Present company not included, which articles have you enjoyed? I’m not even talking about just recent articles. I share Wright Thompson’s Michael Jordan profile every year with someone, for example.
One of the best stories about the Native American world—the heartbreaking story of Jonathan Takes Enemy, a Crow Indian from the Crow Reservation in Montana and a high school basketball superstar trying to find his way.
Grantland was very creative. Rembert Browne going across America was so engaging for me. I loved every entry. You know how I got to this page- TWITTER!!!! Chock one up for Twitter. Best sports reading to me was the heyday of Sport Illustrated 70’s to early 2000’s . So many great writers. Magazine would come days after the event but the writing was great and the long form profiles were always worth reading. Also any thought pieces from Marcus Thompson are winners lately.
Chris Ballard wrote a gem on Ryan Anderson after the tragic suicide of his girlfriend. The relationship between Ryan and Monty Williams showed us in a sport dominated by masculinity what it can look like for one man to care for another: https://www.si.com/nba/2014/11/10/ryan-anderson-gia-allemand
My absolute favorite article is about a subject matter I don’t care about (Harry Potter) but by an amazing writer (Joe Posnanski) and with a larger point that still blows me away in its perfect simplicity.
Reminds me now, how the Rockets took the Lakers to 7 that year, even though the Rockets were without an injured T-Mac, and Yao got knocked out of that series half-way though.
This essay on type 1 diabetes is far and away the best article about living with the disease that I've read in my 23 years as a diabetic: https://thenewinquiry.com/the-honeyed-siphon/
Coming from the investment/business world, I have a few non-sports articles that I tend to re-read. Most applicable to this community might be: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ however this one from Tim Urban has had the most impact on me personally: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html and the least applicable for this group (but I love enough to mention) is this stock writeup from Dan Sundheim. He was maybe 24 years old when he wrote it (under a pseudoname and it wasn't tagged to him until much later on). I LOVE reading about people before they became mythical creatures. It's why I think the Jordan Rules is so excellent - it paints this picture of Jordan as someone who might never win a title, who might go down as a great individual player but not a team player, and totally different person than who we know now. This Sundheim writeup is a little bit different but it shows he was the real deal from a young age: https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/Orthodontic_Centers_of_America/9725429057
Baxter Holmes piece on the 2019 Lakers with the Magic/Pelinka stories, Vin Cunningham’s pieces in the New Yorker on Marbury, Ben Derrick’s recounting on Colangelo, and sticking with Wright Thompson - his Riley piece is a great one.
One of the best stories about the Native American world—the heartbreaking story of Jonathan Takes Enemy, a Crow Indian from the Crow Reservation in Montana and a high school basketball superstar trying to find his way.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1991/02/18/shadow-of-a-nation-the-crows-once-proud-warriors-now-seek-glory-but-often-find-tragedy-in-basketball
Frank Sinatra has a cold by Gay Talese
Grantland did some things back in the day:
https://grantland.com/features/sumo-wrestling-tokyo-japan-hakuho-yukio-mishima-novelist-seppuku/
Grantland was very creative. Rembert Browne going across America was so engaging for me. I loved every entry. You know how I got to this page- TWITTER!!!! Chock one up for Twitter. Best sports reading to me was the heyday of Sport Illustrated 70’s to early 2000’s . So many great writers. Magazine would come days after the event but the writing was great and the long form profiles were always worth reading. Also any thought pieces from Marcus Thompson are winners lately.
This article in The New Yorker from Patrick Radeon Keefe is fantastic. He expanded in it in his book a couple of years ago, Say Nothing.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/where-the-bodies-are-buried
Chris Ballard wrote a gem on Ryan Anderson after the tragic suicide of his girlfriend. The relationship between Ryan and Monty Williams showed us in a sport dominated by masculinity what it can look like for one man to care for another: https://www.si.com/nba/2014/11/10/ryan-anderson-gia-allemand
Great choice. One of my favorite sports articles of the past decade.
