The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan

I've been a Pat Jordan fan since I read A False Spring in 1974. The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan brings together some of his best work over 35 years. The articles range from a piece on the Boston Bruins which appeared in Sport in 1970 to a profile of Sylvester Stallone which appeared in Premiere in 2006. Jordan, a master of the long profile, has written for most of the major magazines, including Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, Playboy, Inside Sports, GQ, Reader's Digest, The Atlantic Monthly and many others. Editor Alex Belth has selected an interesting collection of profiles, including Wilt Chamberlain, Steve and Cindy Garvey, O.J. Simpson, Whitey Herzog, Greg Louganis, Carlton Fisk, Bobby Hurley, Roger Clemens, Pete Rose Jr. and Deion Sanders. You will learn a lot about Jordan and his writing from the book's introduction, author's note and 16-page interview with him. Jordan is hard on his subjects, telling the brutal truth. He's a brilliant writer and astute observer. He says his con is "Getting people to tell the truth about themselves. I want them to talk about more than they're willing to talk about." Jordan is determined to dig beneath the surface to reveal the truths of his subject. Don't expect to like all the athletes Jordan writes about. Described as a "writer's writer," Jordan has "a talent for revealing detail, scene and image." You don't have to read all 26 articles to appreciate Jordan's immense talent.

I was so anxious to read this book that I paid for expedited shipping. My excitement was spot on. This book is amazing. Pat Jordan is so honest and insightful that I felt as though I knew more about the individuals than before I read the book. There was nothing fluffy in any of the interviews. And although you wonder about the appropriateness of the story on child beauty pageants, it fits in perfectly.

First, I'm really, really enjoying the stories (I'm about halfway through the book). Jordan is a wonderful, no-frills writer with an amazing eye for the telling detail. That said, I have to dock one star for all the spelling and factual errors. In one story alone, on Whitey Herzog, he misspells the names of Garry Templeton, Dann Bilardello, Gussie Busch, and Busch Stadium, as well as placing New Athens, Illinois west of St. Louis. In an otherwise wonderful piece on the race driver Phil Hill, he repeatedly misspells the names of two of the biggest names in racing, Hill's competitors Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney, as well as referring to those devices that stop cars as "breaks." And he calls Moss an American. I'm no racing fan at all, but even I knew how to spell Moss's and Gurney's names and that Moss is English. That complaint aside, this is some of the best sportswriting I've ever read, nearly Angell-ic in quality.