Bag of Mail

Michael Lewis Is the Best Sportswriter* on Earth



The Blind Side is a book-length work of pure genius. So are his shorter profile pieces like the one he did of Mike Leach three years ago. As of now, I'm convinced there's nothing Michael Lewis can't do. This profile of Shane Battier proves that he's a master of the non-fiction craft. Read it now. Just do it. Here's the single page view.

I'm not even going to bother excerpting it because there are so many extraordinarily good paragraphs, sentences, and anecdotes.

I get quite a few of you writing me wanting to know how to be a writer. As if there's ever one answer or I'd be able to give very cogent advice. Especially when it comes to sports. To be honest, I hardly read any good sportswriting growing up. But one piece of advice that never fails is read the best. And right now Michael Lewis is the single-best sportswriter (who doesn't always write about sports) on earth. I'm not even sure who the second best is.

I'd go this far, if you're a parent and you have a son or daughter who likes sports, but won't read anything, go ahead and buy everything Lewis has ever written on sports and pass them a copy when they turn 10 or 11. It will be over their head, but only in the best way something is over their head, in a way that will inspire them to think deeper, reach farther, and dream higher. That's what the best writing has always done. It's what Lewis does.

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Posted by Clay Travis at 7:14 AM

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like someone has a man crush.

February 16, 2009 11:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the best part about this post about craft of thought-provoking writing is that the link immediately below it reads "Patrick Patterson Eats Booger"

February 18, 2009 3:58 PM  

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