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Best Sports Writing on the Web

The editor of SurfJones, our live weblog, gives you seven to bookmark

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by Jeff Merron

One of my goals with SurfJones is to find excellent, interesting writing about sports on the Net. I'm looking for stuff that makes me say, "cool." Not cool in the Web-sense, which too often means much flash (quite literally, these days) and little substance, but cool in the sense of man, it’s so cool that this great writing and reporting is here, available, and free.

Below is a list of seven writers who make the Web an interesting place to be a sports fan. They write well and think hard and I think they're worthy of your attention.

A few of these writers publish their material on real paper as well as the Net. Others -- such as Joe Sheehan and Rob Neyer and Ann Wilson -- produce material that seems to be tailor-made for the Web’s immediacy and its archival accessibility. Once you discover them, it can be pretty satisfying to read back through their early pieces.

This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive and entries are in no particular order -- I’m just hoping to share some discoveries, to add a few bookmarks to your list. Enjoy.

Frederick C. Klein of The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal doesn’t do a great job of publicizing its free-access sports section, which is too bad. You should check it out. One of the things I look forward to is Klein’s Friday morning column, “On Sports.” The catch-all title is necessary; Klein writes about a wide variety of topics in an easy-going style, and offers a refreshing weekly reminder that it's possible to write sports columns that are short, subtle, and nuanced. Unfortunately, his past columns aren’t archived.

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus.
Sheehan’s “Daily Prospectus” columns during the baseball season are a delightful mixture of analysis and commentary. He routinely eschews canned quotes for keen observation. This review of Game One of the World Series focuses on several Timo Perez errors that may have cost the Mets the game. Every time I read Sheehan, I learn something new that not only helps me understand yesterday’s games, but also helps me develop a greater appreciation the subtleties of baseball. Sheehan’s columns are archived here.

Jeff Houck of Fox Sports Biz.
Take a look at the Fox Sports Biz home page on any given day, and chances are you’ll see three or four stories with Houck’s byline. Houck’s style is simple and straightforward -- he’s a reporter. Even though I don’t find the business of sports intrinsically interesting, I enjoy reading Houck, and the topics he writes about almost always prompt me to click on his pieces. Especially recommended is his Monday Up for Bids column, a survey of some of the most interesting and wacky sports item up for auction on the web. Archives of the column are here.

Malcolm Gladwell of The New Yorker.
While we wait for The New Yorker to launch its web site (likely in January), we’re fortunate to have access to Gladwell’s pieces from that magazine. Gladwell is one of the great young nonfiction writers, and his interests are eclectic. Fortunately, he digs sports and has his own website. Gladwell’s Slate entries on sports have been good, but less-than-satisfying; he seems to need more space. I recommend several stories at his personal web site: The Art of Failure, about the psychology of choking; The Physical Genius, which explores what Tony Gwynn and Wayne Gretzky have in common with Yo-Yo Ma and neurosurgeon superstar Charlie Wilson; and The Sports Taboo, a look at race, gender, genetics, stereotypes, and sports. Finally, The Coolhunt includes enough about the sports shoe industry to qualify as a “sports” article.

Ann Wilson’s Hockey Diaries.
Ann is an amateur ice hockey player who’s been documenting her life on and off the ice since 1998. As she says, she “didn't want to have anything to do with the jocks” in her younger days, and didn’t pick up the sport until she was in her 20s. Ann writes about her personal experiences both as a player and as a fan; right now, she’s recovering from a back injury, and relating what she’s going through with rehab and her frustrations with not being able to play. Don’t miss: “10 things that have changed about me since I started playing ice hockey”. Ann's column is a healthy, fun, and interesting reminder that amateurism, in the traditional and best sense of the term, is alive and well. She provides a permanent link to SurfJones on her site, which is how I discovered her diary -- yet another joy of the Web.

Rob Neyer of ESPN.com.
Of course, ESPN is just about the most popular network in the game, but you can catch Neyer only on the Net. Here’s the skinny: if you read only one daily column on baseball, make it Neyer’s. He learned the analytical ropes from the legendary Bill James, and learned them well. What makes Neyer’s work so appealing? For one, he’s an unabashed fan. For another, he carries on an active, and interesting, dialogue with his readers. He presents sabermetrics in a conversational fashion. Neyer’s biases are up-front (he’s a Royals fan), and you’ll never catch him taking the Voice of God tone that’s endemic among mainstream columnists.

Paul Lukas of the Village Voice.
I’ve lauded Lukas and the Voice’s sports section before, and it’s worth doing again. Lukas's "Uni Watch," in which he takes a look at some aspect of team uniforms and/or equipment, appears about every month. His most recent number is a grab bag of observations about a change in NHL referees’ shirts, the new NBA uniform fabric, and a misspelled name on an NFL player’s jersey. You can find past columns archived here. I also recommend Lukas’s Zine, Inconspicuous Consumption, where he writes about the design of small, everyday items.

Who do you think are the best sports writers on the Web? Tell me about them. Send me an email at sjeditor@sportsjones.com.

Check out today's SurfJones, our live weblog.

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