While this collection includes profiles of sports celebrities, such as Tiger Woods, Cal Ripken Jr., and Dale Earnhardt Jr., what makes the book noteworthy are the profiles of lesser-known athletes: Garrett Burnett, a hockey "enforcer"; George Freeth, a pioneer surfer; or Louis Zamperini, a star high school miler whose true tests arose during World War II. With the popular sports represented early on, the choices extend in both subject matter and style: racial profiling in New Jersey and the shattered dreams of hopeful basketball players; mountain climbers in Kyrgyzstan taken hostage; the sociology of losing; rediscovering joy in fishing; why a sportswriter hangs it up; a soccer mom's thoughts on her child's first goal.
As Collins notes in the foreword, "As I read these stories each year, I find myself caring about someone, something, or some sport I know little about and couldn't have imagined ever wanting to know more about." Whether it's a profile of a horsewoman with a seemingly dual existence, or a piece describing what it's like to dive for loot on a sunken liner 200 feet down in a nasty stretch of water, The Best American Sports Writing 2001 offers superb tales of humankind's drive to win, conquer, or at least survive. --Michael Ferch