All-time favorite piece of sports journalism?

my bad if this has been asked in the past.... just wanted people to chime in

 

You started a thread without telling us your favorite, sheos. What is it?

 

I still have a hard copy of Jim Murray's last column. It's a keeper. Forever.

 

Sirs, Madames,

I think a variation of this has been floated before but anyway ...

When I was a teenager I loved SI -- just lived for it. I'll admit that I was busted up the other day when I saw the boards on the door of the variety store where I bought my copies in the late 60s and early 70s. (I used to see John Candy in there all the time too -- when he was just the fat kid on Woodville Ave.)

Anyway two SI pieces I loved are pretty obscure: a profile of Dan Gable and a profile of John Roche. Can't even recall the writers. Not huge stories from 71 or so but for whatever reasons I just read and re-read those. (I guess it was a New York Irish thing with Roche.)

I loved Dan Jenkins write-up of the 71 Oklahoma-Nebraska game. (I used to have a copy of the text somewhere--lifted off si.com--but I've lost it.) The Boxer and The Blonde would be there. And so would The Toughest Coach Ever epic.

YHS, etc

 

Kenny Moore's SI piece on Carl Lewis's 1996 Olympic long jump win slayed me

 

This has been discussed on here before, but I'll chime in with my all-time fave: Nack's SI story on Secretariat.

Close second: Onward Virgin Soldier by great British boxing writer Hugh McIlvanney about Welsh bantamweight Johnny Owen, who died in a fight against Lupe Pintor. Riveting stuff.

 

Mr Huggy,

Great choices. The Secretariat book by Nack is right there. (It is a piece of sjism I guess.) His collection likewise--Bobby Fischer and Sonny Liston, notably.

YHS, etc

 

I'll second Boxer and the Blonde, throw in the Rabbit Hunter and raise you Dick Schaap's story on Ali in the BASW Century book. Also in that book, Medora Goes to the Game. It's not the manliest sports story around, George Plimpton takes his daughter to the Yale-Harvard game, but it works for me.

 

The MLB capsules from I believe last Wednesday were quite something to behold ...

In all seriousness, the Boxer and the Blonde is tremendous. It took me 3 weeks to a month, but I ready BASW Century while on the ellipitcal at the Y. Ever seen a grown man cry at the Y? You almost did that day.

 

While not exactly poetry on par with Price or Nack or most of the stuff you'll find in and of the BASW series, the piece (or pieces) of sportswriting that is my all-time favorite has got to be the "Bandwagon" columns Kornheiser did during the Redskins last Super Bowl year. Every Tuesday, 15 inches of hilarity. I know you have to be a fanboy to appreciate some of the jokes, but they remain my all-time favorite.

 

Mark Kram, Thrilla in Manilla.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/centurys_best/news/1999/05/05/thrilla_manila/

 

Friend --
Nebraska-Oklahoma by Jenkins is the best gamer ever written. Good call.