The Best American Sports Writing 2019

In this excellent edition, series editor Stout posits, with tongue in cheek, that journalism’s wobbly future will necessitate a switch to “Paylance”—writers will pay to get published. Esquire writer Pierce (Idiot America), who has expertly covered politics and sports for decades, laments the demise of a lost art. Fortunately, those conditions do not prevent another outstanding collection from being assembled. This great mix of essays shines a spotlight on all aspects of the human condition, whether it’s in a New York Magazine piece by Kerry Howley on how meek physician Larry Nassar engendered trust among the parents of the female gymnasts he sexually assaulted for years, or how California inmate Artis Monroe found happiness by giving old bicycles new life in Kim Cross’s essay for Bicycling. The volume also includes several funny and irreverent essays, such as GQ’s Caity Weaver’s scavenger hunt in Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium, related in “My Magical Quest to Destroy Tom Brady and Win a Philadelphia Eagles Mini-Fridge at Super Bowl LII.” The quality of the writing and diversity of the subjects will delight readers and inspire and enlighten the next generation of writers. (Oct.)