We’re away until January 3, but we’re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2016. Enjoy your holiday!

An illustration by Jason Novak for The Paris Review’s serialized edition of The Throwback Special.

Why do we still watch sports?

When my ten-year-old daughter overheard me telling a friend that The Throwback Special is about a group of men that convenes each November to reenact the play in which Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann suffered his gruesome leg injury, she had a question.

“Dad,” she said, looking serious and perplexed. “I have a question.”

“What is it?” I said.

“Isn’t that mean?”

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