Our Boys

When I first heard we would be reading this book for class, I was pretty excited. I have always loved high school football and "Friday Night Lights" is one of my favorite movies. There is just something about the atmosphere around high school football. I figured that there could be nothing better than a story about a small town with a passion for its pigskin. However, after reading the book, I am somewhat disappointed.

Now, I don't want to sound too critical here because Joe Drape is an excellent writer. His attention to detail is unbelievable, but maybe that's the problem for me. I have always enjoyed sportswriters who refuse to put a polish on a story. They don't focus on numbers and names, but they are all about describing the emotion of the situation. My favorite book, "To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever" by Will Blythe, is a perfect example of that. He gets so into the story that he wants to portray the raw, uncensored emotion that he sees and feels. I didn't get the same vibe from Drape. I felt like he fleshed out the story with statistics, names, and details instead. It's not that I don't think Drape is a great writer, but his writing style is not my favorite.

One thing that I definitely like about Drape's writing style in this book is how he transitions in and out of the first person (which I believe someone mentioned in an earlier post). He brings himself into the story seamlessly and takes himself out as needed. I think that authors of some sports books put themselves into a story too often. Drape doesn't do that, which I appreciate.

As far as the story is concerned, I love the book. Coach Barta seems to be one of those rare coaches who demands integrity from his athletes and makes winning the goal without having it trump all else. I was kind of surprised that Barta approached winning the way he did. Having the tradition that the Redmen have, I made the assumption that their coach was probably a "winning is the only thing" type of guy. I was wrong. Barta, in many ways, reminds me of Ed Thomas, the Applington-Parkersburg football coach that was shot several months ago. Thomas was known to be a winner, but not at the expense of the character of his young men. I love that approach to coaching and, in a high school sports world that gets more political every day, it's refreshing to see a coach like Barta.

Overall, the book feels like a more detailed, happier, non-Texas version of "Friday Night Lights" to me. It's about a small town that cares about its young men and loves watching them play football on Friday nights. It's about a town that, despite its financial hardships, finds hope in its young men. I found it interesting in the opening few pages when Drape talks about how poor Smith County is. His number for the average income per capita was around $14,000 if I remember correctly. To me, it sounds like a town that should be wallowing in misery, but I didn't feel that when I read the book. No doubt, I think the attitude of Smith Center and its football coach are contagious, and it's obvious that Drape came away from the book in love with the town.