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Furry's Blues
“By now there must be in the world a million guitar virtuosos; but there are very few real blues players. The reason for this is that the blues–not the form but the blues–demands such dedication. This dedication lies beyond technique; it makes being a blues player something like being a priest. Virt...

Mother of Re-Invention
I've never cared for Madonna’s records or her acting. Watching her in interviews is painful. Even when she was in her prime, I didn’t dig her....

Kevin Garnett: Howlin' Wolf
A knock on a hotel room door at two o'clock in the morning in the first week of May 1995 was the beginning. Eric Fleisher, the sports agent, got out of bed, walked across the floor and looked through the peephole. Who could be here at two o'clock in the morning? Through the tiny opening Fleisher saw...

The Confidence Man
From Samanth Subramanian's 2011 story on Lalit Modi for the Caravan. ...

Risk And Romance Among NBA Groupies: An Embed's Report
Originally published in the April 1992 issue of Esquire. Reprinted here with the author's permission....

Something Terrible Is About To Happen
There, in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen. Behind the goal and a step to the left. The videotape is probably a copy of a copy of a copy, as grainy as a Navajo sand painting. A hockey game. The camera pans too fast, too slow, chasing knots of players back and forth across the ice. Medium wid...

Bow Down To The Hoop Queens
Earlier this year Skip Hollandsworth wrote a story for Texas Monthly on the most dominant team in the history of women's college basketball. It's worth your time:...

The Wit And Wisdom Of The White Rat
Pat Jordan's 1992 L.A. Times story on Whitey Herzog:...

Da Stadium
More Chi-town. Rick Telander's 1992 Sports Illustrated story on Chicago Stadium:...

Bill Murray, The Sports Fan
Since we're talking Chicago this week, it's a good time to revisit Peter Richmond's story about hanging with Bill Murray that we reprinted earlier this year....

What Happened To Jai Alai?
Earlier this year at SB Nation’s Longform, the talented Michael Mooney asked: What Happened to Jai Alai:...

Breaking The Wall With Burt
Never shy about his take on a subject, here's Pat Jordan's stinging profile on Burt Reynolds from the 1980s:...

Bud Shrake In The Land Of The Permanent Wave
Bryan Curtis wrote a nice story about Dan Jenkins, Edwin "Bud" Shrake, and their alma mater for Texas Monthly in 2008:...

Jerry West: Master Builder
There has been a lot of good writing about Jerry West over the years. This is one of the best—Richard Hoffer's 1990 SI profile, "Mister Clutch, Master Builder":...

Rafael Nadal: Rockin' My Peers And Puttin' Suckas In Fear
Over at SB Nation Longform, Elizabeth Kaye has a terrific wrap-up of the U.S. Open:...

The Commissioner's Son
Dig David Kamp's 2006 GQ profile of Paul Giamatti:...

Old Glory: Long Live the Bills
Here's a good one for you—Ben Austen's 2012 story for Grantland, "The Glorious Plight of the Buffalo Bills": ...

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....

The Veeck Family Business: Make 'Em Laugh
Last month, Michael MacCambridge was good enough to include Tom Boswell's 1981 Inside Sports profile of Bill Veeck to Grantland's stellar "Director's Cut" series....

Sean Penn Would Have Been A Great Ty Cobb
It's fun to recast movies. After watching Mystic River I wished it could start again with the leads exchanging roles. Harry Dean Stanton would have made a great Billy Martin if The Bronx is Burning was made 15 years earlier. If I could have one wish it would be to see Art Carney reprise his stage pe...