Posts Tagged “The Best American Sports Writing”

Apr 08 2011

Introduction with Richard Ben Cramer

Posted by stevencole84 in Uncategorized, tags: , ,

Richard Ben Cramer was editor of The Best American Sports Writing 2004.

Glenn Stout made Richard Ben Cramer editor for that year.

Richard Ben Cramer on sports stories

  • “But i do contend that, on any given day, sports will offer us stories — the most human stories — in richer supply, and more reliably, than any other branch of endeavor.
  • “Stories are how we understand our lives”

Richard Ben Cramer illustrates the epic that we call sports

  • “In sports we have heroes — attractive individuals attractive individuals with exemplary talents.   By their grace, dedication, courage, and the luck of the draw, they have a chance to achieve, not just for themselves but for something larger — for their families or fans, their team, their town or the nation, or history.   They must contend, against long odds and serial difficulties — their own human tendency to weakness or error and the villainy of rivals — to the end of the game, the tournament, or the season, where we have for our story clear winners and losers.”

Richard Ben Cramer on picking the stories to put in his edition

  • “I tend to like stories that treat a whole life, or atleast the connection between sports and the rest of life.”

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Mar 29 2011

Foreword with Glenn Stout

Posted by stevencole84 in Uncategorized, tags: , , ,

Glenn Stout is the series editor for The Best American Sports Writing series.

In 2004 Glenn Stout made Richard Ben Cramer editor for that year.

What Glenn Stout had to say about the sports writers.

  • “Sports writers have never had a higher profile”
  • The big money that is coming into sports these days helped spawn things like cable channels, Internet sites, and all sports radio, there has been a lot of spill-over for those who write about sports for a living
  • There may not be more jobs or more markets but there is unquestionably more opportunity to become famous and make money.

Glenn Stout on the new age of sports journalism.

  • “Many of today’s best-known sports writers are not celebrated for the quality of the work on the page, but for the volume of their words spoken on the airwaves.

In today’s day and age there are so many ways to get your thoughts on the airwaves.

How Glenn Stout feels about the new form of sports journalism.

  • “They may have become famous and they may have become rich, but very few have become better writers.”

Glenn Stout on being the series editor of the Best American Sports Writing series.

  • Every season he reads every issue of hundreds of sports and general interest magazines in search of writing that might merit inclusion in The Best American Sports Writing.
  • He also contacts the sports editors of some three hundred newspapers and request their submissions.
  • He also encourages writers, readers, and all other interested parties to send him stories they have written or read in the past year that they would like to see reprinted in the series.

Glenn Stout on his choice for editor of the 2004 edition.

  • “Richard Ben Cramer approached his duties this year with enthusiasm, and the result is a volume of which we are both justifiably proud.”

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Mar 27 2011

Episode 2: Red Sox End the Misery

Posted by stevencole84 in Uncategorized, tags: , , ,

The Best American Sports Writing 2004

Episode 2: Misery Has More Company

By: Bob Ryan

” Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if the Red Sox could win one?”   This is the last sentence of the story.   You can only imagine what this story is about.   The only way you did not hear about this story is if you were living under a rock in the early 2000’s.

Yes, i am talking about the Boston Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees in the World Series.   I did have to figure this out considering that the author never did specify throughout the whole story.   It was an easy task to do but if you were living under a rock than sorry you will not understand what is being said in this story.

The mood of the story was very nastalgic.   I could tell that Bob Ryan is a big baseball fan and an even bigger Red Sox fan.   His note taking during the last game of the series was very thorough.  The game he was describing was an extremely exciting game.   The winner of this game was to go to the World Series.   Bob Ryan was sure that if the Red Sox did win that they would surely win the whole thing.

In actuality that is what happened.   I enjoyed the sense of disappointment in all Red Sox fans.   He did a good job painting a picture of failure in big games in Boston.   He said they were always in the big games but they were never drinking champagne.   However, in the game he wrote about they did.

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Mar 27 2011

Episode 1: The Modern Groupie isn’t Just Looking for an Autograph Anymore

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The Best American Sports Writing 2004

Episode 1: Making a Play for Players

By: Lisa Olson

Apparently women will do anything these days to obtain fame.   The story starts out by describing two typical professional sports player hunters.   It seems as if one of the women is involved with a highly respected sports figure.   She is now well off.   She walks around the streets all day spending her man’s money.   Mostly she was spending money on herself.   Self-image seemed to be a major concern for these women.

The other women was not as well off as the first one.   In fact, she is in a huge amount of debt.   She works hard and tries to make a good amount of money.   This seems pretty average, but it’s not.   On the inside that women is still looking to find an athlete at any means nessesary.   Her friend funds her and allows her to be in a position to catch an unsuspecting athlete.

What these women are doing is highly unethical.   They know how to put themselves in positions of power.   All they have to do is use sex.   Of course, this can sometimes be a dangerous thing.   There is the possibility of being caught, catching a disease, getting pregnant, and in some cases things can get violent.

But how can you blame them.   Today the media focuses soo much attention on athletes that people will do anything just to see them.   Athletes have become some of the most desired people.   They make a lot of money, are in pretty good shape, and have access to a life of fame.

The fame is really what most of the women want.   They see that by using an athlete they can get plugged into a different social class.   A social class they may not be able to enter without giving themselves to an athlete.

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