The Best American Sports Writing 2015 by Glenn Stout

The Best American Sports Writing 2015 Reviews

• 
  Brad Hodges

  
  This year's The Best American Sports Writing, edited by Wright Thompson, is another mixed bag. I will give Thompson credit for one thing--most of it is actually about sports. Some years the only connection to sports was that it was about an athlete that had committed some sort of crime. There is only one article of that vein this year, Greg Hanlon's "The Sins of the Preacher," about former baseball player Chad Curtis, a Christian proselytizer while playing, now doing time for sexual abusing teenage girls while a coach.
  
  Instead there are some really good pieces here about sportsmen and women, some in their twilight, like "Awakening the Giant," about Y.A. Tittle, and "Precious Memories," by Tommy Tomlinson, about Dean Smith in his last days with dementia (he had not yet died upon the original publication of the article). There is a great piece by Ariel Levy on long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad's many attempt to swim the Straits of Florida called "Breaking the Waves" and a haunting essay by Jeremy Collins about a friend who passed away and their shared love of a certain Atlanta Braves pitcher in "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Greg Maddux."
  
  There are also some articles that may make you mad. A profile of Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, states: "No team owner in American sports is more famous and infamous, more revered and reviled, than Jones. After the 2010 death of New York Yankees boss George Steinbrenner, Jones assumed the mantle of America’s mercurial team owner, hell-bent on doing it his way and constrained only by a salary cap." That's by Don Van Natta Jr. in "Jerry Football." Tim Graham, in "Broke and Broken," vilifies the WWE and Vince McMahon for their shoddy treatment of their wrestlers, and how many have died young. Here's a few choice quotes: "The billion-dollar spectacle of pro wrestling relies entirely on the ruthless economic, mental, and physical exploitation of its performers," and "There is no such thing as a nice billionaire, and Vince is unexceptional in this regard."
  
  What may turn many hearts and minds cold is "Who Wants to Shoot an Elephant?" by the terrific Wells Tower, who follows a couple and their guide as they hunt down an elephant in Africa. Tower tries to be objective, but he can't quite get there. The married couple come across as ruthless, vicious people, who try to rationalize their action by saying they're saving trees that elephants eat. Basically, they just want to kill things. They are the kind of people most other people hate--they spent $80,000 on a gun. "But the elephant is about 15 feet away, and I will now confess to being scared just about shitless. The elephant snorts and brandishes its vast head. Lunch goes to lava in my bowels. If not for my present state of sphincter-cinching terror, I would well be in the market for an adult diaper. This is an amazingly pure kind of fear. My arteries are suddenly capable of tasting my blood, which right now has the flavor of a nine-volt battery."
  
  Some articles are more fun, such as "Haverford Hoops," by Chris Ballard, about a very long college basketball losing streak, or "The Sea of Crises," by Brian Phillips, about the mysterious world of sumo wrestling. There's also an article about caving, "In Deep," by Burkhard Bilger: "There, in a cloud forest in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, lay the staging area for an attempt to map the deepest cave in the world—a kind of Everest expedition turned upside down."
  
  In the international world, there's an article about American football played in China, "The Year of the Pigskin," by Christopher Beam, and the daring escape of Dodger Yasel Puig from Cuba in "No One Walks Off the Island" by Scott Eden. But my favorite piece just may be only tangentially connected to sports. It's "Those Kansas City Blues: A Family History," by Katie Baker, who uses the unexpected success of the Kansas City Royals to tell her memories of that great American city: "When we talk about Kansas City, what we’re talking about is a certain state of mind, a bricolage of bootstrap can-do-ism and ingrained suspicion of the more lawful authorities."
  
