Best American Sports Writing 2011

I see that Amazon has BASW 2011 slated to hit the shelves on Oct. 4. Has there been an early release of the stories/writers featured this year? What about the special mention list in the back of the book? Anyone got the scoop?

 

I believe I saw it at Barnes & Noble last weekend.

And: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/85478/

 

Request: Can the first person who gets a hard copy of this in his or her hands please PM me? I have a question.

 

Has anyone seen the "Notables" in this year's edition yet?

 

That's what I'm looking for, too, if anybody wonders.

 

Yeah, he and I have communicated before. It doesn't come out until it's in the book, on the newsstands. That's fine with me, no worries. But if somebody gets the book before me, would just be interested to know.

 

Got my answer here, so no need for any more PMs, and thanks for thinking of me.

 

Since I know Glenn Stout occassionally views this forum perhaps he can answer a question. Why isn't the book availible on Kindle?

 

I have the book and had an hour to kill.
Here's the "Notable Sports Writing of 2010."
I apologize for any spelling errors.

Kent Baab, Boxer’s Death Was Blow to KC, Kansas City Star, May 30, 2010
Todd Balf, Desperate Measures, Runner’s World, August 2010
Chris Ballard, The Magical Season of the Macon Ironmen, Sports Illustrated, June 28, 2010
Bruce Barcott, Mind Games, Runner’s World, March 2010
Rick Bass, Wild at Heart, Texas Monthly, July 2010
Ken Berger, Determined Grant Eyes Future While Battling Relentless Opponent, CBSSports.com, Jan. 28, 2010
Lenny Bernstein, A Dreamer’s Run, The Washington Post Magazine, May 2, 2010
Sam Borden, Frankie Scafone: Unexpected Master With a Black Belt, The Journal News, Feb. 21, 2010
Peter J. Boyer, Changing Lanes, The New Yorker, Feb. 8, 2010
John Brant, Liberty and Justice, Runner’s World, September 2010
Jamie Brisick, The Rosey Resurrection, The Surfer’s Journal, Summer 2010
Chip Brown, What the Hell Happened to David Duval, Men’s Journal, June-July 2010
Paul Burka, Mister Bridge, Texas Monthly, May 2010
Eric Calderwood, Waiting for a Goal, The American Scholar, Autumn 2010
Jim Caple, Johnny Weir Is a Real Man, ESPN.com, Jan. 14, 2010
Ged Carbone, The Great Race, Rhode Island Monthly, May 2010
Dirk Chatelain, The Legend of Bubba, The Omaha World-Herald, Dec. 26, 2010
Peter Chilson, Sporting Lives: Travels with My Brother, Ascent, December 2010
Robin Chotzinoff, The Ride of Their Lives, Bicycling, March 2010
Kevin Cook, The Unstompable Roach, Playboy, Oct. 10, 2010
Andrew Corsello, The Biggest Little Man in the World, GQ, April 2010
Ron Currie Jr., How I Became a Yankees Fan, The Southern Review, Spring 2010
Bryan Curtis, Arms Race, Texas Monthly, September 2010
Nicholas Dawidoff, Rex Ryan: Bringing It Big, The New York Times Magazine, Sept. 8, 2010
John Dean, The Great Santino, GQ, May 2010
Mark Dent, Speaking About the Rucker, The Brew House, July 19, 2010
Tom Dinard, The Finish Line, Flipcollective.com, April 26, 2010
Tyler Dunne, Sting of Tragedies Can’t Shake Lumberton High Coach’s Bond With Players, The Fayetteville Observer, Oct. 10, 2010
Jason Fagone, May the Best Nerd Win, Wired, December 2010
David Fleming, As Easy as 1, 2, 3 … 756, 757, 758, ESPN The Magazine, April 19, 2010
Ashley Fox, Reid’s Ordeal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 18, 2010
Steve Friedman, The Race of His Life, Runner’s World, November 2010
Tom Friend, Fifth and Goal, ESPN.com, Dec. 7, 2010
Alison Glock, Unforgiven, ESPN The Magazine, Sept. 6, 2010
Karl Taro Greenfeld, Genetic Engineering for the Preteen Set, The New York Observer, April 5, 2010
Sean Gregory, Struck Out by Beisbol, Time, July 26, 2010
S.C. Gwynne, Head Case, Texas Monthly, April 2010
Michael Hall, About a Boy, Texas Monthly, September 2010
