The Best American Sports Writing 2013

by J. R. Moehringer (Editor), Glenn Stout (Editor)

Overview

J. R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize–winning feature writer and the author of The Tender Bar, has selected the best in sports writing from the past year. Chosen from more than 350 national, regional, and specialty publications and, increasingly, the top sports blogs, this collection showcases those journalists who are at the top of their game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547884608
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/08/2013
Series:	Best American Series
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.74(w) x 8.26(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

Glenn Stout is a writer, author, and editor, and served as series editor of The Best American Sports Writing, and founding editor of The Year’s Best Sports Writing. He is also the author of Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid, Fenway 1912, Nine Months at Ground Zero, and many other award-winning and best-selling books. He also served as a consultant on the Disney+ film adaptation of Young Woman and the Sea. Stout lives in Lake Champlain in Vermont.

Hometown:

Denver, Colorado

Date of Birth:

December 7, 1964

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A., Yale College, 1986

Website:

http://www.thetenderbar.com

Editorial Reviews

09/02/2013
“Sports are a theater of loss, of struggle and despair, of real pain and real blood and primal disappointment, which is why the best sports writing seems to reach back, back like a discus thrower, to touch the ancient myths,” writes guest editor Moehringer (The Tender Bar) in his introduction to the 23rd edition of this reliably fine series. Highlights include Jason Schwartz’s thoroughly researched and nimbly written account of Curt Schilling’s dedicated but disastrous venture into making video games (“End Game”); Allison Glock’s haunting piece on the doomed love story between two women who were high school basketball stars in Wisconsin (“At the Corner of Love and Basketball”); and PW’s senior editor of digital media Jonathan Segura’s gutsy essay, “The Game of His Life,” which Moehringer singles out for its “lush and wanton profanity.” A few of the selections cover the same thematic ground—high school athletes dying young, scandalized runners—and some readers may be aggravated that their favorite sports are given short shrift or ignored entirely. The variety of writing, which includes everything from autobiography to reporting to profiles, and its quality atone for any shortcomings. The emotional richness of the pieces selected by Moehringer and Stout (who has been series editor from the start) defines this frequently riveting collection. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"The emotional richness of the pieces selected by Moehringer and Stout defines this frequently riveting collection." — Publishers Weekly "Excellent . . . A no-brainer pickup for the sports collection." — Booklist"An affirmation of the strong state of American sportswriting." — Kirkus Reviews —

From the Publisher

2013-10-01
For more than two decades, this series has provided annual roundups of some of the best American writing about sports, broadly and generously defined, from the previous calendar year. The 2013 edition continues this tradition. Series editor Stout (Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year, 2011, etc.), who every year does the bulk of the culling of entries, and Pulitzer Prize winner Moehringer (Sutton, 2012, etc.), who edits this year's edition from Stout's initial selections, have done a credible job of pulling together a selection that, if not actually representing all of the best sportswriting of the last year, at least serves as a reasonable representation of the healthy state of writing about the games and pastimes that so occupy millions of Americans. Occasionally, the editors confuse a great story (the thing being written about) with the execution (the writing itself) and, in at least one occasion, allow an author's reputation to outstrip their judgment about the quality of that writer's contribution. Although professional athletes and famous coaches appear--in the form of the dysfunctions of the Kansas City Chiefs, the lies of Lance Armstrong and Urban Meyer's return to college football as the Ohio State coach--the best of the entries focus on high school athletes, competitors in individual sports and obscure activities away from the glare of the media. Tragedies feature prominently. This year's edition also serves as a reminder of the healthy state of long-form writing in magazines, newspapers and on the Internet. Stout includes a listing of "Notable Sports Writing of 2012," most of which will be available to readers with Internet access. Once again, the series captures the zeitgeist on writing about sports ranging from bullfighting to football, bowling to basketball, with sports almost always being incidental to the human interest beneath the surface. An affirmation of the strong state of American sportswriting.

Kirkus Reviews