Irwin Shaw's The Eighty-Yard Run

Irwin Shaw was one of the great short story writers of last century. His novels tended to be sprawling page-turners, but he was a master of the short form, able to compress huge themes into a few pages and make them sing with possibilities.

The Eighty-Yard Run is a masterpiece about a washed-up ex-football player with an existential problem--doubt. The opening description of Christian Darling running for a touchdown in practice is a gem of sports writing; beautiful prose that takes the reader along on a moment by moment run for glory. Here is the opening paragraph.

If you're not familiar with this story, understand that Darling is recalling a run from 15 years earlier. At 35 and past what he imagines is the prime of life, he considers himself a failure. And that friends is a gigantic theme in Shaw's best stories.