One that comes to mind: Adam Gopnik, "Voltaire's Garden." https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/03/07/voltaires-garden.
(And FdB stuff if that counts, but I'd describe pieces like "University, Inc." and "Planet of Cops" as more essays than articles per se...)
My absolute favorite article is about a subject matter I don’t care about (Harry Potter) but by an amazing writer (Joe Posnanski) and with a larger point that still blows me away in its perfect simplicity.
https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/katie-the-prefect
Michael Lewis "The No-Stats All Star" NY TIMES Feb 13, 2009. On Shane Battier, and how he always played Kobe Bryant so well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html
Reminds me now, how the Rockets took the Lakers to 7 that year, even though the Rockets were without an injured T-Mac, and Yao got knocked out of that series half-way though.
This essay on type 1 diabetes is far and away the best article about living with the disease that I've read in my 23 years as a diabetic: https://thenewinquiry.com/the-honeyed-siphon/
I *love* Baxter Holmes' story about the NBA and PB&J sandwiches. So much fun: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/presents18931717/the-nba-secret-addiction
I love this story about how algorithmic advertising works (spoiler: kinda shitty)
https://marker.medium.com/the-imminent-collapse-of-digital-advertising-3ab4272be67c
These used to be the type of articles you’d read in the Atlantic.
Coming from the investment/business world, I have a few non-sports articles that I tend to re-read. Most applicable to this community might be: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ however this one from Tim Urban has had the most impact on me personally: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html and the least applicable for this group (but I love enough to mention) is this stock writeup from Dan Sundheim. He was maybe 24 years old when he wrote it (under a pseudoname and it wasn't tagged to him until much later on). I LOVE reading about people before they became mythical creatures. It's why I think the Jordan Rules is so excellent - it paints this picture of Jordan as someone who might never win a title, who might go down as a great individual player but not a team player, and totally different person than who we know now. This Sundheim writeup is a little bit different but it shows he was the real deal from a young age: https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/Orthodontic_Centers_of_America/9725429057
Here’s a great profile on Kareem I go back to a lot: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/magazine/what-the-world-got-wrong-about-kareem-abdul-jabbar.html?smid=tw-share
Wright Thompson’s Tiger Woods profile on his life after his fathers death is incredible: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/15278522/how-tiger-woods-life-unraveled-years-father-earl-woods-death
Hunter S. Thompson’s Nixon obituary: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/
I know you said not recent, but Jourdan Rodrigue's profile of Jalen Ramsey in the Athletic has the makings of an all timer. https://theathletic.com/3028685/2022/01/06/challenge-me-mercurial-or-misunderstood-jalen-ramsey-just-needs-to-know-the-answers/?source=emp_shared_article
Spencer Hall has several that stand the test of the time - JUKE, for example, still rings in my head... but this one is just so so so good... https://www.bannersociety.com/2016/9/2/20840137/buffalo
The Jeremy Strong New Yorker piece was a great read: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/on-succession-jeremy-strong-doesnt-get-the-joke?source=search_google_dsa_paid&gclid=Cj0KCQiAieWOBhCYARIsANcOw0xpjwg067ThGVoPCHhNRUY1oR2G08s6IR277seS8VoIm6l8SjlMMgsaAvUOEALw_wcB
The Peter Bogdanovich obits are incredible. What a life: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/movies/peter-bogdanovich-dead.html
Also, his late 80's movie recommendation series are great, digestible, perfectly crafted 5 minute videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDGkInGk4XM
Why is Bruce Willis in so many awful movies? Who is paying for this?
https://www.vulture.com/article/randall-emmett-movies.html
Baxter Holmes piece on the 2019 Lakers with the Magic/Pelinka stories, Vin Cunningham’s pieces in the New Yorker on Marbury, Ben Derrick’s recounting on Colangelo, and sticking with Wright Thompson - his Riley piece is a great one.