In the NFL, a backup offensive guard’s sprained ankle becomes a national story. It’s easy to view this as an example of the media over-hyping things—until the pageview numbers come out, and you remember how much more popular the NFL is than any other sports league.

The devotion to all news NFL has led many writers to become boxed into more simplistic coverage than one might see with other sports, and this recent lockout is a fine example. Dozens of news organizations wrote their own version of “the NFL lockout is expected to end this week” stories, but few wrote much beyond that. 

When a big story strikes, I prefer to find the unique angles. One of my favorite examples of this was Murray Kempton’s now-famous piece on Don Larsen’s perfect game. Kempton, the New York Post and Newsday scribe who also wrote for The New Republic, couldn’t be bothered with the madhouse of the Yankees’ locker room after Larsen’s World Series gem. So he went to the Brooklyn Dodgers’ barracks instead. His piece, “Sal Maglie…A Gracious Man,” [Google Books] on the Dodgers starter, and that creativity (along with brilliant writing) makes the piece so memorable.

In looking through this weekend’s many NFL lockout stories, I was hoping to stumble upon a gem. A Kempton-esque piece. And while I wouldn’t go about putting any of these five pieces into the Best American Sports Writing of the Century, each broke from the norm in its own way. Each was refreshing, a word that rarely earns utterance in the wake of Breaking Important News, even on the sports side.

It’s a shame we won’t be watching cricket with Michael Schur and Nate DiMeo, but the NFL is back. Cue the stories about sprained ankles and backup offensive guards.