The Best American Sports Writing 2011

October 24, 2011
"Sports journalism is in the middle of an identity crisis," writes Leavy (The Last Boy) in the 21st edition of this leading sports anthology. That explains the diverse range of material here, which includes stories about a Canadian hockey school that teaches young players how to fight, the evolution of the Madden NFL video game, as well as reporting about USA Swimming's sex scandal, and a posthumous profile of transgendered Los Angeles Times sports reporter Mike Penner/Christine Daniels. These 29 selections represent the changing face of sports journalism in an era when the Internet instantly delivers scores and highlights, and requires writers to dig deeper for relevant stories. "Long-form sports stories are flourishing in new soil," according to Leavy, who has chosen lengthy pieces from the ESPN and Deadspin web sites. Some stories are only peripherally related to sports, such as Sterry Butcher's "Gentling Cheatgrass" about the art of taming a mustang, Wright Thompson's masterful intertwining of Franklin Lobos's dual life as an aging Chilean soccer star and one of 33 trapped miners in "Above and Beyond," and "Fetch Daddy a Drink," P.J. O'Rourke's ode to hunting dogs. Despite some duds, sports writing is alive and well.