RIP John Feinstein

[nickp]

A Season on the Brink is one of the greatest sports books

 

[exmediahack]

Obviously my favorites are the ones already mentioned here, but a few others I enjoyed: A Season Inside, on the 1988 college hoops season. Great profiles on Steve Kerr, a young Rick Barnes, among others.

Hard Courts: About the 1990 tennis season.

Loved both of those as a teen.

He just had one come out last fall about Ivy League football. Haven't read it yet but definitely plan on it, having followed the league for 20 years since moving next to Columbia's field.

Also for "A Season Inside" for 14-year-old me.

Feinstein's real legacy to me is that his writing got me to really care about golf and Yankee League basketball. Things I really don't care about.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

I've been rereading "where nobody knows your name," his stories of following guys in AAA for a season. It's not an easy subject, but he walks the tightrope perfectly of making it interesting without being condescending.

 

[swingline]

A Season on the Brink was the first sports book that I ever purchased.

I devoured that book in one day.

Damon Bailey!

 

[Scout]

I devoured that book in one day.

Damon Bailey!

Alford and the calendar in the 1980s compared with the NIL of today is mind blowing.

 

[Small Town Guy]

This is a great thread by Steinberg.

 

[playthrough]

Here's another one, from the golf world, with a tease:

On a sports journalism forum, the veterans gleefully predicted I'd never land a job.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/john-feinstein-s-generosity

 

[MileHigh]

This is a great thread by Steinberg.

That was well done.

 

[LanceyHoward]

This is a great thread by Steinberg.

It has been a long time since I read a Season on the Brink was that Feinstein largely kept himself out of the story. The reason may have been it was an early literary work before he had become a superstar and he was more heavily edited.

 

[garrow]

Wow, what a loss. I don't even like golf and read A Good Walk Spoiled twice. His autobiography was really interesting. Wonder how his book on Black activism in sports is

RIP to a giant.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

I devoured that book in one day.

Damon Bailey!

Yeah, that was a curious deal.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I'm guessing he was working on at least one book at the time of his death. Curious as to the topic.