Mark Collins Jenkins - Muhammad Ali

Spanning nearly a century, The Great American Sports Page presents essential columns from more than three dozen masters of the press-box craft. These unforgettable dispatches from World Series, Super Bowls, and title bouts for the ages were written on deadline with passion, spontaneity, humor, and a gift for the memorable phrase. Read avidly day in and day out by a sports-mad public, these columnists became journalistic celebrities in their home cities, their coverage trusted and savored, their opinions hotly debated. Some even helped change the games they wrote about. Gathered here in a groundbreaking anthology, their writings capture some of sports most enduring moments and many of its all-time greats: Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan among them. But the best American sportswriters also found ways to write powerfully about lesser-known athletes and to convey, often with heartbreaking honesty and insight, the less glamorous and more tragic facets of the games we love. In its survey of the finest American sportswriting from Ring Lardner to Thomas Boswell, from Red Smith and Jimmy Cannon to Bob Ryan and Michael Wilbon, The Great American Sports Page takes the measure of the human richness, complexity, and competitive spirit of sports and the athletes who continue to fascinate and inspire us.--Amazon.com.;Foreword / by Charles P. Pierce -- Introduction / by John Schulian -- W.O. McGeehan (1879-1933): Gertrude Ederle vs. the Channel (1926) ; News of a champion(1927) -- Damon Runyon (1880-1946): Stengels Homer wints it for the Giants(1923) ; All horse players die broke (1944) -- Grantland Rice (1880-1954): Senators win title, 4-3 (1924) -- Ring Lardner (1885-1933): Mordecai Brown: the reporters friend (1916) ; Kids strategy goes amuck as Jake doesnt die (1919) ; The perils of being a football writer (1921) -- Heywood Broun (1888-1939): This side of paradise? (1920) ; The orthodox champion (1922) -- Frank Graham (1893-1965): A show they will never forget (1938) ; Ex-champion (1945) -- Westbrook Pegler (1894-1969): The called shot heard round the world (1932) ; The Olympic army (1936) -- Joe Palmer (1904-1952): Stymie-common folks (1949) ; Samuel Doyle Riddle (1951) -- Shirley Povich (1905-1998): Iron Horse breaks as athletic greats meet in his honor (1939) ; Larsen pitches 1st perfect game in series history (1956) -- Red Smith (1905-1982): A horse you had to like (1947) ; Next to godliness (1947) ; Miracle of Coogans Bluff (1951) -- Jimmy Cannon (1909-1973): DiMaggio (1948) ; Youre Billy Graham (1955) ; Doc Kearns (1963) -- Wendell Smith (1914-1972): It was a great day in Jersey (1946) -- W.C. Heinz (1915-2008): Down memory lane with the Babe (1948) ; Death of a racehorse (1949) -- Dick Young (1917-1987): Beloved enemy (1946) ; Obit on the Dodgers (1957) ; Hutch (1964) -- Emmett Watson (1918-2001): Goal-line stand in France brings Freddy back (1946) ; End of the line for Leo (1953) -- Blackie Sherrod (1919-2016): Old Buster in Ivyland (1960) ; Changing tastes (1978) ; Zero is hero (1980) -- Jim Murray (1919-1998): As white as the Ku Klux Klan (1969) ; If youre expecting one-liners (1979) ; All-time greatest name (1980) -- Sandy Grady (1927-2015): Cool world of Basketballs Wilt (1960) ; A visit to Managers Terrace (1964) ; The mob hit .000 (1966) -- Peter Finney (1927-2016): Bounced right into my arms: Cannon planned to let it roll (1959) ; Just call me gorgeous (1960) ; It could have been worse (1977) -- Jim Klobuchar (B. 1928): The dragon vs. a scrambling St. George (1966) ; Joe Namath slays the knights (1969) -- Dave Anderson (1929-2018): The sound of 715 (1974) -- Bud Collins (1929-2016): Evert smashing, wins battle of Wimbledon (1976) ; Boxing grieves loss of 5th Street Gym (1994) -- Jerry Izenberg (B. 1930): The Promoter (1964) ; Courage is riding out a 1,000-pound tornado (1985) ; Just Color Dougs day beautiful (1988) -- Larry Merchant (B. 1931): Ali Baby (1967) ; Poetry in motion (1968) ; Hustler outhustled (1973) -- Wells Twombly (1935-1977): Gallery of goats (1972) ; Super hero (1973) ; There was only one Casey (1975) -- Robert Lipsyte (B. 1938): Clay wins title in seventh-round upset as Liston is halted by shoulder injury (1964) ; The medal (1969) -- Bill Nack (1941-2018): First a hush, then awe (1973) -- Dave Kindred (B. 1941): Willie Pastrano (1980) ; Ben Crenshaw (1984) ; Walter Payton (1988) -- Leigh Montville (B. 1943): The tube that wont let you up (1981) ; It aint over till its over (1986) -- John Schulian (B. 1945): Pistol Pet: parting shot full of sorrow (1980) ; The proud warrior (1985) -- Diane K. Shah (B. 1945): At 7-foot-2, is Abdul-Jabbar above it all? (1981) ; Oh, no! Not another boring interview with Steve Carlton (1983) -- Bob Ryan (B. 1946): Celtics steal it: Bulls fall in 2 OTs, 135-131 (1986) ; Celtics crowning glory: Burd buries Rockets (1986) -- Thomas Boswell (B. 1947): Something to shout about (1982) ; Nicklaus a master again (1986) ; The Rockets descent (2007) -- Tony Kornheiser (B. 1948): Jacksons lonely world (1978) -- Rick Telander (B. 1948): Making their points (2001) ; Atkins a study in pride and pain (2007) -- Richard Hoffer (B. 1949): Chacon lives with a dream and relives a nightmare (1982) ; Retton vaults past Szabo to win gold medal (1984) -- David Israel (B. 1951): Joe Pepitone: what is he doing for the rest of his life? (1975) ; Butterfly...Tiger...Lion...Al McGuire retires a champ (1977) -- Mike Downey (B. 1951): When one teardrop is torrent of hope (1994) ; He may be playing in Year 2131 (1995) -- Jane Leavy (B. 1951): The man baseball forgot plays the hand hes dealt (1983) -- Ralph Wiley (1952-2004): Why did Duran do it? (1980) ; The undertaker was buried (1981) -- Mike Lupica (B. 1952): The day the music died in Boston (1978) ; Connors slams deaths door shut (1987) ; Recalling Brothers bravest hour (2001) -- Mark Kram, Jr. (B. 1956): I want to kill him (202) -- Bill Plaschke (B. 1958): Her blue haven (2001) -- Michael Wilbon (B. 1958): Entitled to everything he got (1992) ; Winning isnt color-coded (1994) -- Sally Jenkins (B. 1960): Driving home an eternal philosophy of life (2001) ; Only medal for Bode is fools gold (2006) ; George Huguely, Ben Roethlisberger, Lawrence Taylor: male athletes encouraged to do the wrong thing (2010) -- Joe Posnanski (B. 1967): RIP Buck ONeil (2014) -- Sources and acknowledgments -- Index.