New York Times Play Magazine

One of my favorite pleasures in the world is the Sunday edition of the New York Times. There's nothing like sitting down on a Sunday evening (or, pre-kids, Sunday am. But that isn't happening any time for the next 15 years) and making your way through the Times. I love every section: Week in Review (featuring the trifecta of Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and Tom Friedman) to The Sunday Styles section (aka the Jewish sports pages) to the Business section, to Book Review, Travel and more.

I've been reading the Sunday Times since I was a wee lad and I'll probably read it until the day I die.

One thing I've been especially digging a lot about the Sunday Times over the past few years is the special Magazine sections (not to be confused with the weekly New York Times Sunday Magazine. They alternate between Men's Fashion (another favorite, actually), Women's Fashion, Travel, and a relatively newcomer, called Play, which covers the world of sports.

Each issue of Play, which is published quarterly, has been fatastic, but I think this past weekend's edition is as close to Magazine Nirvana as I will ever get, which is saying something as I am a magazine devotee (which I believe I have covered off on in a previous post).

Although I do not have the magazine in front of me, articles include:

-- a very timely article on back pain, which is remarkably interesting to me right now (evidently, I need to work on more "core," but this I knew) for obvious reasons (btw, the back is feeling a tad better. I spent an hour yesterday and 30 minutes today in an industrial hot tub with the jets right on my back. It seems to have helped).

-- an article that I have not yet read (saving it for a plane ride this week) by one of my favorite writers, Michael Lewis, on the fortunes, and misfortunes as the case may be, of NFL kickers

-- a profile piece on marathon great, and one of my all-time heroes, Alberto Salazar

--a profile piece on Phoenix Sun's great Steve Nash

-- a fantastic article my best-selling author Michael Crichton on his ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro (I love climbing articles/stories, especially ones relating to Everest and Kiliminjaro, which is on my life "to do" list).

Anyway, the terrific thing thing about this magazine is you do not need to be a sports fan to enjoy it and each article is just wonderfully well-written.

If possible, I very strongly suggest you find a copy; it's that good.