The Best American Series Today, most long-form journalism is passed over in favor of catchy numbered lists, leaving only the truly exceptional. That's what best-selling author Christopher McDougall has collected here, in the twenty-fourth edition of the renowned anthology The Best American Sports Writing. This year's compilation celebrates wonderfully diverse facets of the world of sports: Don Van Natta Jr.'s discovery of Bobby Riggs's love for Billie Jean King, Bucky McMahon's exploration of the uneasy relationship between surfers and sharks on Réunion, and Amanda Hess's light-touch homage to the sports bra. These varied pieces allow the reader to see beyond the final scores to the people who give meaning to the game. The Best American Sports Writing 2014 includes Don Van Natta Jr., Ian Frazier, Amanda Hess, Ben McGrath, Nick Paumgarten, Charles P. Pierce, Eli Saslow, Patrick Hruby, Mary Pilon, and others [INSERT AUTHOR PHOTO] CHRISTOPHER MCDOUGALL, guest editor, is the best-selling author of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen and the forthcoming Natural Born Heroes: A World War II Odyssey.

GLENN STOUT, series editor, is the author, editor, or ghostwriter of nearly eighty books, including the best-selling Fenway 1912, Red Sox Century, and Yankees Century. He's been the series editor of The Best American Sports Writing since its inception in 1991.