Great stories thread

[lcjjdnh]

Not sure if there's much interest in this, but I love reading long-form journalism. Figured I'd start a thread and see if people would be interested in a place where we could swap our favorites. To start out, I'll highlight two I really enjoyed. One is a Grantland oral history on all-sports-talk radio station WFAN--you'll love it even if you've never heard the station before. The other is a piece on auditioning for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Don Imus, Mike and the Mad Dog, and the fall and rise of the first all-sports talk station, WFAN - Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8016912/don-imus-mike-mad-dog-fall-rise-first-all-sports-talk-station-wfan)

The Audition (http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/?p=7497)

[AnalBumCover]

Love this stuff. I'll have to dig around for some of my own favorites.

[AnalBumCover]

Trial By Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?

Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann)

[lcjjdnh]

Trial By Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?

Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann)

David Grann is great. He also wrote another one of of my favorites:
Rodrigo Rosenberg’s Murder in Guatemala : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/04/110404fa_fact_grann)

[AnalBumCover]

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist (http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff_diamonds)

The Great Cyberheist - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/magazine/14Hacker-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=magazine)

[I. J. Reilly]

Love this stuff. I'll have to dig around for some of my own favorites.

+1

I pretty much check longforms.org and longreads.com every day, I just wish I had the time to read everything that looked interesting.

[DaddyTorgo]

Seen the diamond heist one before...it's a frigging great read.

[whomario]

love reading those as well, what i also do is to convert them and read them on my kindle, have a pretty extensive collection on it by now.

another neat website that collects stories from a couple outlets is Byliner (often only a link to the source, still invaluable for me) : Byliner Spotlights (http://byliner.com/spotlights) (the spotlights are just awesome, showcasing articles on various topics all over the map)


couple articles i found great on topics that interest me :

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/The-Killer-in-the-Pool.html?page=all

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Blood-in-the-Water-Keto.html?page=all

both stories on Orca whales in captivity and the tragedies that ensued from that fact.

(in general there´s a lot of great stuff on there)

Crocodile Nowitzki - Page 1 - News - Dallas - Dallas Observer (http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-22/news/crocodile-nowitzki/)

great story on Nowitzki going off the map in Australia after the loss to the Warriors a while back

Roger Federer as Religious Experience - Tennis - New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html?pagewanted=all)

article on Federer from 2006 by the great Dabid Foster Wallace

2010 World Cup: David Vanole and the esophagus that saved U.S. soccer - ESPN Soccernet (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5308513/ce/us/david-vanole-esophagus-saved-us-soccer?cc=5739&ver=global)

awesome piece on a backup goalie from the 1990 USA soccer team.

ESPN - Not Found (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tundra)

story on a HS football team from Alaska

[lcjjdnh]

Two more recent ones I've enjoyed:

Vanity Fair on Microsoft. The HR system is a great example of MBAs run amok:

How Microsoft Lost Its Mojo: Steve Ballmer and Corporate America’s Most Spectacular Decline | Business | Vanity Fair (http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer)

New Yorker profile of Springsteen:

Bruce Springsteen at Sixty-Two : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/30/120730fa_fact_remnick?currentPage=all)

[I. J. Reilly]

Here's one I thought this was a pretty good read, not exactly a feal good story though.

BEST OF THE SOUTH ESSAY: Church Is Wherever You Are :: Oxford American - The Southern Magazine of Good Writing (http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2012/jun/06/best-south-essay-church-wherever-you-are/)

[I. J. Reilly]

I think John Jeremiah Sullivan may be my favor writer right now.

Where Is Cuba Going? - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/where-is-cuba-going.html?_r=1pagewanted=all&src=longreads&)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I thought this was pretty good. I spent a pretty good number of hours listening to Nancy during her heyday and had lost track of her. A rather sad story here, but pretty well told. I particularly liked the restraint the writer shows in avoiding an outright statement (or even sly reference) to what becomes obvious by the end vis a vis her love life (which is kinda relevant to the broader story)

Catching up with sports-talk radio host Nanci Donnellan, the Fabulous Sports Babe - Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8337825/catching-sports-talk-radio-host-nanci-donnellan-fabulous-sports-babe)

[Ksyrup]

I haven't heard that name is so long I had completely forgotten she existed.

[Izulde]

The Shame of College Sports - Taylor Branch - The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/)

I kicked off my Contemporary Issues in College Sports course with this article, which I thought did an excellent job of introducing students to the historical background and major current issues.

