The Cost of These Dreams

From one of America’s most beloved sportswriters, a collection of true stories about the dream of greatness and its cost in the world of sports

There is only one Wright Thompson. His work includes some of the most read articles in the history of ESPN and has been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing series ten times. But to say his pieces are about sports, while true as far as it goes, is like saying Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove is a book about a cattle drive. Wright Thompson figures people out. Whether it be Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Pat Riley or Urban Meyer, he strips away the self-serving myths and fantasies to fully reveal his characters—and what drives them—in a way that few others can. Ludicrously entertaining and often powerfully moving, The Cost of These Dreams is an ode to the reporter’s art and a celebration of true greatness and the high price that it exacts.