I was lucky enough to interview David Maraniss after the release of his book on Jim Thorpe. He is smart, thoughtful, and incredibly skillful; not to mention he is just a nice man to chat with. Read all his books!
I was happy to see Galeano's "Futbol a sol y sombra" on the list even though it was originally written in Spanish. I love the book. Galeano writes beautifully and his passion for futbol shines through.
I read Halberstam’s “Breaks” when it came out and believe it’s certainly the finest Basketball book. It’s not a “rah rah” book nor “Joe is great; Joe scored 30” book. It’s a detailed account of people at the time; many of whom were still important today in the sport.
It was interesting that this was the most citied of Jeff Pearlman's books. I assumed would be one on Mets or Cowboys but writers recognised how great a bio it is.
I finally read David Halberstam's "The Breaks of the Game" after seeing this post. It was one of those books that had been on my TBR list for years...decades. It was funny to read and see that problems the NBA was having there are still happening - too long of a season, TV ratings down, and overpaid players not willing to play hard or have the incentive to even play.
On now to Jeff Pearlman's "Football for a Buck," about the USFL, one of my favorite sporting leagues to watch growing up as a kid in the '80s.
As a competitive runner my whole life I am flabbergasted Running with the Buffaloes is not on there.
Relatively few running books were picked. Plenty of biases built in based on the writers I asked - which is basically everyone my path crossed with!
Yes understand we’re not the most high profile sport :-)
The Perfect Mile is my top books - the one I recommend to people who say they don't like sports books.
That’s a good one too!
Everyone go read Running with the Buffaloes!!!
I was lucky enough to interview David Maraniss after the release of his book on Jim Thorpe. He is smart, thoughtful, and incredibly skillful; not to mention he is just a nice man to chat with. Read all his books!
I corresponded with him on twitter a little bit and he was always very humble and kind spirited. He deleted his twitter at some point.
Terry Pluto’s “Loose Balls” is an excellent read. He is a Cleveland legend!
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/ali-thump-ali-thump-ali-thump?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
Did you get a review copy or something? That’s amazing. Thank you.
Ye its a review copy.
Great article John
Thank you. Happy holidays. Can’t wait for you to see my new book about baseball. ⚾️ Diamond Duels. Out in March
Just got a copy of Diamond Duels from your publisher. Looking forward to checking it out.
That is fabulous and thank you so very much. But the book isn’t supposed to come out until March 4
I was happy to see Galeano's "Futbol a sol y sombra" on the list even though it was originally written in Spanish. I love the book. Galeano writes beautifully and his passion for futbol shines through.
I read Halberstam’s “Breaks” when it came out and believe it’s certainly the finest Basketball book. It’s not a “rah rah” book nor “Joe is great; Joe scored 30” book. It’s a detailed account of people at the time; many of whom were still important today in the sport.
Perfectly said on Sweetness. I loved it.
It was interesting that this was the most citied of Jeff Pearlman's books. I assumed would be one on Mets or Cowboys but writers recognised how great a bio it is.
I finally read David Halberstam's "The Breaks of the Game" after seeing this post. It was one of those books that had been on my TBR list for years...decades. It was funny to read and see that problems the NBA was having there are still happening - too long of a season, TV ratings down, and overpaid players not willing to play hard or have the incentive to even play.
On now to Jeff Pearlman's "Football for a Buck," about the USFL, one of my favorite sporting leagues to watch growing up as a kid in the '80s.
Fantastic! Hope you like it! Love to hear what you think......Thanks for letting me know...