Over Time
My Life as a Sportswriter
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times bestseller: The “entertaining” memoir by the legendary American sportswriter (Chicago Tribune).
Frank Deford joined Sports Illustrated in 1962, and over the following decades became one of the most beloved figures in sports journalism—renowned for everything from his NPR commentaries to his status as a Lite Beer All Star.
From the Mad Men-like days of SI in the sixties, to the early NBA, to Deford’s visit to apartheid South Africa with Arthur Ashe, Over Time is packed with intriguing people and stories. Interwoven through his personal history, Deford lovingly traces the entire arc of American sportswriting from the lurid early days of the Police Gazette, through Grantland Rice and Red Smith and on up to ESPN, in a “wildly entertaining” memoir (Booklist, starred review).
“Equal doses of self-deprecating humor and anecdotal history of American sports journalism.” —Chicago Tribune
“Insightful remembrances of stars like Wilt Chamberlain and Billie Jean King . . . [Deford is] sports writing’s Sinatra.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Endearing . . . imparts a sense of a life well lived and fully enjoyed.” —The New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sportswriter (Sports Illustrated) and author (Everybody's All-American) Deford tells the story of his rise from the comfortable and modest streets of Baltimore to the top of the sports journalism world. He discovered that he "had some facility for writing" when he was nine, even though he had not "suffered a miserable upbringing," which helps "if you are to become a writer." He was hired by Sports Illustrated in 1962, despite the personnel department classifying him as "not very bright." "Sportswriting was still in something of a netherworld" when he began his career, "presented with own desk and... Royal typewriter." Unfortunately, as a self-proclaimed "old and cranky" man, he opines, "Journalism, as we know it... with the internet." The mixture of homage to sportswriters who came before him, such as Grantland Rice; sometimes wistful vignettes of sports figures like Arthur Ashe; and his own personal reflections on the evolution of sports journalism combine to offer a cultural perspective that transcends a mere job.
