Reddit mentions: The best sports essays

Around the World in Wanderer III by Eric Hiscock is fantastic. If you're looking for a more instructional book I'd also advise Cruising Under Sail by the same author.

Hard to have any list about cruising without starting off without mentioning Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World as he was the inspiration for many of the following authors. He fixed a wrecked hulk of a sloop in a field in CT that he was given for free (as a joke) then proceeded to sail alone around the world (as the title would lead you to believe). At the time everyone thought that it would be impossible and likely suicidal to try and sail a boat so small around the globe and he apparently caused quite a stir when he did.

Of course The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier is an absolute classic for sailing literature. His was an account of the Golden Globe non-stop solo circumnavigational race, so there's not really any island hopping or drinks in paradise, but his writing is amazing and really gets to the zen of being at sea. He also named his boat JOSHUA after Cpt. Slocum mentioned above.

Jack London loved to sail and had a ketch (I thought it was a schooner, and Amazon page says schooner, but looking on GIS looks more like a ketch) built and sailed around the South Pacific and wrote about it in The Cruise of the Snark. London has some really funny commentary in there and it's a hell of a good read.

Last, and most expensive, is South Sea Vagabonds by John Wray. This book has been out of print for a little while and apparently is in high demand by looking at the price now. The cheapest I've ever seen it is between $40 and $50. I got my copy from a seller on eBay that lived in New Zealand for about $25 USD but after shipping ended up being about $40 total. That said, it was worth every penny. John Wray got fired from his job for daydreaming about sailing all day and since he had nothing but time on his hands decided to make a boat. Found all his wood on beaches and used his friends sailboat to haul it back to a mill, used a motorcycle and trailer to haul it from the mill to his house, then built a sloop with no prior ship-building experience. He sailed it all around the South Seas on various adventures and, like London, is a great and humorous author. Keep an eye out on ebay and used book sites for this one at a decent price (or find a library to borrow it from) because I guarantee that it's worth the effort and cash.

If you're into tall ships I just finished The Peking Battles Cape Horn by Irving Johnson which was a quick but thoroughly entertaining read. I'm now working my way through Two Years Before the Mast which is an amazing insight into the life of the merchant marine in the early 19th century aboard a square rigger.

Since you said French or English and you've posted about Montreal, I'm assuming you're Canadian. In that case, I'd recommend Behind the Headlines: A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada. Dry, but will give you some great background into those that have come before you.

For more historical stuff, check out some anthologies of work by folks like Peter Gzowski or Pierre Berton.

Something else I'd recommend (not a book but still awesome) is the CBC's six-part series Spin Cycles about public relations. Incredibly in-depth, has a strong Canadian angle and demonstrates how closely linked the worlds of PR and journalism truly are.

If you're looking for great long-form writing, I enjoy the New Yorkers anthologies in topics like sports writing or profiles. If you're into music writing, a general best of music writing anthology is put out every year that includes work for a variety of publications.

And if you want some of the dark-side of Canadian journalism, you can check out Jan Wong's memoir Out of the Blue which documents her depression and how the Globe and Mail pretty much threw her out on the curb.

The book Andy Roddick Beat With a Frying Pan has a chapter called "How big is the gap between male and female athletes?"

IT's much larger than anyone thinks. Here's the author's answer in an interview:

> GM: Why do you think there's this misconception that women are almost at men's level when it comes to sports? And why do you think there's the disparity you've found? Is it possible this isn't a physiological inevitability, but instead a reflection of the disparate financial and other incentives sporting men and women face?

