Topic: Sportswriting

February 7, 2013

The Messenger, The Message and Jason Whitlock

Tomas Rios

Jason Whitlock doesn't deserve a Pulitzer, of course. And precisely because there's a modicum of hard truth under all that Whitlockian vanity, goofiness and grandiosity, we all deserve a lot better than Whitlock.

November 29, 2012

Sports, Stories: Talking to Eric Smetana of Stymie, the Sports Literary Magazine

Brian K. Blickenstaff

Stymie started with a simple, good idea from founding editor Eric Smetana: smart sports storytelling in a variety of different styles. From that good idea has come a consistently good literary magazine focused on exploring sports through the lenses of fiction and poetry. 

November 14, 2012

The Time William Faulkner Wrote An Essay About Hockey For Sports Illustrated

David Roth

In January of 1955, a then-fledgling Sports Illustrated sent William Faulkner to a Rangers/Canadiens game at the old Madison Square Garden. The resulting essay is brief, great, and exactly as Faulkner At A Hockey Game as you'd expect.

October 8, 2012

Reads Bad: Looking at Yahoo's Robo-Roto Fantasy Recaps

Logan K. Young

It doesn't necessarily seem like good news, at least from a singularity/rise-of-the-robots perspective, that Yahoo has a team of robo-writers churning out reams of fantasy football copy. The good news, though, is that these robot-crafted fantasy football recaps read as if they were written by and for strange fifth graders. 

August 27, 2012

Glenn Stout Lives Way Up There

Kevin Koczwara

As the editor of the Best American Sports Writingseries, Glenn Stout is one of the most important people in the sports journalism business. He also lives in the remote, ice-bound wilds of Vermont, rocks a ponytail, and is otherwise utterly unlike what you might expect the nation's resident sportswriting curator-king to be like.

August 22, 2012

Kickstarter Corner: Norman Einstein is Alive and Well and Living on Kickstarter

David Roth

For two years, Norman Einstein's Sports and Rocket Science Monthly was one of the best things on the internet, both for people looking for smart, unhurried sportswriting and in general. Einstein has been laying low since 2011, but a recent Kickstarter campaign for the Normanthology, a collection of the site's best work, has brought Norman back to life. We talked to founding editor Cian O'Day and frequent contributor Graydon Gordian about the rebirth.

August 16, 2012

Goodbye To All That

David Roth

After 44 years with the Boston Globe, Bob Ryan is retiring from the sports column business. He's leaving in good health and good shape; the job itself, though, is kind of hurting, and will miss him mightily.