The Best American Sports Writing 1992

Sportswriting is a broad field, as evidenced by this frequently excellent collection of 25 newspaper and magazine pieces. While baseball and basketball are well-represented, especially by Leigh Montville's portrait of regular guy Nolan Ryan and David Halberstam's resonant essay on Michael Jordan's fame, there is nothing about football, golf or tennis. But there are Thomas Mallon's intimate depiction of the rituals of rodeo, Paul Solotaroff's harrowing account of the rise and fall of a steroid-pumping bodybuilder and Michael Disend's tale of an immensely quotable handball king from Brooklyn. Most memorable are articles about how sport intersects with society, such as Gary Smith's stunning story of gifted Indian basketballers in Montana who are often doomed by drink, and John Marchese's yarn about a con man who picked up numerous women by impersonating various not-so-famous pro athletes. McGuane ( An Outside Chance ) offers a thoughtful introduction, suggesting that the best sportswriting ``springs from avidity.'' Stout is a sports journalist. (Nov.)