There were a few really good pieces of sports writing to note here that I've seen over the past few weeks, including two features from Sports Illustrated and two from ESPN The Magazine.
The first SI piece to mention was by Greg Bishop with "Who is Aaron Rodgers? The many sides of the NFL's best quarterback" and second from Lee Jenkins with "Happy and Healthy: Chris Bosh values life after near-death experience." Both stories have very solid writing and the one from Jenkins the more profound of the two as it details how Bosh of the Miami Heat had blood clots on his lungs, likely from a calf contusion months earlier.
The two ESPN stories had a similar mix with both excellent, and one particularly meaningful. On Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis, Tim Keown wrote the entertaining "Just live up to your dad's name and solve the NFL's L.A. problem, baby!" and Elizabeth Merrill provided "Dreams of a Father." The latter was about two women who as infants lost their mother, Karen Culver, and father, NFL running back Rodney Culver, in the 1996 ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades and just a beautifully written piece from Merrill.