What sports books are you reading this summer?

To get (even more) fired up about Saratoga opening day tomorrow, just finished:

"Jockeys, Crooks and Kings: The Story of Winnie O'Connor's Life" as told to Earl Chapin May/woodcuts by Lynd Ward.

Copyright 1930

It was great.

 

The Game From Where I Stand - - Doug Glanville

Bad Sports - - Dave Zirin

Going Long -The Wild 10 Year Saga of The American Football League - - Jeff Miller (this is a second reading for me)

 

I just picked up two: Can I Keep My Jersey? by Paul Shirley, which I'm about 100 pages into, and Behind the Iron Curtain by Jonathan Wilson.

I should have guessed the tone of Shirley's book given that the foreword was written by Chuck Klosterman.

 

I'm almost done with Mr Kindred's book on Ali and Cosell. It's superb.

Knocked over in the past few months: Paul's Hemphill's The Heart of the Game, Mark Winegardner's Prophet of the Sandlots (the final chapter stayed with me for a week), Leonard Koppett's The Rise and fall of the Press Box, Jim Murray's Autobiography, Ira Berkow's The Dusable Panthers and WC Heinz's American Mirror.
Coming up: Koppett's book on the Mets and Dave Anderson's anthology Sports of the Times

 

I read the ESPN book, which was equal parts entertaining and boring.

I read The Wave, about big waves and big wave surfers.

I re-read How Soccer Explains The World.

I keep hearing great things about Unbroken, so that will probably be next.

 

The latest ESPN book is beyond fantastic. To knock it is to pick at nits. There's gold there, Jerry . . . GOLD.

I tried to read the Glanville book. I'm not surprised that it was left to the NYT to publish it . . . it's largely a turgid slog, and I'm surprised no broadbased, long-established house would step up to the plate with it.

 

GREAT, GREAT PULL. under-appreciated sports literature.

NOTE TO MRBIO: I WILL NEVER, EVER READ ANYTHING BY GOLENBOCK AGAIN! WHAT A HACK!!

 

Don't read sports books to improve your writing. Get Hemingway's short stories, always the place I suggest that young writers startand always the place I return to eventually.

 

Hoping for ESPN book for my upcoming B-day.
Recently finished "Open," just before AA came to my neck of the woods for his Hall of Fame induction.
Haven't hit the library in awhile, so I'm working on "Best American Sports Writing of the 20th Century." I'm in the middle of the Bobby Fischer piece (4th in the book) - not the pedigree of the first three, but a helluva read.

Actually got political on vacation and read a "comic book" - "A People's History of American Empire." I unfortunately never had him for a class (Terrier Patriarch would've shipped me back to URI if I did), but Zinn was da man.

 

Shock: Espo is really good though. Really good. Hey you can't hit homers all the time, but Pete nailed one to deep center with Espo.

Terrier you are from Newport? Was just up there for a the ATP tourney, what a lovely town is Newport. Did Agassi say anything about loving or hating tennis during his induction?

 

I'm about to start the Bird-Magic book, When the Game was Ours. Anybody read this one yet? Picked it up for $3.99 on the bargain table at Borders last week. Probably could have gotten it for less if I waited a week. ;D

EDIT TO ADD: Last sports book completed was Playing their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann. Highly recommended.

 

i'm sure you like 'the bronx zoo' and other pieces of doo-doo penned by peter. um, i'll pass. no big whoop. plenty of other books in the library....