excerpt Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Who You Calling a Red-Ass?
From his classic memoir, A False Spring, here's Pat Jordan on his minor league encounter with Joe Torre....
Bet a Million
I once had dinner with Vic Ziegel and asked him to name the most literate sports writer. And he laughed at me, laughed at the idea that someone working on deadline would stop to consider what they were doing literate. ...
What Boxing Writing Can Teach Us About Everything
Excerpted from his essay for A New Literary History of America, check out this piece by Carlo Rotella:...
Bitter and Beat by the Heat
Eliot Asinof is most famous for writing Eight Men Out. (He is less famous for once being married to Marlon Brando’s sister.) Asinof played minor league ball in the Phillies system for three years before World War II. His first book Man on Spikes was published in 1955 and to my mind is one of the bes...
Brawling And Boozing With The Rats Of Yankee Stadium
Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories, edited by yours truly, is out in paperback now. To celebrate, here's an essay from the late George Kimball. It's about Yankee Stadium II, Billy Martin, finks and phonies, brawling, and, of course, drinking with Bill "Spaceman" Lee....
A Sportswriter Goes To War: John Lardner In The Pacific Theater
From my introduction to Southwest Passage: The Yanks in the Pacific. ...
Never Give Your Kid A Cold Shower: Advice From The Worst Dad On Earth
Excerpted from Someone Could Get Hurt: A Memoir of Twenty-First-Century Parenthood, which makes a great Father's Day gift for foul-mouthed dads everywhere....
You Can't Go Home Again
John Ed Bradley's memoir of playing football at LSU, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium, is one of the finest sports books ever written. If you've never read it, do yourself a favor a pick up a copy. It's a beautiful book. ...
A Little Greedy, And Exactly Right: Red Smith On Secretariat
Red Smith is the most respected sports columnist we've ever had. In his prime, Jimmy Cannon, Smith's friendly rival, was certainly as well-known. Cannon, the Voice of New York, was an emotional, colloquial writer whose reputation, unfortunately, has faded. But Smith endures. What is it about his wri...
The Black Berets: Red Smith On The Olympic Black Power Salute
Red Smith is the most respected sports columnist we've ever had. In his prime, Jimmy Cannon, Smith's friendly rival, was certainly as well-known. Cannon, the Voice of New York, was an emotional, colloquial writer whose reputation, unfortunately, has faded. But Smith endures. What is it about his wri...
Night For Joe Louis: Red Smith On Rocky Marciano's Knockout
Red Smith is the most respected sports columnist we've ever had. In his prime, Jimmy Cannon, Smith's friendly rival, was certainly as well-known. Cannon, the Voice of New York, was an emotional, colloquial writer whose reputation, unfortunately, has faded. But Smith endures. What is it about his wri...
Miracle Of Coogan's Bluff: Red Smith On The Shot Heard ‘Round The World
Red Smith is the most respected sports columnist we've ever had. In his prime, Jimmy Cannon, Smith's friendly rival, was certainly as well-known. Cannon, the Voice of New York, was an emotional, colloquial writer whose reputation, unfortunately, has faded. But Smith endures. What is it about his wri...
Bad Ass
My favorite bean ball story involves Dock Ellis when he was pitching for the Pirates in the 1970s. The following excerpt is from In the Country of Baseball, written by Ellis with Donald Hall....
Why You're Still A Fan, Despite All The Crap: A Look Inside Your Brain
Adapted from The Secret Lives of Sports Fans: The Science of Sports Obsession....
Get Lost, Norman
From Bob Klapisch and John Harper's entertaining book about covering the Mets in the early '90s, The Worst Team Money Could Buy:...
Brownsville Bum
Here's W.C. Heinz's classic True magazine story on Bummy Davis (Jimmy Breslin called it the best magazine story ever written):...
Hookers Vs. The Klan: Why Earl "The Pearl" Monroe Chose NYC Over Indy
Excerpted from Earl the Pearl: My Story, available tomorrow from Rodale....
Look, Up in the Sky
From Leigh Montville's wide-grin of a book, Evel: The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel: American Showman, Daredevil, and Legend, here's a two part excerpt....
How A Med School Dropout Made America Fall In Love With Running
Excerpted from Kings of the Road: How Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Alberto Salazar Made Running Go Boom, which is out today from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt....
I Was Wayne Gretzky's (Hungover) Linemate: An NHL Journeyman Picks The Wrong Night To Drink
To say I was a Wayne Gretzky fan as a child would be like saying that my brother has a small gap in his teeth. The Oilers were my team and Wayne was my idol. When Chris and I played hockey in the basement, I was always Gretzky and he was always Mike Bossy. Two of the most creative offensive forwards...