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The journalist, writer and playwright David Macfarlane discusses his new book On Sports (Biblioasis, 2026), the latest in the Biblioasis Field Notes series, with Joseph Planta.
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: On Sports
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
David Macfarlane joins me now. He’s just written the latest in the Biblioasis Field Notes series, On Sports. It’s a fascinating rumination on the sports we seemingly all watch, and the complicated relationship we have because of the money involved. It’s not just the high salaries athletes command or the higher ticket prices to pay those salaries, but there’s the added layer of gambling that has objectively ruined the experience of sports. I happen to like gambling on sport, which is one of the reasons I started watching games on television or in person, even, after all these years, listening to them on the radio. But this newfound interest on sport on my part, is a marked departure from having little or no interest in hockey or baseball or American football or the myriad of offerings one can place a wager on. And it’s the experience of watching sports has changed whether at home or in the arena. We’re also looking at our phones watching the betting lines change, and at home on the television screen itself or on the various sports news broadcasts, wagering points are as much mentioned as the actual score of the game. Money does, as Mr. Macfarlane writes in this new book, fuck things up. There are some memorable figures that David writes about in this book, including Harold Ballard, and his friend, Alison Gordon, the late baseball writer. I’ll also ask David about fighting in hockey, the PWHL, and the demands that we place on athletes. A fine writer himself, David writes about the marvellous writers he grew up reading, who add so much to the enjoyment of the game. David Macfarlane is a journalist, author and playwright. His memoir The Danger Tree was described by Christopher Hitchens as “one of the finest and most intriguing miniature elegies that I have read in many a year.” His novel Summer Gone was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Visit www.davidmacfarlanewriter.com for more. He lives in Toronto, where he joined me from a week and a half ago. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, David Macfarlane; Mr. Macfarlane, good morning.
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