Sports and Life, an Olympian's View
is a collection of 133 stories, essays and commentaries covering a wide variety of topics related to sports and life. For two decades, John Morton broadcast short commentaries on Vermont Public Radio and wrote a monthly column in the regional newspaper
Vermont Sports Today
. Morton was an Olympic biathlete (Sapporo '72 and Innsbruck '76) and a Nordic ski coach (Dartmouth College '78-'89). His stories related to skiing were published in 2020 as
Celebrate Winter
.
Sports and Life
contains stories and commentaries dealing with everything except skiing. The book is divided into three sections, the first contains personal experiences including an article recounting a pioneering Outward Bound project joining American Vietnam vets with younger, Soviet veterans of their conflict in Afghanistan. The second section is devoted to stories related to family, including three pieces dealing with the author and his daughter's adventures on Vermont's Long Trail. The third section contains observations on national sports issues like Lance Armstrong and Joe Paterno, gun violence and small town, Little League baseball. The book provides the unique perspective of a successful athlete and enthusiastic participant, a coach and sports advocate and finally, a keen observer and occasional critic of contemporary sports.