
An Accidental Sportswriter
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $22.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Robert Lipsyte
-
By:
-
Robert Lipsyte
About this listen
A longtime sports columnist for the New York Times interweaves stories from his life and the events he covered to explore the relationships between the games we play and the lives we lead....
Growing up, Robert Lipsyte was the smart-aleck fat kid, the bully magnet who went to the library instead of the ballpark. As the perpetual outsider, even into adulthood, Lipsyte's alienation from Jock Culture made him a rarity in the press box: the sportswriter who wasn't a sports fan. This feeling of otherness has colored Lipsyte's sports writing for fifty years, much of it spent as a columnist for the New York Times. He didn't follow particular athletes or teams; he wasn't awed by the access afforded by his press pass or his familiarity with the players in the locker room. Between bouts at the Times, he launched a successful career writing young adult fiction, often about sports.
The experience and insight he earned over a half century infuse An Accidental Sportswriter. Going beyond the usual memoir, Lipsyte has written "a memory loop, a circular search for lost or forgotten pieces in the puzzle of a life." In telling his own story, he grapples with American sports and society - from Mickey Mantle to Bill Simmons - arguing that Jock Culture has seeped into our business, politics, and family life, and its definitions have become the standard to measure value. Full of wisdom and an understanding of American sports that contextualizes rather than celebrates athletes, An Accidental Sportswriter is the crowning achievement of a rich career and a book that will speak to us for years to come.
©2011 Robert Lipsyte (P)2011 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Love Life
- By: Rob Lowe
- Narrated by: Rob Lowe
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love Life serves up another delicious selection of intimate stories and observations from Rob Lowe's life, told with humor, warmth, and brutal honesty. After writing his acclaimed debut effort, Lowe felt he had more stories to share and many more friends to introduce. The result is a touching memoir about the business and craft of acting, the pitfalls of success, family, love, and much more.
-
-
Open, Honest, Sentimental... not quite as Intimate
- By Kelly on 01-07-16
By: Rob Lowe
-
Tiger Woods
- By: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian
- Narrated by: Roger Casey
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life - married to a Swedish beauty and the father of two young children. Winner of 14 major golf championships and 79 PGA Tour events, Woods was the first billion-dollar athlete, earning more than $100 million a year in endorsements from the likes of Nike, Gillette, AT&T, and Gatorade. But it was all a carefully crafted illusion. As it turned out, Woods had been living a double life for years.
-
-
Schadenfreude For Non-Fans
- By Dubi on 02-16-19
By: Jeff Benedict, and others
-
Surviving Deep Waters
- A Legendary Reporter's Story of Overcoming Poverty, Race, Violence, and His Mother's Deepest Secret
- By: Bruce Johnson
- Narrated by: Bruce Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There was no reason to bet on Bruce Johnson, given where he started out. Poor, Black, and raised by a single mother who had a secret. He was the child she hid in plain view from the rest of her family. As an adult, he set out to just make a living - to do better than Black folks who tried their best before, while making his Momma and Grandmomma proud. His journey to becoming a successful TV journalist nearly killed him, but he refused to treat himself as a victim. His role was to use his voice and example to pull others out of deep waters.
-
-
The exclusive to beat all exclusives!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-20-22
By: Bruce Johnson
-
Playing Hurt
- My Journey from Despair to Hope
- By: John Saunders, John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Playing Hurt, a leading figure in the sports world - the quintessential "man's man" who seems to have it all - confesses his constant battle with depression. John Saunders welcomes listeners into the heart of his desperate struggle through insights into the root causes of depression and explanations of modern medical and homeopathic treatments.
-
-
A Story That Can Save Lives!
- By Mike on 02-16-18
By: John Saunders, and others
-
When Pride Still Mattered
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 28 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor for the American experience. The nine seasons during which he led the Green Bay Packers to five world championships is the most storied period in NFL history. Lombardi became a legend, a symbol to many of leadership, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork, and to others of an obsession with winning. Maraniss captures the myth and the man, football, God, and country in a thrilling biography that has become an American classic.
-
-
What's in a name?
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-05-17
By: David Maraniss
-
Uphill
- A Memoir
- By: Jemele Hill
- Narrated by: Jemele Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jemele Hill’s world came crashing down when she called President Trump a “white supremacist”; the White House wanted her fired from ESPN, and she was deluged with death threats. But Hill had faced tougher adversaries growing up in Detroit than a tweeting president. Beneath the exterior of one of the most recognizable journalists in America was a need—a calling—to break her family’s cycle of intergenerational trauma.
-
-
Story telling was so drab
- By Rosalind on 12-06-22
By: Jemele Hill
-
Love Life
- By: Rob Lowe
- Narrated by: Rob Lowe
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love Life serves up another delicious selection of intimate stories and observations from Rob Lowe's life, told with humor, warmth, and brutal honesty. After writing his acclaimed debut effort, Lowe felt he had more stories to share and many more friends to introduce. The result is a touching memoir about the business and craft of acting, the pitfalls of success, family, love, and much more.
