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Dispatches from the Sporting Life
Between such novels as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, St. Urbain's Horseman, and Barney's Version, Mordecai Richler pursued his obsession with sports-and he wrote brilliantly about such sports as ice hockey, baseball, salmon fishing, bodybuilding, and wrestling. His essays and articles appeared in such prominent and diverse places as GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Inside Sports, Commentary, and The New York Review of Books.
Richler spent time with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky, and Gordie Howe (when a reporter asked Gordie's then eighty-year-old father if he was still interested in sex, Howe père replied, "You'll have to ask somebody older than me.") He traveled with Guy LaFleur's Montreal Canadiens, and with the Trail Smoke-Eaters to Stockholm, for the world hockey championships. When a Swedish reporter confronted the Smoke-Eaters' coach and accused him of encouraging violence on the ice, the enraged coach replied, "But I condone it absolutely."
There are shrewdly perceptive pieces here about Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, and lady umpires, and a marvelous essay on Richler's unlimited enthusiasm for the all-inclusive Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports, which includes among its champions one Steve Allan Hertz, an infielder who played a total of five games in Houston in 1964 and had a batting average of .000.
This then is a superb novelist writing unforgettably about his obsession for sports. The work sparkles with Richler's hallmark irony, wit, and shrewd perception. It is a book no sports-or Richler-fan will want to miss.
Richler spent time with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky, and Gordie Howe (when a reporter asked Gordie's then eighty-year-old father if he was still interested in sex, Howe père replied, "You'll have to ask somebody older than me.") He traveled with Guy LaFleur's Montreal Canadiens, and with the Trail Smoke-Eaters to Stockholm, for the world hockey championships. When a Swedish reporter confronted the Smoke-Eaters' coach and accused him of encouraging violence on the ice, the enraged coach replied, "But I condone it absolutely."
There are shrewdly perceptive pieces here about Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, and lady umpires, and a marvelous essay on Richler's unlimited enthusiasm for the all-inclusive Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports, which includes among its champions one Steve Allan Hertz, an infielder who played a total of five games in Houston in 1964 and had a batting average of .000.
This then is a superb novelist writing unforgettably about his obsession for sports. The work sparkles with Richler's hallmark irony, wit, and shrewd perception. It is a book no sports-or Richler-fan will want to miss.
- GenresSportsNonfictionCanada
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Mordecai Richler
90 books377 followersWorking-class Jewish background based novels, which include
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
(1959) and
Saint Urbain's Horseman
(1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 2, 2010
A posthumous collection of articles about and related to sports, if you define sports as pre-1985 ice hockey, the Montreal Expos, or Montreal Royals. Anachronistic prose that can make one nostalgic for bygone eras.
January 26, 2019
Richler always entertains - fishing trips to safaris to his love of baseball. His acerbic take on humanity in combination with his droll use of language makes me long for more from his pen. My favourite essays were on his love of hockey, particularly Les Habitants - his beloved Canadiens - their downfall, the spoiling of North American hockey, the NHL, the end of the great old game. I wonder what he would make of the Vegas Knights reaching the final in their first season?
July 9, 2017
When it came to writing, the late, great Richler had a panoply of strong suits and among them was sports. Highlights of this great collection include the hilarious opener about a 'dream' salmon-fishing vacation in Scotland and two long-form essays; one regarding the rich baseball history of Montreal and, the other, about the faded fortunes of the Montreal Canadiens (as of 1984!)
February 21, 2021
The pieces are a little dated but the writing is lively and entertaining. Warning: the language in the last piece, an excerpt from one of Richler's novels is archaic if you get my drift.
June 7, 2025
Incredibly dated in parts (for good and bad), it feels important that these articles were collected into a book and not lost to history. Some great sports writing.
March 15, 2026
Fun book, maybe the perfect vacation book. I feel about 50% more like an old Jewish Montrealer than I did before reading it.
July 26, 2007
Great writing on sports from one of Canada's finest authors. I enjoyed the takes on everything from the Montreal Canadaiens' glory days, Gretzky, Sandy Koufax, Snooker, the sports page, fishing, etc.
Currently Reading
November 30, 2008A great view into Canadian sporting and world views from late last century.
June 26, 2011
Stew and Harv's summer pick
September 15, 2014
love richler's style and humor. a good read for the off season.
November 26, 2011
Humorous
Brilliantly-written
Take-or-leave subject matter
Brilliantly-written
Take-or-leave subject matter
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews