The Literature of Sport

petitchou:

Hello. I am currently teaching an elective class titled, “The Literature of Sport.” I am teaching this class to some fairly elite high school athletes, from soccer players to golf prodigies. Suffice it to say, I know very little about sport, though I did grow up in the same neighborhood as many of the San Francisco Giants players of the late ’80s. I was Will Clark’s papergirl! He had a floor to ceiling aquarium built into his foyer! But I digress. I have immersed myself in “Friday Night Lights” (Clear eyes! Full hearts! Can’t lose!) and The Best American Sports Writing of the Century anthology. I am actually and verifiably becoming interested in sports. I would like to access Tumblr’s hive mind to compile some excellent sports writing essays/fiction around the following ideas:

1) Sports Writing as Narrative

2) Sports Writing as Social Commentary

3) Sports Writing as Myth, Metaphor, and Transformation

In the spirit of sharing, here are some great pieces of writing I’ve come across:

The Enlightened Man by Jeanne Marie Laskas

What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now? by Richard Ben Cramer

Shadow Boxing by Wright Thompson

Offensive Play by Malcolm Gladwell

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines by Andrew Sean Greer

Dreams, Steroids, Death by Mark Fainaru-Wada

The No-Stats All-Star by Michael Lewis

Time to out yourselves as the that jocks you are, tumblrs. What can you recommend?

Help a lady out!