  The last article is very brief, "Peyton Manning Leaves Crushing Super Bowl Loss with Reputation Intact," by Dan Wetzel. It details Manning after his devastating loss to Seattle in Super Bowl whatever. I had grown a little weary of Manning, especially after he plugged Budweiser after winning the last Super Bowl and his association with the vile "Papa John" Schnatter. But Wetzel leaves us sports fans with a nice sentiment as the book ends, with a boy asking for an autograph after the loss: "How many times through the years had Peyton Manning signed for people, stopped for photos for people, been gracious to people. Now? Here? In the harried moments after this painful and thorough loss, after a chance at a championship was lost and might never come again, in the cramped walkways of a football stadium--not some charity meet-and-greet--isn't he allowed to be, well, selfishly human? Manning didn't think so."
• 
  J

  Any time I acquire a collection of writing, I expect there to be something great, something lackluster, and a lot in between. With the Best American Sports Writing, I will say that there is quite a theme of friendship, family and perseverance that pervades these largely American sport related stories. I say largely American sport because the inclusions lean heavily toward American Football, Baseball, and Basketball without a hint of the growing interest in proper football (aka Soccer; note the cover and the irony of that lack of inclusion), anything relating to hockey (on ice or field) or well, most sports that aren't popular in America. This is somewhat to be expected given it is American Sports writing, but the global nature of sport has largely been overlooked and one inclusion (that on Elephant hunting) could easily have been replaced with something that was, perhaps, less divisive. That said, the article about how the WWE does business, while not eye opening exactly, is well presented and hard to put down along with a bio piece of Jerry Jones that seems to paint him as both the savior and main problem for the Dallas Cowboys. The volume as a whole, though, is uneven at times and leans more toward the personal connections between writers and sports rather than readers and sports. It's not bad but it's not great. It's just good for when you want to read something long article sized related to sports.
  
  Note: ARC received via Amazon Vine in exchange for review.
• 
  Matt

  Far more interesting than I anticipated. Highlights included stories on sumo wrestling, football in China, Tommy Morrison's son, two sad features on eroded brain capacity (Y.A. Tittle, Darryl Talley), distance swimming, and the tortured relationship of Michael Sam's and his father, among many other great features.
  
  It is amazing what you can learn about the world, society, and human nature through the prism of sports.
• 
  Budd Bailey

  The Best American Sports Writing series began in 1991, and it made an immediate impression with me - and not just because my name was mentioned in one of the included stories for a couple of paragraphs. It was instantly judged to be a worthy successor to similar anthologies in the field. You might be able to find some of them in the dusty parts of the library.
  
  Here we are, 25 years later, and the series is still moving along nicely. Glenn Stout has proved to be a more than capable guardian for the idea, passing along the guest editor's job to some of the top names in the business. In 2015, he handed the reins over to Wright Thompson, the fine writer for ESPN.
  
  Thompson has picked out the final choices of articles that appear in "The Best American Sports Writing 2015." I've read every single entry in the series. Not only have I noticed how the sports journalism business has changed over the years, but I've realized the guest editor's job must be a pretty subjective one. That's because the reader's opinion of a particular year's offerings can vary with how in tune he or she might be with the editor.
  
  I'm not going to argue here that any of the choices here feature less than top-notch work. But some of the stories in the second half of the 2015 edition have a rather liberal definition of sports, and that made them a little less compelling than the others for me. There's a family history of Kansas City, which is more geneology than sports. As I'm fond of saying, one of the few things less interesting than your fantasy sports team is your family tree. It is tough to describe what the story of people going few thousand feet into a cave is, but it's not mainstream sports. The author of an article on elephant-hunting in Africa certainly did an admirable job, but it's a tough sell for me.
  
  So that's the good news, but there's plenty of stuff here. A story on football great Y.A. Tittle leads the book off. It was memorable the first time I read it, and sure enough those are the type of stories you want to read again. I missed the Haverford Hoops story in Sports Illustrated, and I'm glad I caught it here. Profiles of Dean Smith, Jerry Jones and Chad Curtis are all fascinating in their own ways.
  
  I'm also proud to say that the only newspaper contribution of the bunch - talk about changing times! - came from my newspaper. Tim Graham's look at ex-Bills linebacker Darryl Talley and his concussion-related issues of retirement ranks with the best stories anywhere in 2015. Stories about head injuries have been a part of the books in this series for the past few years. In Buffalo, this one really brought the problem home for Bills fans.
  