-
-
Open, Honest, Sentimental... not quite as Intimate
- By Kelly on 01-07-16
By: Rob Lowe
-
Tiger Woods
- By: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian
- Narrated by: Roger Casey
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life - married to a Swedish beauty and the father of two young children. Winner of 14 major golf championships and 79 PGA Tour events, Woods was the first billion-dollar athlete, earning more than $100 million a year in endorsements from the likes of Nike, Gillette, AT&T, and Gatorade. But it was all a carefully crafted illusion. As it turned out, Woods had been living a double life for years.
-
-
Schadenfreude For Non-Fans
- By Dubi on 02-16-19
By: Jeff Benedict, and others
-
Surviving Deep Waters
- A Legendary Reporter's Story of Overcoming Poverty, Race, Violence, and His Mother's Deepest Secret
- By: Bruce Johnson
- Narrated by: Bruce Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There was no reason to bet on Bruce Johnson, given where he started out. Poor, Black, and raised by a single mother who had a secret. He was the child she hid in plain view from the rest of her family. As an adult, he set out to just make a living - to do better than Black folks who tried their best before, while making his Momma and Grandmomma proud. His journey to becoming a successful TV journalist nearly killed him, but he refused to treat himself as a victim. His role was to use his voice and example to pull others out of deep waters.
-
-
The exclusive to beat all exclusives!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-20-22
By: Bruce Johnson
-
Playing Hurt
- My Journey from Despair to Hope
- By: John Saunders, John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Playing Hurt, a leading figure in the sports world - the quintessential "man's man" who seems to have it all - confesses his constant battle with depression. John Saunders welcomes listeners into the heart of his desperate struggle through insights into the root causes of depression and explanations of modern medical and homeopathic treatments.
-
-
A Story That Can Save Lives!
- By Mike on 02-16-18
By: John Saunders, and others
-
When Pride Still Mattered
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 28 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor for the American experience. The nine seasons during which he led the Green Bay Packers to five world championships is the most storied period in NFL history. Lombardi became a legend, a symbol to many of leadership, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork, and to others of an obsession with winning. Maraniss captures the myth and the man, football, God, and country in a thrilling biography that has become an American classic.
-
-
What's in a name?
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-05-17
By: David Maraniss
-
Uphill
- A Memoir
- By: Jemele Hill
- Narrated by: Jemele Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jemele Hill’s world came crashing down when she called President Trump a “white supremacist”; the White House wanted her fired from ESPN, and she was deluged with death threats. But Hill had faced tougher adversaries growing up in Detroit than a tweeting president. Beneath the exterior of one of the most recognizable journalists in America was a need—a calling—to break her family’s cycle of intergenerational trauma.
-
-
Story telling was so drab
- By Rosalind on 12-06-22
By: Jemele Hill
-
Seeing Home: The Ed Lucas Story
- A Blind Broadcaster's Story of Overcoming Life's Greatest Obstacles
- By: Ed Lucas, Christopher Lucas, Ed Lucas - introduction
- Narrated by: Christopher Lucas
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Soon to be a major motion picture, Seeing Home: The Ed Lucas Story is the incredible true tale of a beloved Emmy-winning blind broadcaster who refused to let his disability prevent him from overcoming many challenging obstacles and achieving his dreams.
-
-
Outstanding motivational book!
- By D. Whatley on 03-16-20
By: Ed Lucas, and others
-
Over Time
- My Life as a Sportswriter
- By: Frank Deford
- Narrated by: Frank Deford
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter is as unconventional and wide-ranging as Frank Deford's remarkable career, in which he has chronicled the heroes and the characters of just about every sport in nearly every medium. Deford joined Sports Illustrated in 1962, fresh, and fresh out of Princeton. In 1990, he was Editor-in-Chief of The National Sports Daily, one of the most ambitious and ill-fated projects in the history of American print journalism.
-
-
Memories
- By Amazon Customer on 05-18-18
By: Frank Deford
-
The Last Pass
- Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End
- By: Gary M. Pomerantz
- Narrated by: Gary M. Pomerantz
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the greatest dynasty in American professional sports history, an intimate story of race, mortality, and regret. About to turn 90, Bob Cousy, the Hall of Fame Boston Celtics captain who led the team to its first six championships on an unparalleled run, has much to look back on in contentment. But he has one last piece of unfinished business. The last pass he hopes to throw is to close the circle with his great partner on those Celtic teams, fellow Hall of Famer Bill Russell, now 84.
-
-
Great Premise, Not Quite Fulfilled in Good Book
- By Joe Kraus on 11-06-18
-
Sweetness
- The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At five feet ten inches tall, running back Walter Payton was not the largest player in the NFL, but he developed a larger-than-life reputation for his strength, speed, and grit. Nicknamed “Sweetness” during his college football days, he became the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago.
