wind." Reilly's back of the magazine essays for Sports Illustrated varied in quality, but this short essay is nearly perfect. Read it and weep tears of profound sadness and exultant joy for Korinne Shroyer and the gift she gave in death. If you can read the question, "Can I put my hand on your chest for just a second?" without a catch in your throat, then you are lost.
Read Rick Bragg, one of America's finest novelists, who writes about college football in the South, specifically Alabama football. In 1892 Alabama's first coach went 2-2 and "We therefore got rid of him," according to the 1894 school yearbook. Nothing has changed since that time; winning is vital and the fans are serious. Their children are named after coaches, 92,000 attend spring practice, and a man approaching his death bed still goes to the Independence Bowl to watch the Tide roll. Bragg, in his distinctive voice, puts it all into perspective.
Learn from J. R. Moehringer that Pete Carroll, coach of the University of Southern California Trojans, often goes into the "dicey precincts of Los Angeles" to talk with the homeless, to encourage them, and even to help some of them find jobs. He goes only with a driver, no entourage. Rick Telander uses the example of Doug Atkins, the great Chicago Bears football player, to describe the toll playing in the NFL exacts: osteoarthritis, dementia, surgeries - pain. Telander outlines the failure of the NFL ("roughness polished bright") to provide for its old timers. Current players often wallow in money; the old guys barely get enough to buy aspirin.
Learn from J. R. Moehringer that Pete Carroll, coach of the University of Southern California Trojans, often goes into the "dicey precincts of Los Angeles" to talk with the homeless, to encourage them, and even to help some of them find jobs. He goes only with a driver, no entourage. Rick Telander uses the example of Doug Atkins, the great Chicago Bears football player, to describe the toll playing in the NFL exacts: osteoarthritis, dementia, surgeries - pain. Telander outlines the failure of the NFL ("roughness polished bright") to provide for its old timers. Current players often wallow in money; the old guys barely get enough to buy aspirin.
The major sports do not take up all of the space. There are essays by Tom Clynes about hunting for the world's tallest living tree, Steve Friedman about running and living, Patrick Hruby about cricket and murder, and Jeanne Marie Laskas about NFL cheerleaders (The uses of duct tape are amazing!).
Grantland Rice, Herbert Warren Wind, Red Smith, and Heywood Hale Broun are long gone, but the beauty of their writing lingers in our memory. This latest edition of The Best American Sports Writing proves there are worthy successors to the high standards these giants set before us. Of course, those who love sports will find these essays of the greatest interest. The point here, however, is that all the writing is of the highest quality; it is as literate and as well-structured as any essay by Johnson or Swift or Addison. Do not be put off because you think this collection is merely about sports. They are about more than just the sports they catalogue. They are about people with their foibles and finery laid bare.
Grantland Rice, Herbert Warren Wind, Red Smith, and Heywood Hale Broun are long gone, but the beauty of their writing lingers in our memory. This latest edition of The Best American Sports Writing proves there are worthy successors to the high standards these giants set before us. Of course, those who love sports will find these essays of the greatest interest. The point here, however, is that all the writing is of the highest quality; it is as literate and as well-structured as any essay by Johnson or Swift or Addison. Do not be put off because you think this collection is merely about sports. They are about more than just the sports they catalogue. They are about people with their foibles and finery laid bare.
This is a book to relish throughout the year. Let it fall open and read; it is certain to be a slam dunk. Skip about as if you were loose in the secondary and run to the daylight of these delightful and often thought provoking musings on sports and the men and women who participate.
