THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING 2001

Living up to its series' reputation for quality is this 10th-anniversary collection of 27 features and profiles culled from a variety of publications that goes well beyond America's sports pages. Collins, who is best known for his tennis commentary on NBC, certainly doesn't limit himself to his area of expertise, drawing on a wide variety of topics that ranges from the legends of baseball to the World Series of poker. Some pieces, like Buzz Bissinger's chronicle of Joe DiMaggio's last days, are notable for the sheer scope of their reporting, while many others, such as Bucky McMahon's dreamy account of a deep-sea dive, have a distinctly literary feel. Then there are those rare profiles, like Stephen Rodrick's essay on former heavyweight world champion Riddick Bowe or Touré's article on NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., where the magic simply lies in how completely the subject is willing to open up to the writer. Readers will surely gravitate to pieces about the sports they are most interested in, but all the selections are equal in quality. And though Gene Collier, in his brief essay "The Ex-Sportswriter," attests to his notion that all sports are "highly inconsequential," the same cannot justly be said of the writing they have inspired here. (Oct.)