What's So Special About Chicago Sportswriting?

Over on The Stacks, we've been running excerpts all week from a fun new anthology of Chicago sportswriting, edited by Ron Rapoport, whose interview with Alex Belth is below. The book is worth a look. There's Lardner and Lincicome and Royko, and if dyspeptic smartasses aren't your thing, there's young Telander and John Schulian. And if neither dyspepsia nor deadline lyricism is your thing, we have the entire phylum of Chicago hackery on hand, presented here in all its rich diversity--controversia...