bestof Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Better Man: How Sugar Ray Leonard Handled Fear And Marvin Hagler
Originally published in the May 17, 1987, edition of The Washington Post Magazine. Republished here with the author's permission. His postscript follows. For more on Hagler-Leonard, check out Grantland's oral history....
Great Men Die Twice: Muhammad Ali In Decline
Originally published in the June 1989 issue of Esquire. Republished here with the permission of the late author's son, Mark Kram Jr., a wonderful storyteller in his own right. His postscript follows. For a contemporary, but very different, glimpse of Ali, check out Davis Miller's story about his day...
<em>Playboy</em>'s Candid Conversation With The Superswinger QB, Joe Namath
This interview, from 1969, is part of The Playboy Interview: Sports Gods, an ebook anthology that also includes conversations with Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Bill Jean King, Barry Bonds, and more. Buy it today at Amazon....
Butkus: One Season And One Injury With The Meanest Man Alive
This article originally appeared in the October 1971 issue of Playboy. To read every article the magazine has ever published—from 1953 until today—visit the complete archive at iplayboy.com. For more Playboy, check out PlayboySFW.kinja.com....
The Best Recipes And Tips You've Sent In So Far, Scum
This Labor Day weekend, as you well know and have indicated on all of your calendars, both paper and e-, marks the first anniversary of Foodspin—and, while this is not the precise reason why many of you will receive an extra day off from work tomorrow, it is the reason why you have clung to life lon...
Frank Sinatra Jr. Is Worth Six Buddy Grecos
Originally published in the January 1994 issue of GQ. Reprinted here with the author's permission. His postscript follows....
The Most Hated Winner In Football: Al Davis In 1969
Originally published in the Nov. 18, 1969, issue of Look magazine. Image by Sam Woolley....
The Hit King: Pete Rose In Purgatory
Originally published in the July 1997 issue of GQ. Reprinted here with permission of the author, whose annotations (as told to Alex Belth) appear throughout the story. Illustration by Sam Woolley....
The House That Thurman Munson Built
Originally published in the September 1999 issue of Esquire. Reprinted here with the author’s permission....
Dick Young's America ... The Reactionary Who Changed Sportswriting ...
Originally published in the Aug. 1, 1985, issue of Sport magazine. Reprinted here with permission of the author's widow, Laura Ross....
The Loser: The Most Honest Sports Story Ever Written
Originally published in the March 1964 issue of Esquire. Reprinted here with the author's permission....
The Longest Day Of Sugar Ray: A Boxing Great Becomes A Sideshow Freak
Originally published by True magazine in 1964. Reprinted here with the author's permission....
How Hollywood Ruined Our Best Football Novel
Originally published in 1977 in the Chicago Daily News. Reprinted here with the author's permission....
Rae Carruth, The Women Who Loved Him, And The One He Wanted Dead
Originally published in the May 2001 issue of GQ. Reprinted here with the author's permission. His annotations appear throughout the story (click on the asterisk and wait a moment for his comment to appear). Illustration by Sam Woolley....
The Yankee Bullshitters: What Joe D, Yogi, And Mickey Were Really Like
Last week gave a short post on the late, great Lenny Shecter. Now, for a real taste of his no-bullshit style, here's an excerpt from "The Flower of America" chapter of his 1969 book of essays, The Jocks....
Manchild In The Promised Land: Where Darryl Dawkins Came From
Originally published in the April 30, 1980, issue of Inside Sports. Reprinted here with the author's permission....
Who Shot Battling Siki? The Life And Murder Of A Prizefighter
Originally published in 1949 in The New Yorker and anthologized in The World of John Lardner. Reprinted with permission of Susan Lardner. For more on John Lardner, read Alex Belth's introduction to a new Lardner collection, Southwest Passage....
The Best Of The Stacks (So Far)
The Stacks is Deadspin's living archive of great journalism, curated by Bronx Banter's Alex Belth. Here are a few of our favorite stories so far....
My Old Man, On The Scales: Was My Racist Truck-Driver Father A Hero?
Here's a Father's Day treat from the late, great Paul Hemphill. From The Good Old Boys, published in 1974....
How Dr. J Blackified Pro Ball, Found Himself, And Stayed Eternally Cool
Originally published in Esquire in February 1985 and anthologized in Teenage Hipster in the Modern World, a stellar collection of Mark Jacobson's non-fiction. Reprinted here with the author's permission....