Best Sports Journalism of 2013 - Part 2 of 5

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 part two of this five-part list are fine writings on a Major League Baseball player who must make sacrifices to care for his beloved dog, a baseball player who realized the game was no longer for him, the perfect response to performance enhancing drug allegations, capturing the horror of the Boston Marathon bombings and the tale of how women must first defeat their own breasts before setting their sights on their opponent. 

20. "Playing Defense: What's the smartest PED response strategy?" by SportsonEarth's Will Leitch (August 13)

In August, the NFL’s best running back Adrian Peterson, of the Minnesota Vikings, kind of surprised the sports media/world when asked if he used performance enhancing drugs. His response: "... it makes me feel good. When you know you don't do it, and someone's saying you do, you're like, 'Wow. They think I'm on HGH? I'm doing that good? It's a compliment. I don't get mad about it at all." It was a reaction unlike any other athlete who'd ever answered the question and according to Sports on Earth's Will Leitch is the smartest strategy to responding to PED questioning. 

19. "Lonely Days Ahead for Mark Buehrle" by ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (February 7)

Jerry Crasnick’s piece on newly acquired Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle and his love of his dogs was intriguing because it shows the sacrifices, sometimes ones you wouldn’t even think of, that professional athletes sometimes have to make during their season. Buehrle and his family own a 2-year old American Staffordshire terrier and bulldog mix, part of the pitbull family, which happens to be outlawed in the entirety of Toronto’s province Ontario. Because of their bond with their pup, Buehrle’s family chose to stay at home in St. Louis and take care of the dog, meaning that they would be away from each other for most of the season. Buehrle’s sacrifice and the love and care he has for dogs makes for a supremely touching story. 

18. “Why I Quit Major League Baseball” by Adrian Cardenas for The New Yorker (October 30)

Becoming a Major League Baseball player (or a professional athlete of another kind) is a dream shared by millions throughout the world. One would think that making it to the highest level in your sport would be the ultimate goal, but Adrian Cardenas, a former Chicago Cubs player, realized once he finally made it to “the show” that it really wasn’t what he wanted. It wasn’t his American dream. His telling of why in The New Yorker is an interesting tale of how one can seemingly have what millions desire, but not really want for himself.

17. "You Can Only Hope to Contain Them" by ESPN The Magazine's Amanda Hess (July 16)

Sometimes great articles are the ones that make you think of things that you never would have imagined. For instance, as a man I had never thought about how uncomfortable it must be for female athletes to compete because of their breasts until I read Amanda Hess’ “You Can Only Hope to Contain Them” for ESPN the Magazine. Hess’ piece made me realize that for women sometimes you have to battle your own breasts before even thinking about defeating your opponent.

16. "You Are Not Safe Here": The Remains of a Horrible Day in Boston" by Esquire's Charles P. Pierce (April 15)

The day of the Boston bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15 was a day that most Americans will probably always remember, but for the people who were actually there will be engrained in their memories – the horror, the blood, the gruesomely maimed and the panic that permeated throughout the area. Esquire’s Charles P. Pierce in just five short paragraphs was able to perfectly capture the panic of the moments directly after the bomb blasts, including the unnerving quote from an officer stating to passer-bys, “you are not safe here.” However, it’s his final sentence that truly lets the horror of that afternoon sink in: "And you can smell the blood two blocks away." 

Best Sports Can Be, Worst Sports Can See - All in 24 Hours

It’s amazing the kind of different emotions 24 hours can elicit – particularly in sports.

April 14, 2013 was a day that represented everything sports, and life for that matter, should be all about.

April 15, 2013 was a day that represented something completely opposite. Something that should be unthinkable, but here we are thinking about it. Something so ghastly, so horrific it seems like it should only exist in a nightmare or a really bad action movie.

The final round of the Masters Tournament on Sunday afternoon was a sports fan’s euphoria.

You had about 10 different golfers with a decent chance of victory, great stories (like the three Australians: Adam Scott, Jason Day and Marc Leishman, trying to win the nation’s first Masters and Tiger Woods still attempting to win his first major in five years), great characters (Angel Cabrera, who’s the everyman golfer, and past champion, affectionately called “El Pato” or “The Duck” for his waddling gait) and a leaderboard that wouldn’t stand pat for more than 10 minutes at a time with golfer after golfer making a run to the top, only to fall back down to the rest of the oncoming pack.

