Really good story from the latest issue of Sports Illustrated that I was surprised to come across.
What was of such interest to me wasn't necessarily the topic, but rather the author... Austin Murphy. Murphy is an excellent writer and I previously posted on two of his books I've read... "The Sweet Season" about small-school college football and "How Tough Could it Be?" about being (for a brief period of time) a stay at home Dad. Not very frequently, though, do I see his byline in SI.
In this piece titled "Muck Bowl", Murphy chronicles the football rivalry between Pahooke High School and Glades Central High. As he writes about, the two schools can be bitter enemies on the field, but also share much in common. Separated by some 12 miles in an economically depressed part of Central Florida, west of Palm Beach, the small town programs have sent 48 people to the NFL over the last four decades (including Santanio Holmes, Fred Taylor and Anquan Boldin).
Very compelling "slice of life" writing about how many live... including a sizable numbers of the players we watch on the NFL and major college football fields.
Out of curiosity, I did a Google Maps satellite view search of Pahooke and it's neighboring town Belle Glade, and yep... not very developed areas.