> TG: The misconception is almost entirely attributable to members of the press wanting to show social concern and not doing even the slightest bit of research. Oh, and that people are nuts in this country and don't allow for open dialogues of conversation about certain topics. Just ask Lawrence Summers how venturing into this territory turned out for him, and you can pretty quickly understand why the press is hesitant to touch the subject in a real way.
In my own life, a good friend of mine said I was being misogynistic when I said to him that the top female athletes are on par with 15-year-old boys. He's really into a lot of women's issues, and it was a very visceral reaction. Eventually he calmed down and ended up thinking the chapter was well-done, but still added: "Why even do a chapter like that?" So it's easy to imagine what kind of a reaction I'd get from people more invested in women's rights. Thankfully, my publisher has shielded me from any kind of negative reaction by making sure no one hears about the book. Personally, I think the whole thing is ridiculous because sports are so incredibly inane. Of all the things to worry about the implications of us being equal in…
It's possible that the reasons for the disparity aren't physiological, but I seriously doubt it. Maybe the balance in sports like darts would be closer if it weren't for some of the other factors, but given how consistently the women's best times in any size, speed, and strength events come in the range of 14- to 15-year-old boys, it's hard to fathom that it could be anything but puberty that causes the major separation. That consistency of range, and listening to the US women's soccer team and other female athletes talk about how boys of that age just get too big and fast to compete with, is pretty convincing to me.

I agree with his conclusion, a 14 to 15 year old boy at the same weight would be a fair fight physically. Once boys start puberty the advantage grows so large. I'd guess it's probably 40-50 lbs before the strength gets comparable, but maybe not even then.

If you want a Jeanneau - or any AWB - then I think your first guess was right, and you're overthinking it with your concerns.

I don't think buying in Croatia is necessarily totes straightforward - I think I read that VAT may be payable on export or something, and I've read of people sailing to Malta to register their boat under that flag because that's a low-tax jurisdiction.

But in general the med is a huge boat market, with literally thousands of these kind of boats for sale at any given time. You could easily spend weeks walking the docks, looking at boats every day, and throwing out lowball offers until someone bites.

The cost of water maker, solar panels and wind vane is bullshit, though.

Solar panels are a couple of hundred euros - you could probably get yourself totally sorted for €500 or €600, although in an AWB space becomes an issue.

In Greece you moor stern to, and there are loads of villages with ancient stone quays and two restaurants - mooring fees are to buy a meal at the restaurant, and you fill up with water from a hose.

People were crossing the atlantic for literally decades before watermakers became available, and these are not cheap toys. Your yacht's water tanks should easily hold enough fresh water for two people, but I do understand your concerns - there's nothing wrong with loading up with 10 or 20 of these or these.

If you want a fuckheavy boat, though, then I do understand where you're coming from - boats like the Tayana 37 are highly respected in the US, and you'll find few examples as good in Europe. There is a good chance of finding a distressed seller in the US and, if you're not fussy about which particular fucking thick GRP hulls you'll take, getting a boat in very good condition at a good price.

Primarily I think you need to read some of this and this pretty urgently. Go small, go simple, go now.

I think they should be allowed to, but they wouldn't be competitive enough to participate in the top professional leagues. In the book Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan, the author dedicates a chapter to the gap between men and women in sports.

He concludes that the top women in the world compete at about the level of 15-year-old boys. For example, the world records in track and field for women are right around the records of 15-16 year-old boys. Also, the US Women's National soccer team regularly scrimmages 14-16 year-old men's club soccer teams. They can beat the 14-year-old squads pretty easily but once they play against the 15-year-old teams, they start having trouble. They start getting beat regularly playing against the 16-year-old teams. It's the same in basketball.

Even in non-physical sports, the top women aren't really close to the top men. The author interviewed the top women's pool player in the world, Jeanette Lee, and she said that if she played in the men's tour, she would be ranked around 200.

> and a woman occasionally gets to the level where she may be drafted,

I'm not aware of this ever legitimately happening. I am a fan of some women's sports, and I've actually coached some fairly high level women's sports teams, but to be honest, most people (even most sexist people) often UNDERestimate the athletic gulf between men and women.

