On masculinity, grief, and learning from suffering.
Sports
9,000 Seconds, With Only 47 to Spare
“As he would later tell me, running was the rare sport where you mostly competed against yourself. You could learn without having to lose.”
The Importance of Sports When Nothing Else Seems to Matter
No ‘One Shining Moment,’ no Bill Raftery, no Cinderellas. How one writer feels lost without March Madness.
Finding Answers about Life and Love in the Mountain Death Zone
“There’s no reflective surfaces when you’re climbing. You’re just who you are.”
“The Ugliness of Greatness”: A Kobe Bryant Reading List
It has been a dozen days since the shocking death of the Los Angeles Lakers star. How do we talk about Kobe and his legacy on and off the court?
Be a Good Sport
Competitive sports can mean professional and financial success — if they don’t compromise your mental health first. ‘Cheer’ and ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez’ show how athletics can hurt as much as they can heal.
Longreads Best of 2019: Sports Writing
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in sports writing.
How Rob Krar Helps Others Outrun Depression
“I think a good way to describe my depression is an inability to feel happiness. It’s just this gray zone. I have this beautiful life that I can’t appreciate.”
In Death, A Champion for Life Well Lived
“She no longer feared death because she could hold it in her hands at any time.”
New York City Shredder
The West Coast may have invented skateboarding, but imaginative New Yorker Tyshawn Jones keeps pushing the limits of what this slab of wood can do.
