Sports Illustrated: Fifty Years of Great Writing: 50th Anniversary 1954-2004

Description

For their 50th anniversary, Sports Illustrated collects 52 of their best and most memorable articles. Editor Rob Fleder delivers on what makes the magazine standout and fashionable: a mix of on-sport reporting (Mark Kram's lyrical coverage of the third Ali-Frazier bout) and polished articles written with years of perspective (Dan Jenkins's examination of the 1960 US Open, 18 years after the golf tournament). SI's most well-know scribe, Frank Deford, bookends the collection with reflections on boxer Billy Conn and a lovely obit on hometown star Johnny Untias. There is a sweet array of noted authors including John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Pete Dexter, Don DeLillo, and Garrison Keillor. Profiles are the bulk of the book, but like the magazine, we take off-beat trails: a rattlesnake derby, articles on broadcasters, and Wallace Stegner's sobering "We Are Destroying Our National Parks" (written in 1955!). Since there has been other SI collections over the years (Yesterday in Sport one of note), fresher articles are more abundant (eight articles from the 21st Century). As with any survey book, one can be picky about the exclusions: no Olympic coverage; the only article on cars deals with the Autobahn; hockey is only represented through an ex-player's murder case. The biggest caveat is a book without pictures from a magazine famous for them. Certainly a single shot of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile or one of the blurry photos that originally accompanied George Plimpton's ultimate April Fools' Day joke (pitching sensation Sidd Finch) would evoke the memory of those who read the articles upon their release. --Doug Thomas

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  Sports Illustrated: Fifty Years of Great Writing: 50th Anniversary 1954-2004

  • 2004-10-19
  • 564 pages
  • Paperback
  • Sports Illustrated

Similar books

• 

  Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games: Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey's Greatest Record

  By Mike Brophy, Todd Denault

  Inundated with offers, Gretzky's agent Gus Badali added Michael Barnett to Number ... took time to visit the set of the popular television show M*A*S*H, ...

• 

  A Season in Time: Super Mario, Killer, St. Patrick, the Great One, and the Unforgettable 1992-93 NHL Season

  By Todd Denault

  ... Roger Neilson formany years,”Olczyknow remembers, “and as soon asI stepped into the room he bluntly toldme that the trade had been Neil Smith'sdeal.

• 

  The Boston Red Sox Fan Book

  By David S. Neft, Michael L. Neft, Bob Carroll

  Before the deal could be completed , however , the player's union voiced its ... Todd Walker left as a free agent and was replaced by Mark Bellhorn ...

• 

  Sports Scandals

  By Peter S. Finley, Laura L. Finley, Jeffrey Fountain

  TODD BERTUZZI DISGRACES HOCKEY All-Star right-winger Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks lost ... The case generated a great deal of media attention.

• 

  Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Canadiens Stories Ever Told

  By Robert S. Lefebvre

  Subsequently, Savard and the team issued a standard “we will deal with this ... Describing the trade, Todd colorfully termed the blunder as “a full-scale ...

• 

  Fighting Irish: Legends, Lists, and Lore

  By Karen Croake Heisler

  Nineteen-year-old captain Al Fortin, who had been playing for Notre Dame for four years, blocked a field goal attempt to preserve the standoff.

• 

  NBA Coaches Playbook: Techniques, Tactics, and Teaching Points

  By National Basketball Coaches Association

  The special plays section, featuring many of the book's 450-plus Xs and Os diagrams, will be especially popular among coaches seeking the out-of-bounds and last-second plays that work when the game is on the line.

• 

  Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History

  By Hotelling Neal Dost Joanne, Neal Hotelling

  There was a three-way tie at 85 with Mclaughlin, Kenneth Monteagle of San Francisco, and R. Walker Salisbury of Salt lake city, a four-time Utah amateur champion. an 18-hole playoff was required after the match play was finished. after ...

• 

  Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR

  By Neal Thompson

  ... Franklin D., 18, 43,147,157 Roper, Jim, 289, 292, 293 Rose, Mauri, 184,204, 207 Rubirosa, Porfirio, 348 Rum, 55, 56 Russell, D.C. “Fat,” 200, 204, 205, 224, 277m Ruth, Babe, 7, 359 Salisbury, North Carolina, 107, 109 Samples, Eddie, ...

• 

  Team Spirit: Life and Leadership on One of the World's Toughest Yacht Races

  By Brendan Hall

  The 2010 winner was 28-year-old Brendan Hall and his crew in Spirit of Australia.