Xmas time--BASW '07 stories

This is just a tease. The book isn't available until Oct. 10. I've read the '06 version, and am now working on '05. I hope to some day own all of them...

Playthrough (and others) do you subscribe to Texas Monthly/Would you suggest subscribing to it? I just started reading the BASW series, and it seems like a few pieces from Texas Monthly are usually in it. If you subscribe, how are the nonsports articles?

 

Good luck finding the older editions. I started reading BASW in ’96, so I own the 11 most recent copies. But those early ones can be tough to find (even online). I stumbled across ’91 and ’92 in a sprawling used book store in Chautauqua, N.Y., last summer and felt as if I had won the lottery.

One note on the Saslow piece ... I read the story and the accompanying discussion at The WaPo's Web site. That was Saslow's first story for the magazine and his first story anywhere near that length. Given its structure and explanation, I found that rather impressive. Another Syracuse talent.

 

In service of righting a small wrong - however it came to occur - here's David Foster Wallace on Federer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html?ei=5088&en=7169701f5e36085e&ex=1313726400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

 

I liked Lewis' piece on Parcells. Last quote defining "this" was great.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised to see a piece by Larry Brown listed. And no, it's not Larry Brown the coach. For those of you not familiar with Larry Brown the author, I recommend looking him up and reading his fiction. Or his nonfiction for that matter. There is also a tribute album recently released on Bloodshot Records (Larry died almost three years ago :'( :'( :'(), which I also recommend. Great stuff.

 

I thought it was writing a small wrong?

 

I don't know. Did you?

 

My original intention was to wrong a small Wright, but neither Wilbur nor Orville were handy.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't get the "awesome-ness" of the Federer piece. It has a lot of great philosophical musings that make for a great "think piece," as Lester Bangs said. But I felt was like I was reading an assignment for lit class. I finished the piece because I was told it was good, not because I enjoyed it.

And how in holy hell does that Bugs Bunny piece get in this book? That was a dull march to make a third of the way in before I gave up. A SABR view of the Looney Tunes ... What can be more fun than that? Was that just an instance of the BASW wanting to be contemporary and select a blog entry?

As for the rest, I've immersed myself since the list came out. ... The Jake Scott piece by David Hyde was sublime, the Eli Saslow piece riveting and the Wright Thompson story on the reclusive Mark McGwire was sharp. I loved the Michael Lewis story on Parcells, but of them all, I think I liked Rhoden's column the best. I pictured him going to the track every day and waiting for a horse to die. And when it happened, he wrote a compelling tale that raises some great questions about our shortcomings.

Can anyone tell me what made the Michael Wilbon column on Red Auerbach so great? It was good; don't get me wrong. But we see good columns every day from around the country. I can't find anything that set this apart from dozens upon dozens of others we see every year.

 

i have two copies of the 1998 BASW so PM me if you want to buy one. i'll sell it on the cheap.