Like so many Augusta Sundays before this year’s Masters was the definition of nerve-wracking. Even though I’d see many a close Final Round Sunday before this one seemed to be the tops, the best, the most nail-biting … particularly when it came down to the 18th and final hole and the ensuing two-hole, sudden-death playoff for the coveted Green Jacket, one of sport’s most enchanting and visible honors. Adam Scott, one of the game’s best without a major championship, and Angel Cabrera, a former Masters and U.S. Open champ who seems to step up his game when the trophy’s mean the most, went mano-a-mano and hit some of the best and most beautiful golf shots that you’ll ever see – and all of this with incredible pressure on their backs. The final holes and sudden-death playoff at the Masters this year was among the most intense sporting moments I’d ever witnessed – the kind of good intense where you’re heart beats rapidly, like when you experience your first kiss. In the end, Scott made two incredible putts that fell in and Cabrera made a few equally incredible shots that just missed. I, admittedly, was rooting (and very hard, in fact) for Cabrera so a slight disappointment crept over me, but it vanished almost immediately as it set it, because this tournament, these last few holes were just too damn good to feel upset about.

And, then after all the shots had been hit for the weekend and just before the patrons shuffled to their cars to head home came the moment that truly summed it all up – the moment that represents everything sports and life should be all about. Cabrera doffed his hat, walked over to a celebrating Scott and the Argentine, who doesn’t speak much English, if any, embraced the newly crowned Aussie champion in a hug. It was a moment where two warriors of the ultimate gentleman’s game showed what true class and sportsmanship is all about. Grace both on and off the golf course – fitting for Augusta, fitting for the sport, fitting for the world.    

The final round of this year’s Masters was truly magical – something I won’t soon forget – something that I’ll go out on a limb and say won’t be topped by any other sporting event this entire year, as far as sheer excitement goes.            

Magic sometimes vanishes as quickly as it appears.

Monday morning started off glorious for those competing in the 117^th Boston Marathon, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious marathons. From explanations given by participants both in the marathon and within the marathon community – this event is one of true communal spirit and celebration, ideals that should pervade throughout the sports world.

It was going to be a good day – then came 2:50 p.m. Boston time. Two bomb blasts, 15 seconds and reportedly about 550 feet apart, ripped through the celebration right where spectators gathered near the finish line cheering on family and friends. Billowing smoke filled the sunny skies and an appalling amount of blood covered the ground – something that undoubtedly and unfortunately will remain embedded in my memory for as long, if not longer, than those enchanting golf shots from the day before. The nightmarish image on television couldn’t even possibly measure up to the scenes experienced by those at Copley Square, where the bombings took place.  The lives that are changed forever now – whether dead, maimed, only slightly injured or just witnesses of the horror.

 

We all knew it could happen. After 9/11, I know it sounds cliché to bring up every time something incredibly tragic happens, but it’s our generation’s tragedy measuring stick, we knew that sporting events – whether large or small – could be targeted for terrorist attacks, either foreign or domestic. Surely it was bound to happen. But, in the almost dozen years since 9/11 there hadn’t been any tragic incidents at sporting events involving terrorism in this country. Maybe that’s why the bombing of the Boston Marathon seemed so surprising, so out-of-the-blue, so heinous. Maybe we had told ourselves it wouldn’t happen here – it wouldn’t happen someplace where people gathered for celebration, for enjoyment, for relaxation from their everyday lives. Maybe they would only target high rises and government building and monuments.

That was too naïve.

The evil want to inflict maximum pain and joyous occasions turning to chaotic terror accomplishes that. Whoever did this to the Boston Marathon, to this country, to the world – may they be brought to justice – essentially made a sport out of terror. They took something that many hold as sacred and destroyed it, but only for a little while. Sports fans, Americans, most of the world’s people are resilient. We won’t forget, but we’ll experience that joy again.  

Whoever did this turned a sporting event into a catastrophic news event. They brought sadness and pain to where joy and comfort belong.                   

The best thing sports could be took place on Sunday afternoon. The worst thing sports could see took place on Monday afternoon. Thank God when it comes to sports there’s an awful lot more Sundays than Mondays.