Benjamin Hochman, George Karl’s Cancer Fight, The Denver Post, April 4, 2010
Pat Jordan, The Babe, The Southern Review, Spring 2010
Jonah Keri, A Not-So-Brief History of Pitching Injuries Starring Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers, Jonahkeri.com, September 13, 2010
Brian Kevin, The Longest Haul, Sierra, May 2010
Michael Leahy, Kicked Around, The Washington Post Magazine, Dec. 12, 2010
Jay Lesandrini, Waiting on Deck, Sport Literate, Fall 2010
Josh Levin, The Other Blind Sides, Slate,com, Oct. 14, 2010
Laurence Lowe, The Justin Bieber of Bullfighting, Details. December 2010
Dave McKenna, The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder, Washington City Paper, Nov. 19, 2010
Manish Mehta, U.S. Olympic Hockey Player Bobby Ryan Reveals a Dark Family Secret, The Star-Ledger, Feb. 21, 2010
Elizabeth Merrill, The Woman Forever Tied to Steve McNair, ESPN.com, July 4, 2010
J.R. Moehringer, In It to Win It, GQ, March 2010
Michael J. Mooney, Friday Night Tights, The Miami New Times, March 11-17, 2010
Kenny Moore, Bernard LeGat Is Not Done Yet, Runner’s World, February 2010
Tito Morales, Shalane Flanagan: The Runner’s Daughter, Marathon and Beyond, September-October 2010
James Nestor, Tasty Freeze, Outside, January-February 2010
Ian O’Connor, Boss’ Kindness Kept Olympian Afloat, ESPNNewYork.com, Dec. 31, 2010
Danny O’Neil, Searching for the Boz, The Seattle Times, Aug. 15, 2010
Nick Paumgarten, The Ski Gods, The New Yorker, March 15, 2010
Charles P. Pierce, The Calmest Man in the Clubhouse, The Boston Globe Magazine, May 23, 2010
Joe Posnanski, Where Are They Now: Stan Musial, Sports Illustrated, Aug. 2, 2010
Eric Prisbell, Love and Basketball, The Washington Post, June 20, 2010
Annie Proulx, A Year of Birds, Harper’s Magazine, December 2010
Bill Reiter, Toughest Player in “Real Life,” The Kansas City Star, Jan. 17, 2010
Kurt Rheinheimer, Ty Cobb: Death in the Dark, Blue Ridge Country, June 2010
Stephen Rodrick, Brett Favre in Overtime, Men’s Journal, August 2010
Richard Sandomir, At 1:42, Woods (Gasp!) Tees Off, The New York Times, April 9, 2010
Gary Smith, The Unexpected Hero, Sports Illustrated, July 26, 2010
Toby Smith, It’s Time to Move On from the Latest Cliché, The Albuquerque Journal, April 20, 2010
Michael Sokolove, From Boys to Pros, The New York Times Magazine, June 6, 2010
Keith Spillett, On Losing, Tyrannyoftradition.wordpress.com, Dec. 3, 2010
John Styf, The Final Score, The Beaumont Enterprise, Sept. 26, 2010
Neil Swidey, What We Lose When Everybody Wins, The Boston Globe Magazine, Aug. 22, 2010
Mark Synott, Borneo’s Forbidden Chasm, Men’s Journal, March 2010
Rick Telander, What Football Did for Us … and What Football Did to Us, The Chicago Sun-Times, June 29-July 5, 2010
Rachel Toor, The Colossal Crack, Running Times, June 2010
James Traub, Mariano Rivera, King of the Closers, The New York Times Magazine, June 28, 2010
Eric Weinberger, The Skiing Life, The New Haven Review, Winter 2010
L. Jon Wertheim, The Amazing Race, Sports Illustrated, Sept. 20, 2010
Jason Wolf, Breaking the Cycle, The Danville Register and Bee, March 7, 2010
Alexander Wolff, The Hero Who Vanished, Sports Illustrated, March 8, 2010
John Yargo, Stick and Move, The Ring, June 2010
Ned Zeman, Higher, Colder, Deadlier, Vanity Fair, November 2010

 

I don't know that I would say too many of those authors fall under the category of "unknown" or "up-and-coming," though of the stories I read on that list, I agree with most of the choices. Thought Merrill's McNair story and Prisbell's Wall story might get into the book.

 

I realize his work doesn't lend itself to great turns of phrase, but David Epstein's work in Sports Illustrated about genes, medical issues and science as it relates to sports has been pretty remarkable. Making a lot of that stuff readable to a mass audience can't be easy and he does it well.