The USA women's NATIONAL ice hockey team (so the best women from the entire US) sometimes scrimmages boys HIGH SCHOOL teams (using women rules so no body checking), and AFAIK loses a decent amount of them. The US women's national soccer team (the best in the world) scrimmages guys youth travel teams (i think ones at a fairly high level, but not even like the u-17 men's national or whatever), and IIRC starts to struggle around 16, and starts getting dominated around 17. (source: http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Roddick-Beat-Frying-Pan/dp/0307352803)

Honestly, other than as a football kicker (of which a few have played, although I don't think one has ever started for a d1 team), I can't see a women realistically playing any men's college team sport. MAYBE as a baseball knuckle-ball pitcher? You'd have to ask somebody who knows more about baseball.

Ok I have a futbol/soccer book recommendation because why not?

Football in sun and shadow by Eduardo Galeano. It's a history of the the world cup written in these amazing poetic vignettes. The original is in Spanish but the English translation is amazing.

/u/onmymind42 if you love soccer you have to check it out!!

There's also The thinking fans guide to the world cup

While it's low fence some of those ranches are HUGE and they manage deer more like a private reserve. They don't stop deer from coming and going but they feed and cull for antler genetics. The low fence designation is to make it clear that it's different than a fair chase deer.

Some low fence operations will buy big bucks from high fence and breeding operations and release them - so it's not really a wild population. EDIT - learned this is now illegal in TX from Griefers below.

http://www.huntfairchase.com/

Also - I suggest this book to all hunters: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Fair-Chase-Tradition-Hunting/dp/1560442832/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=fair+chase&qid=1574516524&sr=8-1

tl;dr TX is weird.

​

Edited to note that it's illegal to release deer for non-high fence hunts in TX.

2007 law:



Sec. 43.361. RELEASE SITES. (a) A release site onto which breeder deer are liberated must be surrounded by a fence not less than seven feet in height that is capable of retaining deer at all times under reasonable and ordinary circumstances.

(b) The owner of a release site is responsible for ensuring that the fence surrounding the release site and infrastructure associated with the fence are in a condition to retain deer as provided by Subsection (a).

You can check out The Mammoth Book of the World Cup (has all the info about world cups you could possibly want from 1930-2014). I'm trying hard to remember what book I was just recently reading that was going over this exact topic but it sounds like you are generally interested in some soccer books and with your dutch interest I would recommend (haven't read it myself) Brilliant Orange

"Winning at All Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer" by John Foot.

http://www.amazon.com/Winning-All-Costs-Scandalous-History/dp/1568583680

The book is really long but it is very well written and goes into incredible depth about the history of Italian football. It is one of my favorite books ever. Your coach will love it

The two things to work on:

Decreasing the time it takes to produce maximum force.

Increasing that maximum force output.

The most explosive exercises are the ones that allow the fastest velocity of movement. That is any variation of an unweighted jump. Increasing the maximum force output involves increasing your level of absolute strength. If you want to find some interesting info on these subjects, check out information on how track and field athletes train. The french contrast method is an interesting series of movement modalities.

Also, strongly suggest reading these:

https://www.amazon.com/Explosive-Plyometrics-Michael-Yessis/dp/098171806X


https://www.amazon.com/Build-Better-Athlete-American-Sports/dp/1930546785/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1930546785&pd_rd_r=TASWF2CXZH3FR2GD6361&pd_rd_w=I3Td0&pd_rd_wg=8fDnn&psc=1&refRID=TASWF2CXZH3FR2GD6361

"Race With Destiny" by the late, great David Poole is excellent. Tells the story of Alan Kulwicki's championship, along with everything else that happened that year...


http://www.amazon.com/Race-Destiny-David-Poole/dp/0970917031

I have a book, written by my sister's friend and the guy who played Andy, called, "Andy Roddick beat me with a Frying Pan."

It's hilarious. I highly recommend it.

The Long Walk

Skeletons on the Zahara

Both non-fiction stories of survival that I thought were incredible.

Also, not strictly survival but very good non-fiction adventure reads in the same vein are A Man's Life and The Hard Way by Mark Jenkins.

