Monday, June 23, 2008

Parkersburg and Football

I don't watch ESPN. Mark watches enough of it for the both of us. Sometimes so much so that it drives me a little nuts. Today he sent me a story (see link below) because he thought I may be interested in it. He was right.

It's about a small town's tragedy, their love of football, and coming together to rebuild their lives. It features a player who returns home from the Big Time to survey the damage to his high school and town. The revered Coach has celebrity status for his years of dedication and success with the team. For many years he has trained the boys to be men, not just football players. There are images of the field (the Sacred Acre) and the high school clock that stopped just as the tornado leveled the building at 4:56 - reminiscent of the clock tower in Back to the Future.

It is written like a Hollywood "for the love of the game" baseball/football/hockey film, and its a good read. Plus its nice for P'burg to have a warm-fuzzy story. I wouldn't be surprised if it did become a Hollywood movie. Maybe we could be extras in the bleachers?

That HALF of this town is gone, that people lost their lives, and homes, and businesses is something I hope isn't soon forgotten.

Iowa town turns to football to recover from tornado

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Field Of Deams was filmed in IA. Obviously not a true story, unfortunately for PB,IA. it was. But it would be a cool movie. Liz

JRS said...

anonyLizzy-
Its a bit like I felt about 911 though. Too soon and too fresh for movie talk when people are still in the thick of it. On the other hand, ...