Off the shelf

’Tis the season to be giving. And if you’re at a loss as to what to give your favorite sports fan (or weekend athlete), here are a few suggestions on what to wrap up for Christmas. I’ve picked four books from the top shelf that may suit various personalities.

Sports Illustrated: Fifty Years of Great Writing (Sports Illustrated Books, 2003)

I know you prefer the swimsuit edition, but if you’re after great sports WRITING, this is the toy store of books. Next to the Great American Sports Writing series published each year, this is a treasure-trove of the best sports writers throughout history (specifically 1954 onwards).

The coverage is broad, the sports diverse, the writers a Who’s Who of the profession. SI stalwarts Frank Deford, Rick Telander and Rick Reilly are joined by renowned authors A.J. Liebling, Wiliam Faulkner, George Plimpton, John Underwood and even quaint storyteller Garrison Keillor. Of particular interest would be Mark Kram’s insights into the Thrilla in Manila ("Lawdy, Lawdy, He’s Great") Deford’s profile of reticent Boston Celtics great Bill Russell ("The Ring Leader"), Paul O’Neil’s first-hand account of the historic race between Roger Bannister and John Landy ("Duel of the four-Minute Men"), and Myron Cope’s poignant, gruff and amusing encounter with late broadcasting pioneer Howard Cosell.

The stories are longer than we’re used to, and the writing at times seems dated, but it’s much better than some of the bland, characterless essays we’ve seen of late. It humanizes the larger than life heroes we only read about from ten thousand miles away. Even the profile on Mike Tyson ("All the Rage" by Richard Hoffer) is more richly colorful, rendering him strangely vulnerable. This is writing that evokes emotion, provokes reaction, and stirs thought. And it’s about sports.

The Greatest Sports Arguments of All Time, by Christopher Russo (Doubleday, 2003). You are going to love this book. For everyone from the emotional sports fan to the cerebral analyst. A brief background: "Mad Dog" Russo is a co-host of the radio show "Mike and the Mad Dog" on WFAN in New York City, and has won the prestigious Marconi Award for radio broadcasting. Although he is very opinionated, he goes the extra mile in doing research to back up his contentions.

There is quite a bit of baseball and American football in here, but you’ll love the basketball arguments. Which NBA team was the greatest of all time? (He lists the top five.) If Jack Cousy, Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain took on Michael Jordan, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Shaquille O’Neal and Julius Erving, who would win? Which is better, Ted Williams‚ batting percentage or Joe DiMaggio’s batting streak? Would Jack Dempsey have beaten Rocky Marciano? The debates are fantastic. The best part is, you could do similar arguments for local sports.

On Boxing, by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco, 2002, originally published in 1987). Definitely not casual reading. A philosophical, romantic, and intense look by a known female novelist. Although this was originally written in 1987, it has been repeatedly in print.

A sample from the introduction, so you know what you’ll be in for: "No other subject is, for the writer, so intensely personal as boxing. To write about boxing is to write about oneself — however elliptically and unintentionally. And to write about boxing is to be forced to contemplate not only boxing, but the perimeters of civilization — what it is, or should be, to be ‘human.’"

Heavy stuff, but it does strike a chord, lifting the sport from the mindless bestiality many people consider it to be, mining the disguised deep quotes from boxers who were dismissed as mere brutes who were just the strongest of the strong. It touches on mortality, purgatory, paradox and contrast, and is definitely something you need to read slowly, or you may get mental indigestion. The last time we probably read something written this way was in college, in a class we did not particularly like. But I must say that the reflections within the covers are definitely valuable, not just for boxing, but life.

Fair Play: The Ethics of Sport, by Robert L. Simon (Westview Press, 2004). This is the heaviest sports book on the market, period. Simon is a philosophy professor who got into an argument with his colleagues, and that sparked his writing the book. Is that anal enough for you?

Is there victory in merely competing? Is the drive to win not necessarily a beneficial act in itself? These are some of the twists that our basic presuppositions about sports take in Simon’s restless mind. He tackles the basis of competition, personal gain, commercialization, violence and gender equity and other issues that we neglect to tackle. But be prepared to take your time with this. It’s quite difficult to digest, sort of like preparing for an oral exam.

And we all know how unpleasant that was.