The Best American Sports Writing 1993

Much longer than its two predecessors, the 1993 edition of Best American Sports Writing is full of excellent sports writing. The long length is primarily due to an article over 100 pages long about a Chicago high school basketball team which reads more like a novel than a sports article. The sport emphasis in this issue is on both baseball (5) and basketball (4). Running has three articles, football two and the rest of the book is filled with articles on boxing, climbing, cheerleading, sports writing in general, hunting, the Citadel, grappling (you have to check this out), auto racing, golf, skateboarding and figure skating. A pleasing addition to the 1993 book is the paragraph following each article with the guest editor's brief thoughts on the piece. A theme to this year's edition is the failure of the athlete as a person. Sports celebrates the amazing accomplishments of athletes, raising them to a level of heroism surpassing any accomplishments in any other field (medicine, social action, diplomacy, etc.). What the public often doesn't think or care about is the personal lives of these heroes. A large number of articles in this book trace the `dark side' of athletes lives. It often seems that the very characteristics and strengths which make athletes successful work against them in their marriages, social lives, finances and parenting. The following were articles that revealed the side of athletes we often don't want to see. Tangled Up in Blue by Peter Richmond. Tommy Lasorda's son died of AIDS. Openly gay, Tommy Jr. maintained a great relationship with his father while his father denied his son's homosexual lifestyle. The Year of Living Raucously by Michael Bamberger. An article about John Daly's life. Enough said. White Men Can't Run by Amby Burfoot. This socially touchy article hits at a dark side of sports that is unpopular to talk about. Are different races built differently? The article provides clear facts (an Asian has never came close to being competitive in the 100-meter dash despite their superb work ethic) to show how we are built differently and that being different doesn't have to be bad. Our politically correct culture is afraid to embrace difference in fear that it will turn into prejudice. My Life in the Locker Room by Jennifer Briggs. This article shows the sexism that exists in sports journalism. Free Fallin' by Cory Johnson. Famous skateboarder Mark Anthony converts to Christianity and then proceeds to rape and kill a friend. It doesn't get much darker than this. Not Your Average Ice Queen by EM Swift. An article about Tonya Harding that is made so much better by the knowledge of what she did not long after the writing of this article in 1992. The article shows Tonya's rough family life and the bad decisions she made even more the famous knee bashing incident. No Pain, No Game by Mark Kram. This article reveals the physical beating that football players take and how the game transforms the