For the last quarter century, Dan Jenkins has been fixing his cold-eyed stare and wisecracking style on the real-life Billy Clyde and Kenny Lee Pucketts of the sports world.
You Call It Sports, But I Say It’s a Jungle Out There is a collection of his best work from Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Golf Digest, and his nationally syndicated column, and includes a stack of new pieces written especially for this book.
Jenkins spares no one in his search for the culprits who have taken the fun out of sports: NFL owners and refs, PGA Tour administrators, basketball players who can’t read, tennis players who can’t speak English (or say anything worth hearing when they do).
He also finds things worth celebrating: the electric charge given off by Arnold Palmer at his best, the excitement of a truly great college football game, or a real heavyweight champion, like Joe Louis.
Overflowing with good ol’ boys, great one-liners, famous sporting events, and barroom tales, this is the best of Dan Jenkins—which is to say, it’s as good as sportswriting gets anywhere.