Best Canadian Sports Writing

38 pieces that will be remembered for seasons to come

For 25 years, sports journalists south of the border have been collected in best-of anthologies. With Best Canadian Sports Writing, editors Stacey May Fowles and Pasha Malla offer a long overdue rejoinder from the North, showcasing top literary sports writing from diverse homegrown talent.

This extraordinary anthology of recent writing mixes columns and long-form journalism, profiles and reportage, new voices and well-known favourites such as Stephen Brunt, Rachel Giese, Eric Koreen, Morgan Campbell, and Cathal Kelly. The assembled pieces offer polished prose, unusual perspectives, and rare insight, whether it's Shireen Ahmed taking on Kobe Bryant, Anshuman Iddamsetty aspiring for sumo size, or Eva Holland tracing the rise and fall of ski ballet. With its many voices and approaches, Best Canadian Sports Writing expands the genre into more democratic and conversational territory, celebrating the perspectives of both fans and experts alike.

These remarkable pieces offer lasting insight that, like sport itself, excites, inspires, and never fails to reveal the truth about ourselves.

Stacey May Fowles is an award-winning novelist, journalist, and essayist. She has written about sports for the Globe and Mail, the Walrus, Torontoist, the National Post, Deadspin, Hazlitt, and Vice Sports, among others. Her most recent book, Baseball Life Advice, was published in spring 2017. She lives in Toronto, Ontario. Pasha Malla is the award-winning author of six books, most recently Fugue States, a novel, and Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion, a collection of “found sports poetry” co-assembled with Jeff Parker. He contributes frequently to NewYorker.com, CBC Radio, and the Globe and Mail. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Introduction, Stacey May Fowles and Pasha Malla

Sam Riches, Home Court: Flipino Hoops in Canada's Frozen North

Richard Poplak, The Ace Age

Shannon Proudfoot, Long-Time Listener, First-Time Caller

Cathal Kelly, A Fish Out of Water at the Bassmaster Classic

Amelia Schonbek, The Journeywoman

Chris Turner, The Journeyman

Rachel Giese, Puckheads: Inside the Crazed Arenas of the GTHL

Robin Benger, On Cricket

Duane Watson, Legend

Paul Taunton, The Hazy Edge of Memory: Torvill and Dean at 30

Katherine Laidlaw, This Will End Well

Sarah Kurchak, Changing the Way We Talk About Autism in Marital Arts

Why People with Down Syndrome Should Be Allowed to Compete in MMA

Why Kimbo Slice Mattered to the Autism Community

Demar Grant, The Nike Crown League Experience

Haley Cullingham, The Tallest Man on Turf

Spencer Gordon, Getting Over

Denise Balkissoon, For Women at the Games, Sexist Media is the Biggest Hurdle

When We Tell Athletes They’re “Not Female Enough,” We’re Hurting Sports

Michael Christie, All Parents Are Cowards

Jesse Ruddock, The Todd Bertuzzi Knock-Out Club

Eva Holland, The Rise and Fall of Ski Ballet

Donnovan Bennett, Being a Black Sports Journalist

John Lott, Meet the Most Obscure and Longest-Serving Member of the Blue Jays

Dan Robson, Home and Really Far Away

Andrew Forbes, Galactic Heat Check: NASA’s “Thermonuclear Art” and the 2015 New York Knicks

Morgan Campbell, Street Racers Dodge the Law

John Doyle, Making History: Women, Soccer and the World Cup

Shireen Ahmed, Nah, Bro. All Muslims Do Not “Love” Kobe Bryant

Karim Zidan, Dagestani Dynasty

Eric Koreen, A Week in the Life of Toronto Raptor Chuck Hayes

Anshuman Iddamsetty, Swole with No Goal

Arden Zwelling, Josh Ho-Sang vs. The World

Omar Mouallem, The Fight for His Life

Mike Spry, The Shame of Pageantry

Will Di Novi, Skin in the Game

Kristina Rutherford, Game Before Self

Stephen Brunt, Sure Thing

Contributor Bios