All the stories we’ve selected as number five in our weekly Top 5 newsletter.
Search results
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is This the Most Powerful Man in Sports?
More than a decade ago, Alex French profiled William Wesley — aka Worldwide Wes — a Robert Moses-like power broker within the game of basketball (Bill Simmons once referred to Wesley as “a cross between Confucius, a benevolent uncle, and The Wolf from ‘Pulp Fiction’). According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski, the New […]
Posted inReading List
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.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Sports, Story, Uncategorized
An Audience of Athletes: The Rise and Fall of Feminist Sports
Billie Jean King once tried to find a sustainable business model for feminist sports coverage. Then women’s fitness tried to revive the swimsuit model.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
Out There I Have to Smile
Heather Lanier explores the pressure to perform happiness.
Posted inCommentary, Current Events, Discussions, Podcasts, Sports
Editor’s Roundtable: Gossip, Dirt, and Reality (Podcast)
Longreads editors discuss stories in Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN, Kotaku, and The Globe and Mail.
Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes, Sports
‘It was illegal. And it ruined him.’
As a child, Tom Junod was his dad’s tout. He studied the gambling tip sheets for the only acceptable offering he could give his father: a line on a win.
Posted inArts & Culture, Current Events, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Sports, Story
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.
Posted inCrime, Current Events, Highlight, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
Powerful On the Beam or Off
Aly Raisman is a six-time Olympic medalist. She’s a survivor of abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar. And now, she’s an activist.
