Fun and Games: My 40 Years Writing Sports

For much of his career at the Toronto Star, Perkins was a columnist, aiming to write the stories behind and beyond the game scores. He saw a lot in his 40 years with “the best job in town,” and in this memoir he takes readers behind the scenes of sports writing, both in the newsroom and in the pressrooms at every event from the Grey Cup to the Olympics. While jumping from sport to sport—Perkins especially loved to cover golf, horse racing, and baseball—he reminds readers of ways that the times have changed. Athletes, once fairly accessible, began hiding behind public relations staff. Performance-enhancing drugs entered the scene. His best rants are on how the Internet and social media changed the news business: “Now, every single word that is published is fair game for comment or challenge, and two truisms seem to be firmly in place: when you are right, no one ever remembers and when you are wrong, no one ever forgets.” Perkins is able to laugh at his own mistakes—including many yarns of side bets made to keep life interesting at games—and readers can bet on being well entertained too. Agent: Brian J. Wood. (Sept.)