  I've been reviewing books in this series for several years, and they have been very popular - they rank near the top in number of hits on my blog. The review again comes down to the fact that there's always something good here - how good depending on the individual reader's point of view. In this case's, Thompson's batting average wasn't perfect for me ... but there's a good chance that the book will be even a better fit for you. So pick it up, and see how it goes.
• 
  Dale Kulas

  Once again, the annual installment of Best American Sports Writing does not disappoint. The yearly edition that features the best sports writing collected from the year keeps up its tradition of having the actual sport covered play a primary role in the story such as the article covering starting up a American Football team in China. Others have the sport play a simple means to a greater story like how a trail runner gets kidnapped by a pair of woodsmen and how she recounts her tail of survival and the fallout from the rescue attempt. An entry that got to me was an again retired football player suffering from Parkinson's trying to cling on to his precious few remaining memories at his yearly get together shindig. I also like how it closed with a lighter story at the end again, with this one covering how Peyton Manning keeps it together after a humiliating loss to the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Another excellent installment!
• 
  Andy Kristensen

  One of the best “The Best American” nonfiction collections I’ve read. It’s interesting to see what some in the media would call “fluff subjects” get their chance in the spotlight here, proving sports articles actually have some depth and deft to them.
  
  Favorites are: Chris Jones’ profile of the Gronkowski family, Jeremy Collins’ absolute gem of an essay (and, honestly, one of the top 5 essays/articles I’ve ever read) about Greg Maddux and his gone-too-young best friend’s obsession with the pitcher, Don Van Natta’s profile of Jerry Jones, Greg Hanlon’s article on the rise and fall of child molester/MLB player Chad Curtis, and Flinder Boyd’s essay on the rise and fall of Javaris Crittenton.
• 
  Doug Stotland

  I've read all the books in this series through 2015 and rate this one as average to slightly below average which means it's only great not awesome. Lots to like in 2015 including a fascinating piece on Diana Nyad. There were a few longer pieces that were too long for what was covered and more feats of investigative journalism than great storytelling or writing which is what I love so much about the series.
• 
  Matt

  Not as good as 2016's version.
• 
  Tyler

  All the stories are at least good, except Squat King and Jerry Football.
  If I had to pick a favorite I'd have to say Sins of the Preacher and "Broke and Broken".
  The stories' subject are so diverse from Sumo to cave exploring.
• 
  Tariq Engineer

  I wanted to give this book four and a half stars, but alas that is not an option. If there is a theme to the book, it might be loss; loss of memory, of family, of identity, of life, even loss on the field of play. There are a number of excellent stories, especially Awakening the Giant, Who Wants to Shoot an Elephant, No One Walks Off the Island, The Two Michael Sams and Being Tommy Morrison's Son. But the story that surprised me was Breaking the Waves. I read it last thinking I wouldn't care much for the subject - a profile of long distance swimmer Diana Nyad, but boy was I wrong. It gripped me from first word to last and taught me a something about life too. That's a pretty good deal.
• 
  Karen

  A really good year for this anthology - many fascinating, thrilling, and heartbreaking pieces.
• 
  Eric Stinton

  Best Essays, in my opinion (of course):
  Thirteen Ways of Looking at Greg Maddux
  Haverford Hoops
  Jerry Football
  Sins of the Preacher
  The Sea of Crises
  In Deep
  Who Wants to Shoot an Elephant
  The Year of the Pigskin
  
  None of the other pieces were bad at all, though. Overall a solid collection.
• 
  Jarrett

  4.65/5
• 
  Brendan O'Meara

  There are some real gut-punchers in here. Yet another great collection, the gold standard and north star for people like me.
• 
  Jennifer

  Painful, almost absent of women, and ends with a boring rah rah to Peyton Manning. I only read this because it is for Barak's and my book club. I do not recommend it.
• 
  Kristin Wolford

  I've been reading this series for several years. This had some of the better stories of the year in it.
• 
  Burgoo

  The writing is uniformly great, but your interest will vary according to the subject matter. A bit too much football & baseball for my tastes.
• 
  Stan Usher

  Couldn't finish it. Good premise, but too many stories about sports I don't like
• 
  Leland Horton

  Kind of disappointing. There were some great stories, but even more dragged on and didn't even seem well-written.
• 
  Ian Colby

  Should probably be called "Old Sports Heroes Fade Into Death: a collection". Greg Maddox one worked on me, though.