Sport and Cinema.com

The title says it all. The sports media giant, under the veteran stewardship of editor Steve Wulf,  has assembled a compelling potpourri of assorted facts, instruction and intriguing material across the full spectrum of athletic competition and more.

The Great One instructs readers on how to tape a hockey stick. For all you Walter Mittys, you are informed about the odds of becoming a professional athlete. Sprinkled throughout are some bon mots such as – “It’s not whether you win or lose- but whether I  win or lose” – Scottish golfer Sandy Lyle.

From the greatest nicknames and college fight songs to a tour of Donovan McNabb’s locker along with a myriad of factoids to impress your friends, all are surrounded by rare photos and colorful art design.

Here is a sports “flea market” where you are bound to find something you can’t do without.

The SandC Interview: Editor Steve Wulf

How did this project come about and why did you feel it would make an engaging book?

An editor at ESPN Books, Chris Raymond, wanted a sort of sports equivalent of Dangerous Book for Boys/Daring Book for Girls. He picked me to do it since I had “been around the block” and had all this stuff in my head.

But the great thing about doing the book was all the things I learned. We’d look to do something and find out something even more fascinating on the topic.

For example, we were trying to determine who was the best athlete as a President. It took us in two different directions. We assumed it was Gerald Ford. But in researching we came across this letter that Curly Lambeau had written to Ford inviting him to become the center for the Green Bay Packers at $110 a game. The letter itself was fascinating and is reprinted in its entirety in the book.

We also discovered the best President golfer was actually Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was nearly a scratch golfer and the photo shows how limber he was at one point.

Sports are such a wide world, exemplified by the huge range you cover from skipping rope like boxer Sugar Shane Mosley to odds of becoming a pro and profiles of long distance swimmers from the Roaring 20s (Gertrude Ederle), as the editor what were your criteria as to what to include and what to leave out?

Simply things I thought were interesting. Matters I had always been fascinated by. I’ve been a journalist since 1972 and have picked up quite a few things along the way. There were topics I wanted to explore a little further.

For example, I had known that Gertrude was a pioneer swimmer, but I became more and more fascinated as I read her life story.

What were the biggest challenges in putting this book together?

What to leave on the cutting room floor. If we had 100 items we’d knocked off about 50. If we ever do a second book we could of course revive those. Some items in the book I am not entirely pleased with because some athletes were harder to access than others. While we were very happy with our instruction on how to throw a fastball and a breaking pitch, those were not the pitchers we originally set out to get. But we were very fortunate to get Jerry Rice for pass patterns and Gretzky for how to tape a hockey stick. Baseball players are hard to get and not as quite forthcoming.

Be it a topic on a drive-time radio show, an episode of Sportscenter or a book, why do you suppose the list format is particularly an effective tool on the subject of sports? (best tantrums, 5 greatest college fight songs..)

We are all fascinated by lists. The number we picked out, 101, was sort of magical. These aren’t the greatest and as we sort of explain in the introduction, we have created a sort of flea market of sports. You walk down one aisle and see something interesting and the next thing you know you’re off into another area. There is a logic but at the same time we wanted a nice mix.

As a veteran in the sports world who has seen, read and observed so much, what revelations really struck you the most as you assembled this book?

I’ve been a baseball writer most of my professional career but when we did the segment on how a third base coach gives signals, I had no idea how intricate and scientific sign giving was. When Rich (Donnelly) explains it, you really get a glimpse into the science of baseball. Those are the kinds of things I really enjoyed in putting together the book.

What are you most proud of and what do you hope readers come away with?

Little things like Lou Gehrig stealing home 15 times. And the fact which I picked up from Ray Robinson’s book that Gehrig almost did not give a farewell speech. He was walking off the field when someone implored him and so he turned around and gave it. Had he not we would’ve lost one of the great pieces of oratory in sports history.

I’m sure people must be coming up to you stating what they think would be interesting to have included- what is the feedback you’ve gotten?

Pretty positive, nothing real negative to date. I wouldn’t really expect much because it is not definitive. It is not the 101 Greatest Things In Sports, it’s 101 Things About Sports.

In a way it seems like this could be an interestingly quirky book end to your annual ESPN Almanac, any thoughts on making a series of books out of this? Could this be a new franchise?

I would love for it to be a new franchise, but I’d like to see this settle in and how people react to it before we actually start on an annual. That is a nice idea, I’d love to do it.

You have sections where critic Steve Lyons weighs in on his best and worst sports pictures, what are Steve Wulf’s 5 BEST sports movies of all -time?

Bang the Drum Slowly (the tv version with Paul Newman as Henry Wiggin and that very powerful locker room scene. The single best piece of sports film I have ever seen.)
Hoosiers
Bull Durham
Seabiscuit
Raging Bull