What are some good books BY sportswriters ABOUT sportswriters?

If I ever get back to Georgia, I'm going to nail my feet to the ground
by Lewis Grizzard

 

Grizzard threadjack: He once said (or wrote, I forget which) "Being a sports columnist is like being barried to a nymphomaniac. It's a lot of fun for the first two weeks."

 

That's one of the books that made me want to become a sportswriter. The other was "Summer of '49" by David Halberstam.

 

I'm currently reading "No Time Outs." Good stuff.

 

Lots of great stories in that one. Especially liked the one about Shelby Strother's wife taking the wrong suitcase home while Shelby stayed behind at the hotel.

 

Read You Gotta Play Hurt and just substitute some of the fictional names with the national people they sound like. That's essentially what Jenkins did.

 

No Time Outs is an awesome read. I've read it at least four times.

I really gotta get into this "Pond scum and Vultures" though. I've been hearing nothin but good things 'bout it.

 

Well fucking played. ;D

 

Ira Berkow's book on Red Smith gave a fascinating account of the craft

 

You Gotta Play Hurt by Dan Jenkins is by far the best book about our business, plus it's a quick read and laugh-out-loud hilarious ...

 

I thought No Cheering in the Press Box sucked. It's a bunch of sanctimonious legends spinning tales about all they did for sports and very little insight into journalism.

"I was the one responsible for the Yankees signing Joe DiMaggio."

"I advised Jesse Owens not to shake Hitler's hand."

"Not only did I cover the Brooklyn Dodgers' move to Los Angeles, I was the catalyst for it."

"I was the one who got Branch Rickey to bring in Jackie Robinson."

"Harold Grange actually was nicknamed 'Home on The' by some fat pumpkinhead in Bristol, Conn., but when I called him 'Red,' it stuck. Red and I became so close we had Christmas dinner together every year."



These guys fancied themselves "in the business" rather than reporting on it.

 

"Lady in the lockerroom" by Susan Fornoff, who used to cover the SF Giants for the SF Chron (I believe). Women read this to see how far we've come from the days when a shot of humiliation went with the boxed lunch. Or a rat in the box.

Jane Leavy, from the Washington Post,wrote a hilarious book -- can't remember the title -- about a fictional female sports writer. Parts of it had me in cramps, I was laughing so hard, and other parts had me pulling out my hair, because the heroine sports writer does all the things people accuse us -- the legit ones -- of doing, or wanting to do: sleeping with players, gambling with players, hanging with players, sleeping with players. Like we have all sorts of time to do that in between filing game stories and tracking down subjects.

Christine Brennen also has a book out about her personal journey. Seems like it's about fathers and daughters and their relationship with each other and with sports.