A really fun book you can get is Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan. The author gets pro athletes to compete is basically bar bets, like playing tennis against Roddick where Roddick has to use a frying pan. The book shows how insanely seriously the pro athletes take competition no matter how silly. It's a really fun read.

https://www.amazon.com/Andy-Roddick-Beat-Frying-Pan/dp/0307352803

the abilities of top female athletes are generally equivalent to top male athletes at age ~14. This book has a whole really entertaining chapter on it.

Anything by Ted Leeson, especially The Habit of Rivers and Inventing Montana. For my money, the best writer of the bunch.

Sorry, saw it in a book of quotes. Pretty sure it's this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Its-Unlucky-Behind-End-Game/dp/0688019684

Winning at All Costs by John Foot. Probably the best book on the history of Calcio.

Try The Best American Sports Writing anthologies

Here is the 2012 edition

I'm not even a Patriots fan, but this article was fucking gold.

Some background information on Michael Rosenberg.

Before Rosenberg made it to SI he was a sportswriter in Detroit. I should mention here that Detroit is to shitty sportswriters what Kenya is to long distance runners. Most of you probably don't follow Michigan football, but in 2009 Rosenberg, who worked for the Detroit Free Press, didn't like then-Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez. That's fine. He gets paid to have an opinion and since Rodriguez had led the team to a 3-9 record the year before, few others in Ann Arbor liked Rodriguez.

The problem is that Rosenberg used his bully pulpit to tell bald-faced lies in penning an expose about "rules violations" that occurred under Rodriguez at Michigan To hear Rosenberg tell it, Rodrigeuz was running the equivalent of a Third World sweatshop in Ann Arbor. As fellow U-M grad and columnist Jonathan Chait pointed out, it's a pretty shoddy journalistic practice to assign someone with an agenda on a subject to do investigative reporting on that same subject. The meat of the allegations boiled down to Michigan was making their football players practice well and above the weekly time allotment of twenty hours. Horror!

To belabor an obvious point, Division I football players spend well in excess of 20 hours per week working out and training. The coaches may only be officially conducting practice for 20 hours, but if you want to be seeing the field you're lifting weights, studying film etc. at all hours of the week. Still, when it rains it pours and Michigan was just not a good team. The NCAA and the university did their own investigation... and found a half dozen instances where players stretched fifteen minutes past the alloted time while supervised by a graduate assistant. The NCAA slapped Michigan with probation to make it look like it Was Doing Things It Was In Charge of Doing. The notoriety Rosenberg earned from his scoop helped catapult him to his current position at Sports Illstated.

TL;DR - Michael Rosenberg can eat all the bags of all the dicks.

In Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan, Gallagher says that the USWNT soccer team will often scrimmage against boys teams. Apparently the USWNT can beat the U13 boys, but not the U15 ones. (Or something like that...) Puberty much?

Edit: fixed the link.

This is a book I recommend, Advanced Racing Tactics by Stuart H. Walker though there are many more.

There is a book about stuff like this. Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan --

No, that's the name of the book, and yes Andy Roddick did beat the writer of the book with a Frying Pan handicap. I've been meaning to read it for a while but I haven't been able to work it in yet.

Blooming Youth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtMSvRuSkTE

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305006750110204
https://shapeamerica.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07303084.1991.10609868?journalCode=ujrd20

https://www.amazon.com/Sport-Soviet-Society-Development-Post-Soviet/dp/0521280230

Anything by Ted Leeson, but especially The Habit of Rivers. Anything by David James Duncan, but especially The River Why.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Upmanship-Practice-Gamesmanship-Lifemanship-One-Upmanship/dp/B0006AY078

I agree: its general and harming most of us (me). I've considered doing social sites (maybe even include news) on saturday only, but haven't gathered the willpower to do so yet..

I also think that Facebook, with its complex algorithm for showing posts (instead of showing all of them, chronologically), reinforces this behavior: if we aren't on FB every day, we will miss things (nothing that matters but that is hard to accept).

Random "book that I couldn't stop reading" suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/Hunter-John-A/dp/1571572430