The Best American Sports Writing 2006

I've enjoyed reading this series for a decade, and this book was right up there with the best of them. This book can either be read quickly like a pleasant novel, or it can be read in pieces; I usually save it for a business trip, when I have breaks to read for just 10-20 minutes at a time. It's hard to pick a favorite, though the boxing girl and the cave-diver pieces are especially memorable. I also thought it was interesting that several articles related to how homosexuality is accepted/not accepted in the sports world and by sports fans.

The chief strength of this anthology is its diversity. Very contemporary in flavor, this one appealed to me even though I'm only on the outer fringes of the world of sporting events. Micheal Lewis' has culled an intriguing mix of stories related to sport. In this collection, you will find a young girl who wants to box, the gay rodeo, the story of Mike Webster, a rainbow coach, the fastest sprinter with a prosthetic leg, post-Katrina football among other gems. Truly a sign of our times. Each story has a unique protagonist and/or setting and each writer does a very good job bringing his/her narrative to life. Excellent summer reading!

Have been reading "Best Sports Writing" since 2001 and it is a hit every year. Only three stories so far; the limbless wrestler was a fantastic "fighter" and had great courage. Loved "Brooklyn Heights". She could play. Also had a look at NBA article. If memory serves me correctly there was some discussion about young players going straight to NBA without college degree. Kareem A.J. made several good comments in a video clip in New York Times saying that these young players miss out on important life experiences by not going to college, but made the point that with so much money going around who could blame the young players. Got off the track. Love B.A.S.W. and looking forward to reading more of the stories. Keep it going. Nick Moschetta, Adelaide(Andrew Thomas territory), South Australia

Michael Lewis, this year's guest editor to Best American Sports Writing, is somewhat of a newcomer to sports writing. After fifteen years of fairly successful (and really interesting) journalism in his books about high finance, a presidential campaign, and Silicon Valley, Lewis hit on a major success with Moneyball, a story of money and baseball. Then he wrote Coach, about a crusty old high school baseball coach. Now he has a book out about football, The Blind Side, that tells of a poor black kid who is (with the help of a wealthy white family) on the brink of pro football success. Suddenly, instead of writing about the always fascinating topics of money, greed, and power, Lewis is writing about sports. And while it is certainly possible to write about money, greed, and power in sports, Lewis has made a disturbing turn to the heartwarming. So I approached the 2006 edition of Best Sports Writing warily. Sure enough, there are enough heartwarming articles in here to satisfy any fan of inspirational writing. The world's fastest amputee, a cyclist with Parkinson's, a girl boxer, a gay boxer, a homeless softball star, a quadriplegic wrestler, all fighting bravely against overwhelming odds. Fortunately though, there are also pieces on oddball sports like golf course fishing and gay rodeo (which features an event called goat dressing, in which the contestant puts a pair of boxer shorts on a goat in the quickest time) and competitive cheerleading. An article on the Dakar Rally and a profile of Rickey Henderson were two of the best entries in the book, in my opinion. They put you right there, in the car hurtling through the desert, and in Rickey Henderson's head. Two of the most powerful articles were about football, and despite Lewis's apparent decision to appeal to the Reader's Digest crowd, these essays are not heartwarming. One is about Mike Webster, a retired pro football player who died in 2002 at age fifty after struggling with hypertension, depression, and dementia, all probably brought on by football injuries. The other article is called XXL and it's about the alarming trend in football, at all levels, to encourage players to be heavy. Because of the changes in the game over the past thirty years, physical size is more important, and players in the NFL are on average 65 pounds heavier than they were in 1975. Over 300 players in the NFL today are over 300 pounds, compared to none thirty years ago. Young players who hope to make it to the pros someday start bulking up early. Coaches and even parents encourage the kids to put on the pounds. All in all, a satisfying collection of good writing, mostly about sports (is poker a sport?).