Excellent Sports Illustrated writing - by Price, Layden & Davis

Three great pieces of recent sports writing were from the last few issues of Sports Illustrated with features by S.L. Price and Tim Layden and a book excerpt from Seth Davis.

From Price was "The writer and the puzzle: Richard Ben Cramer couldn't crack A-Rod" and it was a a remarkable story about the late writer and his attempt to write about Alex Rodriguez. It makes sense that I'd be drawn to a story about a sports writer and his writing, but boy does Price ever write it well.

By Tim Layden was "There's A Story Behind Knowshon Moreno's Tears" on the Denver Broncos running back and in the story Layden does the trick that I love to see in writing of showing compelling detail (often with humor) and making me interested in someone that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

From the same SI issue with the Layden story was an excerpt from the recently released Seth Davis book Wooden: A Coach's Life. "The Wizard And The Giant" has some excellent detail on some of what made John Wooden such a great man as he adapted during his coaching career to changing times and players.