The Best American Sports Writing 2000 (The Best American Series)
With a solid, self-assured, reliable veteran such asDick Schaapcompiling the lineup, the millennial edition of sports writing's best was bound  to be a success, and it also includes a few surprises. You want baseball? Here's  Robert Huber's stunning profile of Joe DiMaggio--no, notthatJoe  DiMaggio, but the troubled son saddled with the same name, but gifted with none  of the talent. You want football? Here's former NFL defensive end Pat Toomay's  deliciously jaundiced chronicle of working on Oliver Stone's football movieAny Given Sunday. You want eclectic? How about Mark Levine's profile ofTony Hawk,  skateboarding's acknowledged grand master;Jeanne Marie  Laskason bull riding; Burkhard Bilger on cockfighting; andBryan  Burrough's harrowing account of the storm that wreaked havoc on the 54th  Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race? They all widen the playing field that defines  sports and sports writing. Now add to that selections fromDavid  Halberstam,Rick  Telander, Craig Vetter, andGarrison  Keillor, and the annual collection ofThe Best American Sports  Writingfinds itself once again leading the league.--Jeff Silverman