The Best American Sports Writing 2013
Moehringer—a self-described “generalist” whose Los Angeles Times feature story on a homeless man became the Samuel L. Jackson movie Resurrecting the Champ—handles his guest-editing duties with care in this twenty-third volume of the excellent series. The 26 pieces here skew toward football—what doesn’t these days?—but there are big dollops of baseball and running, along with coverage of sports as wide ranging as bowling, weight lifting, surfing, and the Special Olympics. There’s a very strong piece on bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla, making a triumphant comeback from an astonishing goring, the bull’s horn entering beneath Padilla’s jaw and exiting his left eye socket. And a bittersweet account of amateur bowler Bill Fong, who rolled 35 straight strikes before succumbing to a nine on the first ball of his final frame, coming up just short of bowling’s holy grail: a perfect 900 score for three games. A profile of Curt Schilling shows the retired pitcher carrying the same confidence and competitiveness in forming a video-game company that he once took to the mound, with different results. A no-brainer pickup for the sports collection. --Alan Moores