ESPN sporting humorist Bill Simmons has been doing an occasional seriesin which he recommends great overlooked books to aspiring writers. Ihave a high estimation of Simmons' comic gifts, but even so it has been asurprise to see him choosetwo of my 20 favourite booksin his first four or five kicks at the can. Simmons' very first choice wasWait Till Next Year, a out-of-print 1988 compendium of pieces by columnist Mike Lupica and screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,The Princess Bride).The book was a deliberately ephemeral review of 1987 in New Yorksports, with Lupica contributing the reporter's view and Goldman thefan's. The Lupica half is forgettable. But ever since I received apaperback copy as a gift in '89, I have returned to Goldman'scontribution (call it the "good parts") every couple of years. Goldmanwrites with pure fire and incomparable wit about the fan's dailyexperience--about one's rage at inexplicable management decisions, aboutthe superstitions that every fan shares whether he wants to or not,about historical memory and the fading images of the past, about whatit's like to cheer for winners and losers. I can quote long portions ofhis pieces about Nagurski, Gooden, Hogan, and Sayers almost verbatim. Iam reminded of the book almost every day, as I was last night when Iaccidentally killed the Oilers by switching to their game on the radiowhen they were leading Colorado 3-2. (Sorry, everybody.) Simmons,frankly, owes his entire schtick and the career it has fertilized toGoldman and to this slim, forgotten volume. And, to his credit, he issuitably grateful.