A Matter of Life and Sudden Death by Rick Reilly 

It is a longer piece but I really enjoyed how the author constructed the article. Starting out describing the scene in the locker room after the game, “blood caked uniforms” and the description of the IV drip was very engaging. Then the author gives a descriptive over view of the night that the game took place. He recounts the environment, the time, the stats, and some quotes from players.

Then in the next paragraph the author describes the life of San Diego kicker Rolf Benirschke. It is at this point that the story begins to take place. After this point the author flips back and forth between describing one of the most memorable games in NFL history and the challenges that Benirschke had to face in the years prior and in the present.

The author uses the game to parallel the struggles that Benirschke has had to overcome in his life. From almost losing his daughter, different diseases. Every major point in the game that is recounted, leads into another struggle that the Benirschke had to overcome in his life and with every struggle that he overcomes, his team overcomes an obstacle in the game.

Rudy Can’t Fail by Brian Koppelman

This feature is about a screenwriter’s argument for hollywood to make more sports movies. The story opens with the writer sitting on an airplane watching the classic sports film Rudy for the first time. He does a wonderful job of describing the look of the passenger next to him as well as how the emotions from the movie manifested inside him as well as on the face of the man next to him.

The author does a wonderful job of describing why sports movies are great because of how they make you feel and why those feelings resonate with people. He describes aspects of the movies that cannot be manifested physically in a way that is difficult to accomplish.

I liked how the author opened with his scene on the plane to explain both his initial skepticism of the movie and his emotional response leading to his proclamation about the greatness of sports movies.When the author states his reasons why he believes every sports movie is the same he outs the reader in the moment. We have all been skeptical of a movie because we think the genre is tired and overdone and then been emotionally punched afterwards.