Sports novels.

[David Selig]

The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam is a must if you are interested in the NBA. It's really in-depth look at how the league worked in the late 70s and early 80s.

[Larry of the Lawn]

DeLillo's  Underworld features the journey of the ball from the 'shot heard round the world' Bobby Thompson home-run from owner to owner, so clearly it is the greatest sports novel ever written.

Eta:. Number two would be RSBakkers Warrior Prophet for the gandoki scene 

[Jo498]

And number 3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the Quidditch World Cup...

#4 Ben Hur for the Chariot Race

...

This reminds me of horse races, there must be dozens of books, especially for children and YA. This was not really my cup of tea but I liked Logan Forsters's "Desert Storm" (the translated title was "Sturmwolke", Storm Cloud) when I was in elementary school.

[sperry]

Rick Reilly has written a couple sports novels. One is about a 7'8" kid who was raised in a cult and is discovered and brought to the NBA, where he struggles to adapt to a new society and newfound riches. I think it was called Slo-Mo. It wasn't particularly good, although there were funny bits, and Charles Barkley is a character in the novel.

 

This thread has made me wonder why there aren't more "Any Given Sunday" type sports novels.

[stonebender]

Erikson wrote a hockey related novel called When She's Gone.  I believe it's still on his web site for free.

[Jaxom 1974]

I know Friday Night Lights gets the oress, but as I'm more of a baseball guy, I preferred Bissinger's Three Nights in August...

[Joey Crows]

Third or Fourthing the joys of The Damned United and Fever Pitch. In a different direction, not a novel and not football, The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein is an oldie but a goodie for me. It chronicles a season in college basketball, following the teams in what was then the Patriot League. A small, lesser known Division 1 league, where the schools and players are more known for their academics than their athletics. Yet, they still compete at a high level and do so knowing that they will never be professionals. 

[Winterfella]

If there are any runners reading this, I thoroughly enjoyed Running With the Buffaloes by Chris Lear.  It follows the Colorado men's cross country team through the 1998 season.  I enjoyed this much more than another running book, Born to Run by Christopher McDougal, which was entertaining enough, but a little preachy about, and kind of started, the whole (imo ridiculous) barefoot running thing.

P.S.  I realized while writing this post that title of the thread is Sports "Novels" and novels these aren't, but what the hell.  There are not enough good books in general about running.

[Liffguard]

Rope Burns by FX Toole is an amazing short story collection with boxing as the central theme. The movie Million Dollar Baby was based on one of the stories. I love Toole's writing style; it's quite simple and minimalist without being bland. He can really turn a phrase without using unnecessary words. "With his shoes in his hand, but without his soul, he moved quietly down the rear stairs and was gone, his eyes as dry as a burning leaf."

For non fiction, By The Sword by Richard Cohen is a really interesting and fairly in-depth look at the history of fencing. He looks into historical swordsmanship from a lot of cultures before bringing it forward into the development of modern sport fencing. Very interesting read.