-
-
Honest Accounting Of A Fascinating Life
- By RevInTampa on 08-19-15
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Becoming Kareem
- Growing Up on and off the Court
- By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld
- Narrated by: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At one time Lew Alcindor was just another kid from New York City with all the usual problems: He struggled with fitting in, with pleasing a strict father, and with overcoming shyness that made him feel socially awkward. But with a talent for basketball and an unmatched team of supporters, Lew Alcindor was able to transform and to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
-
-
Concise and great
- By Clint Zenk on 06-23-20
By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and others
-
Outlaw Journalist
- The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson
- By: Professor William McKeen
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esteemed author and journalism professor William McKeen chronicles the mesmerizing life of legendary Gonzo journalist and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson’s childhood is detailed, along with his explosive relationship with his editors at Playboy and Rolling Stone, his drug use, his controversial persona, and life at his secluded Colorado home.
-
-
Very enlightening and well written
- By D. Lichtenstein on 05-27-17
-
Their Life's Work
- The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers
- By: Gary M. Pomerantz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years. A dozen of those Steelers players, coaches, and executives have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and three decades later their names echo in popular memory: "Mean" Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth.
-
-
Great Book
- By cap on 07-18-18
-
42 Faith
- The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story
- By: Ed Henry
- Narrated by: Ed Henry
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journalist and baseball lover Ed Henry reveals for the first time the backstory of faith that guided Jackie Robinson into not only the baseball record books but the annals of civil rights advancement as well. Through recently discovered sermons, interviews with Robinson's family and friends, and even an unpublished book by the player himself, Henry details a side of Jackie's humanity that few have taken the time to see.
-
-
42Faith
- By Phillip L. on 04-11-17
By: Ed Henry
-
The Good Son
- The Life of Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini
- By: Mark Kriegel
- Narrated by: Holt McCallany
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1980s, Ray Mancini was more than the lightweight champ. He was a national hero. Sinatra fawned over him. Warren Zevon wrote a tribute song. Sylvester Stallone produced his life story as a movie of the week. After all, an adoring public considered Boom Boom the real Rocky. But it all came apart in a brutal 1982 battle against an obscure Korean challenger....
-
-
Best biography I have ever heard or read!
- By Mark on 08-26-16
By: Mark Kriegel
-
Namath
- A Biography
- By: Mark Kriegel
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 21 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In between Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan there was Joe Namath, one of the very few sports heroes who transcended their game. The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Namath left the steel country of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for the Deep South, where he played quarterback for Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama. Almost four years later, he signed a $427,000 contract with the New York Jets that changed football forever, transforming a crude, violent game into show business.
-
-
Joe Namath #1
- By M on 09-22-10
By: Mark Kriegel
-
Big Game
- The NFL in Dangerous Times
- By: Mark Leibovich
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Big Game is a chronicle of "peak football" - the high point of the sport's economic success and cultural dominance but also the time when the dark side began to show. It is an era of explosive revenue growth but also one of creeping existential fear. Players have long joked that NFL stands for "not for long", but as the true impact of concussions becomes inescapable background noise, it's increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple glory of football without the buzzkill of its obvious consequences.
-
-
Reader needs to learn names
- By Jim on 09-16-18
By: Mark Leibovich
-
His Ownself
- A Semi-Memoir
- By: Dan Jenkins
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The colorful, sentimental, funny, affectionate, cantankerous memoir by the most colorful, funniest, most cantankerous-- and probably the most revered-- sportswriter of the last fifty years. Dan Jenkins is accepted as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) golf writer of all time, wrote beloved bestselling novels and abused more corporate expense accounts than anyone who ever lived. It's a touching, laugh-out-loud tribute to the romanticism of old-time sportswriting-- and the glory days of sports.
-
-
Loved this book!
- By Flannery Abrahamson on 05-23-19
By: Dan Jenkins
What listeners say about An Accidental Sportswriter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DaveBagdade
- 09-23-21
A must read from an important journalistic and literary character.
I’ve been a fan of Mr. Lipsyte for many years, and this autobiography gives a fascinating insight into his life and work. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Kathleen
- 05-10-11
Not a sports fan, but...
I am not a sports fan, but I loved this book. The memories that Lipsyte presents, in such a charming and personal way, make the listening thought provoking and enjoyable. Some of the celebrities he highlights, like Mickey Mantle and Dick Gregory, are best known to baby boomers. Throughout the book, however, Lipsyte brings these folks and their egos and fame into play around relevant and present day issues. His chapter on steroids in sports--then and now--is poignant and humane in part because he presents the users and the issues through the prism of his own continuous use of hormones since cancer surgery decades ago. The chapters of the book can be read in any order, making the book an easy read for a commuter or someone working out. Most are a little more than 30 minutes each. Lipsyte's reading of his own work brings an intimacy to the experience that one rarely finds in books about our heros and anti-heros.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful