Why are sports books a tough sell?

Worth reading.

 

Thanks

 

No more than the intellectual collapse of America.

 

The sports-book market just got squeezed a bit more. Cumberland House in Nashville is shutting down, selling off a number of its titles to Sourcebooks. Cumberland has done dozens of sports books over the last 10-12 years, as their owner is a big sports fan and former college basketball player (decades ago).

Sad to hear this. Cumberland was one of those smaller publishers that offered a landing place for authors who got spurned by the bullies in NY, and they did a number of decent titles, not just churning out anything and everything like Sports Publishing would do.

 

Merry fuckin Christmas.

 

"Intellectuals" were reading a tell-all book about the Dallas Cowboys?

 

It's great storytelling, though. ... Maybe "intellectuals" isn't the right word ... but it essentially appeals to the same instinct that makes people love to read a Dennis Lehane novel. Entertaining and smart at the same time. Both guilty pleasure and brain candy simultaneously. Hard trick to pull off.

 

I'm talking about the general de-intellectualization of America. People aren't reading books anymore. They want their information in little 15 second sound bytes. If they need to click more than twice to find something, forget about it.

 

Ever been to a Borders or B&N on a Friday or Saturday night? Places are packed.

People are certainly still reading. Sales are down and the audience is more demanding than ever, but give people something interesting and they'll read it.

And the mindset is different at a bookstore than it is at a computer.

 

Can't say I've ever been to a Borders or B&N on Friday or Saturday night. People may still be reading, but attention spans are so short, they'll read a few pages and decide from that instant. I haven't read a good sports book since "The Perfect Mile."

 

Then you haven't read enough of them. Go read David Maraniss' "Rome: 1960" (or "Clemente"). Or Mark Bowden's book on the 1958 NFL championship game. Or Brad Snyder's "Well-Paid Slave" from a couple of years ago. Or "Moneyball." Or Jonathan Eig's book on Jackie Robinson's first season. Or Posnanski's book on Buck O'Neil. Or Josh Prager's "The Echoing Green."

I could go on and on, but you get the point.

 

Or A Few Seconds Of Panic, a terrific read.