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Kevin Berger

Monday, Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM UTC

Bargain gifts for the sports lover

Relive Barack Obama's basketball glory days and score a daily fix for your favorite baseball junkie.

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Bargain gifts for the sports lover

Give the baseball junkie in your life a subscription to Bill James’ Web site ($3 a month). Written with nonpareil authority, the site contains a treasure trove of stats and nuggets about your favorite players, past and present. Perfect for punching up while you’re watching a game or when you’re counting down the months until pitchers and catchers report.

Is your sports fan also a political junkie? If so, may we suggest this “Throwback” Barack Obama high school basketball T-shirt ($20)? Launch three-pointers like “the O’Bomber” did when he led his team to the 1979 Hawaiian state finals. Toss it in the wash, throw it back on, then try to solve the global energy crisis, navigate a recession and extricate the country from two wars.

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Kevin Berger is the former features editor for Salon. He oversaw the Environment & Science section, including the popular Atoms & Eden series about science and faith. He has written about John Adams, fruit flies and Danica Patrick. His article "The artist as mad scientist" appeared in "The Best of

Technology Writing, 2007."

A longtime Bay Area journalist, Berger spent a decade as a writer and editor for San Francisco magazine, where he wrote about the San Francisco Bay, homelessness, the opera and how "green" locals really are. He has won awards from the City and Regional Magazine Association and Western Magazine Association. He interviewed novelist Richard Powers for the Paris Review.

With his brother Todd, Berger co-authored the book [OU1] "Zen Driving," still selling after 20 years, thanks to the enthusiastic endorsement of drivers ed teachers. He also wrote "Where the Road and the Sky Collide: America Through the Eyes of Its Drivers," exploring our love-hate relationship with cars and car culture.

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