Present company not included, which articles have you enjoyed? I’m not even talking about just recent articles. I share Wright Thompson’s Michael Jordan profile every year with someone, for example.
One of the best stories about the Native American world—the heartbreaking story of Jonathan Takes Enemy, a Crow Indian from the Crow Reservation in Montana and a high school basketball superstar trying to find his way.
Chris Ballard wrote a gem on Ryan Anderson after the tragic suicide of his girlfriend. The relationship between Ryan and Monty Williams showed us in a sport dominated by masculinity what it can look like for one man to care for another: https://www.si.com/nba/2014/11/10/ryan-anderson-gia-allemand
My absolute favorite article is about a subject matter I don’t care about (Harry Potter) but by an amazing writer (Joe Posnanski) and with a larger point that still blows me away in its perfect simplicity.
Reminds me now, how the Rockets took the Lakers to 7 that year, even though the Rockets were without an injured T-Mac, and Yao got knocked out of that series half-way though.
This essay on type 1 diabetes is far and away the best article about living with the disease that I've read in my 23 years as a diabetic: https://thenewinquiry.com/the-honeyed-siphon/
Coming from the investment/business world, I have a few non-sports articles that I tend to re-read. Most applicable to this community might be: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ however this one from Tim Urban has had the most impact on me personally: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html and the least applicable for this group (but I love enough to mention) is this stock writeup from Dan Sundheim. He was maybe 24 years old when he wrote it (under a pseudoname and it wasn't tagged to him until much later on). I LOVE reading about people before they became mythical creatures. It's why I think the Jordan Rules is so excellent - it paints this picture of Jordan as someone who might never win a title, who might go down as a great individual player but not a team player, and totally different person than who we know now. This Sundheim writeup is a little bit different but it shows he was the real deal from a young age: https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/Orthodontic_Centers_of_America/9725429057
Baxter Holmes piece on the 2019 Lakers with the Magic/Pelinka stories, Vin Cunningham’s pieces in the New Yorker on Marbury, Ben Derrick’s recounting on Colangelo, and sticking with Wright Thompson - his Riley piece is a great one.
One of the best stories about the Native American world—the heartbreaking story of Jonathan Takes Enemy, a Crow Indian from the Crow Reservation in Montana and a high school basketball superstar trying to find his way.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1991/02/18/shadow-of-a-nation-the-crows-once-proud-warriors-now-seek-glory-but-often-find-tragedy-in-basketball
Frank Sinatra has a cold by Gay Talese
Grantland did some things back in the day:
https://grantland.com/features/sumo-wrestling-tokyo-japan-hakuho-yukio-mishima-novelist-seppuku/
This article in The New Yorker from Patrick Radeon Keefe is fantastic. He expanded in it in his book a couple of years ago, Say Nothing.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/where-the-bodies-are-buried
Chris Ballard wrote a gem on Ryan Anderson after the tragic suicide of his girlfriend. The relationship between Ryan and Monty Williams showed us in a sport dominated by masculinity what it can look like for one man to care for another: https://www.si.com/nba/2014/11/10/ryan-anderson-gia-allemand
One that comes to mind: Adam Gopnik, "Voltaire's Garden." https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/03/07/voltaires-garden.
(And FdB stuff if that counts, but I'd describe pieces like "University, Inc." and "Planet of Cops" as more essays than articles per se...)
My absolute favorite article is about a subject matter I don’t care about (Harry Potter) but by an amazing writer (Joe Posnanski) and with a larger point that still blows me away in its perfect simplicity.
https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/katie-the-prefect
Michael Lewis "The No-Stats All Star" NY TIMES Feb 13, 2009. On Shane Battier, and how he always played Kobe Bryant so well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html
Reminds me now, how the Rockets took the Lakers to 7 that year, even though the Rockets were without an injured T-Mac, and Yao got knocked out of that series half-way though.
This essay on type 1 diabetes is far and away the best article about living with the disease that I've read in my 23 years as a diabetic: https://thenewinquiry.com/the-honeyed-siphon/
I *love* Baxter Holmes' story about the NBA and PB&J sandwiches. So much fun: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/presents18931717/the-nba-secret-addiction
I love this story about how algorithmic advertising works (spoiler: kinda shitty)
https://marker.medium.com/the-imminent-collapse-of-digital-advertising-3ab4272be67c
These used to be the type of articles you’d read in the Atlantic.
Coming from the investment/business world, I have a few non-sports articles that I tend to re-read. Most applicable to this community might be: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ however this one from Tim Urban has had the most impact on me personally: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html and the least applicable for this group (but I love enough to mention) is this stock writeup from Dan Sundheim. He was maybe 24 years old when he wrote it (under a pseudoname and it wasn't tagged to him until much later on). I LOVE reading about people before they became mythical creatures. It's why I think the Jordan Rules is so excellent - it paints this picture of Jordan as someone who might never win a title, who might go down as a great individual player but not a team player, and totally different person than who we know now. This Sundheim writeup is a little bit different but it shows he was the real deal from a young age: https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/Orthodontic_Centers_of_America/9725429057
Here’s a great profile on Kareem I go back to a lot: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/magazine/what-the-world-got-wrong-about-kareem-abdul-jabbar.html?smid=tw-share
Wright Thompson’s Tiger Woods profile on his life after his fathers death is incredible: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/15278522/how-tiger-woods-life-unraveled-years-father-earl-woods-death
Hunter S. Thompson’s Nixon obituary: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/
I know you said not recent, but Jourdan Rodrigue's profile of Jalen Ramsey in the Athletic has the makings of an all timer. https://theathletic.com/3028685/2022/01/06/challenge-me-mercurial-or-misunderstood-jalen-ramsey-just-needs-to-know-the-answers/?source=emp_shared_article
Spencer Hall has several that stand the test of the time - JUKE, for example, still rings in my head... but this one is just so so so good... https://www.bannersociety.com/2016/9/2/20840137/buffalo
The Jeremy Strong New Yorker piece was a great read: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/on-succession-jeremy-strong-doesnt-get-the-joke?source=search_google_dsa_paid&gclid=Cj0KCQiAieWOBhCYARIsANcOw0xpjwg067ThGVoPCHhNRUY1oR2G08s6IR277seS8VoIm6l8SjlMMgsaAvUOEALw_wcB
The Peter Bogdanovich obits are incredible. What a life: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/movies/peter-bogdanovich-dead.html
Also, his late 80's movie recommendation series are great, digestible, perfectly crafted 5 minute videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDGkInGk4XM
Why is Bruce Willis in so many awful movies? Who is paying for this?
https://www.vulture.com/article/randall-emmett-movies.html
Baxter Holmes piece on the 2019 Lakers with the Magic/Pelinka stories, Vin Cunningham’s pieces in the New Yorker on Marbury, Ben Derrick’s recounting on Colangelo, and sticking with Wright Thompson - his Riley piece is a great one.