[Scoobz0202]

Print - The Things That Carried Him - Esquire (http://www.esquire.com/print-this/things-that-carried-him?page=all)

[Dutch]

I thought this was pretty good. I spent a pretty good number of hours listening to Nancy during her heyday and had lost track of her. A rather sad story here, but pretty well told. I particularly liked the restraint the writer shows in avoiding an outright statement (or even sly reference) to what becomes obvious by the end vis a vis her love life (which is kinda relevant to the broader story)

Catching up with sports-talk radio host Nanci Donnellan, the Fabulous Sports Babe - Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8337825/catching-sports-talk-radio-host-nanci-donnellan-fabulous-sports-babe)

Pretty cool, I had no idea other than what I'd heard on the radio. I didn't even recall she was on ESPN back in the day...although "The Fabulous Sports Babe" does seem to strike a nerve of some sort from pre-2010 (when I first heard her on the radio).

[I. J. Reilly]

I almost didn’t make it through the first few paragraphs of this one, the language seemed a little over the top. I’m glad I kept going, this is one damn good essay.

Personal History: THE FOURTH STATE OF MATTER : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/06/24/1996_06_24_080_TNY_CARDS_000376447)

[britrock88]

I almost didn’t make it through the first few paragraphs of this one, the language seemed a little over the top. I’m glad I kept going, this is one damn good essay.

Personal History: THE FOURTH STATE OF MATTER : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/06/24/1996_06_24_080_TNY_CARDS_000376447)

Very powerful.

[mckerney]

Upon This Rock (http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/200401/rock-music-jesus?currentPage=1)
Rock music used to be a safe haven for degenerates and rebels. Until it found Jesus

[DaddyTorgo]

The Hard Life of an N.F.L. Long Shot - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/the-hard-life-of-an-nfl-long-shot.html?pagewanted=1)

did this get posted before??

[Autumn]

I almost didn’t make it through the first few paragraphs of this one, the language seemed a little over the top. I’m glad I kept going, this is one damn good essay.

Personal History: THE FOURTH STATE OF MATTER : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/06/24/1996_06_24_080_TNY_CARDS_000376447)

Wow. Really fantastic.

[Glengoyne]

I almost didn’t make it through the first few paragraphs of this one, the language seemed a little over the top. I’m glad I kept going, this is one damn good essay.

Personal History: THE FOURTH STATE OF MATTER : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/06/24/1996_06_24_080_TNY_CARDS_000376447)

The Hard Life of an N.F.L. Long Shot - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/the-hard-life-of-an-nfl-long-shot.html?pagewanted=1)

did this get posted before??

Enjoyed both of these.

[StLee]

The Hard Life of an N.F.L. Long Shot - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/the-hard-life-of-an-nfl-long-shot.html?pagewanted=1)

did this get posted before??

Great article. I enjoyed it.

[Desnudo]

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist (http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff_diamonds)

The Great Cyberheist - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/magazine/14Hacker-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=magazine)

I can't believe the cyber heist one didn't get more publicity at the time. I probably went through 3-4 cards from us bank and b of a in that time period.

[Desnudo]

Two more recent ones I've enjoyed:

Vanity Fair on Microsoft. The HR system is a great example of MBAs run amok:

How Microsoft Lost Its Mojo: Steve Ballmer and Corporate America’s Most Spectacular Decline | Business | Vanity Fair (http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer)

New Yorker profile of Springsteen:

Bruce Springsteen at Sixty-Two : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/30/120730fa_fact_remnick?currentPage=all)

I can attest to the product killing that went on there. Sinofsky was one of the main culprits. It's interesting that their only success the last decade was a product that was developed with near autonomy. The article fails to cover the success of the Xbox which takes away from the validity a little. The rest was spot on.

Frank Sinatra has a cold
Frank Sinatra Has a Cold - Gay Talese - Best Profile of Sinatra - Esquire (http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1003-OCT_SINATRA_rev_)

[britrock88]

Looks like there's some good stuff for when I get a chance to read more long-form...

Meanwhile, I just wrapped up with this one:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?hp&pagewanted=all

(About a Japanese biologist and his unique research with a regenerative species of jellyfish.)

[Desnudo]

Punks Jump Up To Get Stopped and Frisked: What I Learned from Jimmy Nuñez (http://gawker.com/5964710/punks-jump-up-to-get-stopped-and-frisked-what-i-learned-from-jimmy-nuez?utm_source=deadspin.com&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=recirculation)

[Dreghorn2]

Thanks to all that posted in this thread, some great reading.

[lighthousekeeper]

Joshua Foer: John Quijada and Ithkuil, the Language He Invented : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer?currentPage=all)

[Izulde]

Not long-form, but still worth reading.

Page Not Found - Yahoo! (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--former-nfl-qb-jon-kitna-finds-‘gold-mine’-at-a-school-where-other-teachers-only-saw-problems-194739063.html)