CC Sabathia Profile from Sports Illustrated

Great piece in the 2009 Baseball Preview issue of Sports Illustrated on New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia.



Written by S.L. Price and titled "Big Love 'CC'" the piece gives a very nuanced portrait of a guy that many sports fans would only associate with his recently signed $161M free agent contract. In this, there were a lot of parallels to a blog post I did about a Lamar Odom profile... both show wealthy athletes who have a lot more layers of complexity than would be expected by the casual observer.

The story on Sabathia is longer than that on Odom and able to give more details into his life and family. Additionally, though, what makes it an excellent read is really good writing provided by S.L. Price.

Further work by Price can be found through a search of the CNNSI Vault archives or through reading (as I have) his book "Far Afield: A Sportswriting Odyssey". Chronicling his time living with his family as an expat in the French countryside, it's an interesting look at a lifestyle from an outsider perspective.

Lamar Odom Story from Sports Illustrated

Even though I don't follow basketball very closely, I found really interesting the story on Lamar Odom in the latest Sports Illustrated pictured below.



Written by Lee Jenkins, "Another Sunny Day in Lamar's L.A." is about a guy who I remember as a highly-questionable "student-athlete" signing by the University of Rhode Island. It could well be that my view of Odom at the time was right on, but he's certainly been through a lot since then and has much more to him that I would have suspected.

Very nuanced and well-written portrait of an interesting guy.