THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING

THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING       J.R.MOEHRINGER
Posted: Oct. 15, 2013

 J. R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize–winning feature writer and the author of The Tender Bar, has selected the best in sports writing from the past year. Chosen from more than 350 national, regional, and specialty publications and, increasingly, the top sports blogs, this collection showcases those journalists who are at the top of their game.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

This book is filled with different stories, sports stories, but each one has a human touch to it. The first one is about a bull fighter and though I am not into that. This man was gouged by the bull on the left side of his face. It severed a nerve on the left side of his face so he could not talk or eat. Almost like a stroke. His wife and children trying to keep his spirits up but nothing would help. Finally she found a doctor who was willing to try to fix the nerve. He had the surgery and as he started to get better he decided that he wanted to get into the ring one more time. Like so many don’t won’t to stop until they sat it is time. He did and then he stopped. There is other stories about a young high school athlete who collapses on the basketball court. The electric paddles they had at the school was not charged. Don’t know if they would have worked because they found a problem with his heart. I did see this story on TV but the book story went into more detail. You got to meet the people who knew him and now miss him. There are many different type of stories. Some about running, there’s one about the friend of the Angel pitcher who died in a car crash and then he loses two more friends in a car crash. They had all grown up together and played baseball in a small town now he must continue on. The last story for me was the one that I could relate with. It is about football players but the part that no one talks about joint problems and pain medication. Though I did not play pro football I am dealing with joint pain in both knees loss of cartilage where it is bone on bone. So when he was doing this story I could relate. Then you have the teams who medicate to put the player back out there. Like any job when you start to complain you are feeling like you are going to get fired or in this case cut. So you either don’t say anything or you could end up hooked on some type of pain medication. Sad but true this does happen more than is reported and I hope more stories like this come out. Overall this was a great book.