The Write Stuff

I've been reading a book that collects the best sports stories from 2005. I've only read two of the stories, but the collection is amazing. The stories are true, but are written much like fiction. The writer's goal to dramatize these moments so they transcend the mundane reality that they normally live in, to condense the special moments, until they become indelible marks in one's emotions, one's experience.

The opening story starts the collection off with a bang, and tells the story of a white man who decided to move to southern California, and live with predominantly Mexicans, where he developed them into state running champions. The story picks up right after his ninth consecutive win with the impoverished high school he teaches at.

The man, who's name, alas, escapes me, is not just a coach, who rides his bicycle as he trains the kids to strive for more than they've ever had, but he is a teacher of life. He brings them to places across the U. S., to the big cities, to Niagara Falls, to show them that there is a much bigger world than the migrant farm life they've known their entire lives.

It also tells the story of a troubled youth, estranged from his father, who doesn't care about his ambitions to be an astronomer, to get out and try to make a name for himself. He eventually decides that the way out is to be one of the storied runners of the high school program, and the wayward child transforms himself from a student who didn't care about anything, who set no real goals for his life, to being the best runner on the team.

But you can tell this is not a fiction story because the coach wants to retire. He's getting old. He's been at this a long time. He feels he can pass on his legacy to his assistant. This boy feels abandoned, starts hanging with the wrong crowd, feels betrayed by his second father, just as he was betrayed by his birth father. And, yet, the coach also feels he's let the team down, and for one more year, he's willing to help the team out, and help this boy out.

It's a remarkable tale of a white man who learned that he had something he could teach the poorest Mexican Americans.

With such a doozy of a story, it's hard to believe that it can be topped, and although it's not topped, the story of Eli Manning is nearly as amazing. Eli's the kid brother of superstar quarterback Peyton Manning, the son of Mississippi legendary quarterback, Archie Manning, yet, Eli's been a shy kind of guy, more introverted, always seemingly unaware of what his old man did to get the reputation he did. He became a quarterback as much because people believed that dad's genes were passed on.

Accorsi, the general manager of the Giants, had come to look at Eli Manning play, had heard about how great he was, had seen tapes of him play, but had not seen him in person, and decided to take a look, and could not believe the kind of remarkable poise this kid had.

Ole Miss was playing Auburn, a really tough team in the SEC, and could hardly run the ball. Manning was forced to throw the ball again and again, even though Mississippi was on the losing end of the talent competition. Even though his team was down nearly two scores, Manning kept his head about him, and took a one point lead.

Accorsi, who had seen Unitas play, and had become one of Unitas's best friends felt sure Eli had the kind of talent that you rarely see, the kind of talent Unitas had, and that it was worth taking the gamble on Eli. Coughlin had, at one point, decided to bench Kurt Warner. Warner had been sacked some six times in a game, and when Coughlin looked at the tape, he realized Warner held the ball for far too long, leading to sacks, a problem Patrick Ramsey had wih the Redskins.

Manning, for all his rawness, knew how to get rid of the ball quickly, and even though he played a poor game against the Redskins, Accorsi was impressed. Manning didn't panic, and played the best he could, given the lack of support from his team. Although it looked as if he played poorly, the tapes show he played very sound football.

That article brought some insight into what it must be like to find a player that you think may be the next great quarterback. Even if Eli is a bust, the story is fantastic, because it offers the kind of insight you normally don't read from a sports story.

Sports writing is all about drama. I can see how Mike Lupica, who himself is a successful sports writer, was drawn by the kind of writing you see in the best of sports writing. Sports writing is all about inspiration, about the successes and failings of man writ large, about people who push themselves to succeed, or collapse under their own success and their own human failings. They make us seem insignificant by comparison, but it's the same reason we go to see movies: we want to see lives that are more fantastic, more accomplished, more emotional than the ones we lead, and sports, reported through brilliant writing, takes us on that emotional journey, as successfully as if it had been made up, but with a semblance of the real.

It's a humbling experience to read stories so well written, and it makes me wish I knew how to write something half tha moving.