Today is the one-year anniversary of Grantland’s launch. After looking through the handy Quickish archive of Grantland tips, here is an assuredly incomplete list of the 25 best sports things the site has published, with designations appropriate for the occasion:
“Rushmore” -- Four Things People Think About When They Think of Grantland:
“Growing Up Penn State” (Michael Weinreb)
“B.S. Report: Barack Obama” (Bill Simmons)
“The Importance of Ichiro” (Jay Caspian Kang)
“The Malice at the Palace: An Oral History” (Jonathan Abrams)
[Ed. note: Plus everything by Pierce. Everything.]
[Ed. note, cont'd: Simmons' piece "The Consequences of Caring", published after this list, was as good as anything he has written in the past year and a worthy addition to the list.]
“Pantheon” -- 10 More Things People SHOULD Think About When They Think of Grantland:
“The Garden of Good and Evil” (Katie Baker)
“The Future is Now” (Chris Brown)
“The Fiberglass Backboard” (Bryan Curtis)
“The Greatest Paper That Ever Died” (Alex French And Howie Kahn)
“Wilt vs. Elgin” (Dave McKenna)
“The Rise of the NBA Nerd” (Wesley Morris)
“The Long Autumn of Roger Federer” (Brian Phillips)
“Tim Tebow: Converter of the Passes” (Brian Phillips)
“James Brown’s Augusta” (Wright Thompson)
“Occasional Dispatches From the Republic of Anhedonia” (Colson Whitehead)
“Also Receiving Votes” -- 11 Other Things That Represented the Grantland Ideal:
“The Murder of Tayshana Murphy” (Jonathan Abrams)
“A Requiem for the Dream Team in Philly” (Bill Barnwell)
“Madden and the Future of Video Game Sports” (Tom Bissell)
“Ode to the War Daddies” (Chris Brown)
“What Would the End of Football Look Like?” (Tyler Cowen)
“An Evening With Jose Canseco” (Bryan Curtis)
“Three Man Weave” (Chuck Klosterman)
“A Fighter Abroad” (Brian Phillips)
“Soccer’s Heavy Boredom” (Brian Phillips)
“Novak Djokovic: The Shot and the Confrontation” (Brian Phillips)
“Oden on Oden” (Mark Titus)
What was your favorite thing published by Grantland in its first year? If you don’t see it on this list, drop a line to tips-at-quickish-dot-com or reply to @quickish on Twitter and we’ll add it in.
Your suggestions and recommendations:
"Hard Times in the Paris of the Plains" (Chris Suellentrop) -- suggested by @danshanoff
"An Oral History of 'Friday Night Lights'" (Robert Mays) -- suggested by @TarHeelMonthly
"Derek Jeter's DL Diary" (Mark Lisanti) -- suggested by @ugarles
"The Devil and Stephen Jackson" (Jonathan Abrams) -- suggested by Brad Sanders
"One Round" (Jane Leavy) -- suggested by @jarg0naut
"Football Injuries and the Thumbs-Up Sign" (Jordan Conn) -- suggested by @danshanoff





