All year
long I’ve been reading great sports journalism online to recommend to the
followers of my podcast’s (Basement Sports) Facebook fanpage. I’m a writer and
a huge sports fan, so the two mingling together to form great journalism has
always mesmerized me. The year has truly seen some great sports writing, and I
wanted to share the best of the best that I’ve read from 2013.
Over the
next few days I will be unveiling the ‘25 Best Sports Writing Articles of 2013’
from the many that I have read. While I’ve read more than 100 fine pieces this
year I’m sure that some truly fantastic online sports writing has slipped
through my grasps, so I do apologize if an obvious piece of great sports
writing has been omitted.
In the
final part of this five-part list are excellent works on the national Skee-ball
championships (yes, that exists), a mother’s plea to Johnny Manziel to change
his bad boy ways, the uncovering of Manti Te’o’s fake dead girlfriend, the
unique way of re-telling a season-changing play and the Amish’s love of
baseball.
Providence Journal sports writer Brian MacPherson
gets my award this season for the most interesting coverage of a big play or
event with the incredibly unique and to my knowledge original way he covered
Boston Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino’s game-winning grand slam in the
American League Championship Series that sent the Red Sox to the World Series
and an eventual championship. MacPherson was able to capture the grand slam
from the viewpoint of many throughout the stadium, including players and
coaches in the dugout, bullpen and clubhouse, as well as executives of the team
in their offices or team suites. The unique perspective given of the play from
those within its vicinity really sets this article apart from the rest of the
field.
This rather extensive expose from Deadspin’s Timothy
Burke and Jack Dickey is quite likely the most read bit of sports journalism
from 2013 as the duo uncovered the highly odd and controversial story of former
Notre Dame Heisman candidate linebacker Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend being a
complete hoax. The Te’o girlfriend hoax would quickly become one of the most
overplayed and annoying sports stories of the year and be supremely embarrassing
to Te’o himself, but the initial story proves to be one of the most stellar and
important sports journalism pieces of 2013.
Who doesn’t enjoy a good game of Skee-ball every now
and then? According to The Classical’s Sean Hojnacki in his great firsthand
piece of the Brewskee-Ball National Championship in Austin, Texas some people
take the arcade game extremely serious. This piece is fascinating for similar
reasons as John Metcalfe’s piece at The Atlantic on thumb wrestling
championships, which appeared earlier on this list. Much like the thumb
wrestling championship, the Skee-ball championship features unique individuals
with nicknames like Joey the Cat and Snakes on a Lane. The fact that something
of this caliber takes place annually was incredibly appealing to me.
“An Open
Letter to Johnny Manziel” is almost certainly the only piece of sports writing
on this list that was not actually written by either a journalist or a
published writer … in fact, it was written by a Texas mom in her blog. That
fact really makes the entire thing more interesting, impressive and just
all-around perfect. The blog post is Beth Bates’ open letter to 2012 Heisman
Trophy winner and Texas A&M college football quarterback Johnny Manziel on
his attitude, and the fact that he’s being a horrible role model to children,
like her son, who idolize him. Hopefully Manziel somehow got a chance to read this
piece, because it was advice that he really needed to hear.
1. "The Boys of Lancaster: There's a genius to the way the Amish play baseball" by New Republic's Kent Russell (March 22)
One of the things that will most draw me to a sports
journalism piece is its uniqueness. I don’t believe that I read anything quite
as unique and interesting this year as Kent Russell’s story on Amish baseball
for New Republic. The story of this fantastic bit of culture from Russell’s
trip to Lancaster County, Penn. is one that captured me immediately and wouldn’t
let go until I had finished. I had never thought of Amish playing sports
before, but as Russell states in his piece Amish and baseball seem to be a
perfect fit. “’The Amish play baseball! Of course they do.’” The story of this
community’s love for the game is well-worthy of the number one spot on this
year’s best sports journalism of 2013 list.
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