| Title | : | The Best American Sports Writing 2020 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 |
| Publication | : | Published November 3, 2020 |
For over twenty-five years, The Best American Sports Writing has built a solid reputation by showcasing the greatest sports journalism of the previous year, culled from hundreds of national, regional, and specialty print and digital publications. Each year, the series editor and guest editor curate a truly exceptional collection. The only shared traits among all these diverse styles, voices, and stories are the extraordinarily high caliber of writing, and the pure passion they tap into that can only come from sports.
The Best American Sports Writing 2020 Reviews
-
The best sports writing isn’t for sports fans, it crosses cultural lines and goes beyond scores and statistics. These are stories framed in sports but are impactful even if you no nothing of rules, positions and plays.
My favorites:
The Bicycle Thief
Chaos at the Top of the World
Champion Moves
How NBA executive Jeff David Stole $13 Million from the Sacramento Kings
Whatever Happened to Villanova Basketball Star Shelley Pennefather? -
My first exposure to the series of amazing sports related stories. Truly outstanding episodes. Stories of triumph and disappointment in many avenues of sports.
-
Love this version (I’ve read all 30 of them). The selections are a little different which I found wonderful and especially appropriate for the final of the series. I don’t know if it’s the Covid or Jackie MacMullan’s sensibilities, but I loved it as much as any of the other 29.
Merrill’s work up of Shelly Pennefather was an especially genius (or fortunate stroke of luck) last writing of the last volume. Not that Glenn Stout is pulling a Shelly Pennefather but he is a legend who is zagging at the peak of his powers. Also fun for me was to finish this within a week or 2 of TB12 calling it a career.
Thanks so much to Glenn Stout and all the sublimely thoughtful and articulate editors these last 30 years. I looked forward to this every year, was always exhilarated by what I read and felt a little more connected to my species when I was done.
Fingers crossed that “The Year’s Best Sports Writing” series is at least half as good; that would still make it a worthy read each year. -
This final edition of the series was very disappointing. With a few exceptions, the overall tone of the selections was dark. For a number of the stories, sports was an afterthought. It almost seems as if the editor had an agenda. I’ve read most of the books in this series and this one was, by far, the least enjoyable. It’s hard to believe that these features represented the best of American Sports Writing for 2019. I’ve noticed more downbeat articles in the last few editions. If this is indeed the direction of this series, it is time to pull the plug. Sad.
-
Jackie MacMullan is one of the best storytellers in sports journalism and so, when I saw that she had chosen the stories for this edition oe Best American Sports Writing, I was excited to order a copy. It did not disappoint. MacMullan chose many stories that expand upon significant news events in the world of sports and show off superb reporting and research. Yet they are also stories full of drama and character revelation. My favorite is probably The Bicycle Thief. When you read it, you'll see why.
-
I was really sad to read, in the introduction, that this great series is ending after about 30 years. I've probably read five of the books in this series, and each time I am wowed by the storytelling by the chosen writers. These stories are not "about" sports, per se. While sports (both popular and, more often, less popular) is the common threat throughout the book, the narratives themselves are much more about humanity than they are about games and competitions. I highly recommend this book, and really, any in the series.
-
While I admired the writing...
..I didn’t find these stories tremendously uplifting. But it did inspire me to check out some stories that didn’t make the cut. I’m sad to see this series come to an end. -
4.5
-
Incredible collection. Loved every story.
-
I have long appreciated this series and I’m sad that this is the last edition. A lot of great , thought provoking stories
-
This was a great collection of stories written in 2020. There were 25 stories in total. The range of the stories was considerable. The first story was how baseball helped Alzheimer's patients to the last story of a great woman basketball player choosing a life after college and a few years of professional basketball in a cloistered monastery. In between there was a story of how an NBA executive stole $13 million from his team and a great Paralympian choosing euthanasia to end her life. This is an exceptional collection of writing.
-
There were some interesting articles in this book. However, I skipped over many of the other articles.
