This year affirmed that in a quick(ish)-hit world, the 99th percentile of sportswriting has never been better. Of the 10,000-plus pieces of great sportswriting that Quickish has curated throughout the year -- from trenchant real-time snippets to powerful “longish” reads -- these stood out. So fire up the Instapaper or ReadItLater and send out 2011 by appreciating some great writing:

The Quickish "11 for '11" 

Katie Baker, “The Confessions of a Former Adolescent Puck Tease,” Deadspin

John Branch, “The Life and Death of an NHL Enforcer,” New York Times

Taylor Branch, “The Shame of College Sports,” The Atlantic

Spencer Hall, “College Coaches, Drinking, and The Two Men at the Rail,” SB Nation

Supriya Nair, “Happy Together,” Run of Play

Luke O'Brien, “Stay Soft, Dirk Nowitzki,” Deadspin

Wright Thompson, “Why You Should Care About Cricket,” ESPN.com

Tommy Tomlinson, “Something Went Very Wrong at Toomer’s Corner,” Sports Illustrated

Wells Tower, “Welcome to the Far Eastern Conference,” GQ

Michael Weinreb, “Growing Up Penn State," Grantland

Luke Winn, “Butler is Back,” SI.com

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"Also Receiving Votes": 

 Lars Anderson, “Terror, Tragedy and Hope in Tuscaloosa,” Sports Illustrated

Chris Ballard, “What Was He Thinking?” Sports Illustrated

Emma Carmichael, “Juggalo Like Me,” Deadspin

Bryan Curtis, “The Fiberglass Backboard,” Grantland

Herschel Farbman, "Baseball Fans and the Ball in the Stands," The Awl

Philip Gourevitch, “Climbers,” The New Yorker

Spencer Hall, “God’s Away on Business,” Every Day Should Be Saturday

Patrick Hruby, “Seven Minutes of Wow,” ESPN.com

Pat Jordan, “The Phillies’ Four Aces,” New York Times Sunday Magazine

Jay Caspian Kang, “The Importance of Ichiro,” Grantland

Thomas Lake, "Bad Nights in the NFL," Sports Illustrated

Will Leitch, "The Impossible, Inevitable Redemption of Mike Vick," GQ*

Tom Ley, “The Big Cat and the Water,” Pitchers and Poets

Robert Mays, “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Couldn’t Lose,” Grantland

Liz Merrill, "The Journey to Meet Mike Tomlin," ESPN.com

Jon Mooallem, “The History and Mystery of the High Five,” ESPN the Mag

Amy K. Nelson, "Searching for Meaning in the Mistake," ESPN.com

Brian Phillips, “Your Stupid Rage,” Run of Play

SL Price, “Staring Down History,” Sports Illustrated

Joe Posnanski, "The Biggest Winner," SI.com*

David Roth, "LeBron James Can't Hear You," The Awl

Alan Siegel, “Kendrick Perkins Family Photo,” Deadspin

Scott Van Pelt, "The Scott Van Pelt Show, July 8," ESPN Radio (audio)

Jon Wertheim, "I'm Glad I Went to Prison," Sports Illustrated

Wetzel, Robinson et al, “Who Is Nevin Shapiro?” Yahoo Sports

Comments, reactions and notice of egregious omissions: tips-[at]-quickish-[dot]-com.

* - Suggested by readers as glaring omissions, then added. Updating...