Simmons' latest ...

More focus on the father's message, and what enabled him to deliver it, would've been pertinent, and far more insightful than the Wire (which I admit I've never seen).

 

Nor has most of America. But don't let that get in the way of "good writing."

 

Are you saying this story shouldn't have been written?

 

Soccer? What's that?

 

Am I wrong to think that at one time the star high school athletes were off limits from crime and gangs?

Was there a street code about this?

Obviously, that is not true anymore, but I thought I read that somewhere once.

Maybe it was in Heaven is a Playground?

Oh, the Wire stuff should have been in a separate column, IMHO. He could have referenced the death, but to meld the two was just too much for me.

 

That's why pop-culture references don't belong in stories like this. They would have been better off to let someone else write this story. Like one of the investigative reporters who write more newsy features, and do it well.

Stick to the mailbags Bill, and not the crappy one you "MAILED IN" this week.

 

Not that it shouldn't have been written, but unfortunately, there is rarely anything unique or newsworthy about any of these stories any more.

 

I love Bottle Caps.

 

They are Willy Wonka's finest creation.

 

Shit. You gotta at least go to school to at least be left behind. [/Kenard]

 

There's a reason A.E. Housman's "To An Athlete Dying Young" gets taught in nearly every high school poetry class; there's a reason students always respond to that poem and remember it. The finest prep athletes achieve a level of notoriety that dwarfs everyone else in school. They're envied and respected, admired and coddled, cheered and idolized. Everyone else would trade places with them in a heartbeat. It's a gift; not an important gift, not a life-altering gift, but still a gift. When that gift gets taken away, it gets taken away from everyone.

Had a typical student with good grades been gunned down, the story wouldn't have attracted as much attention. When it's a star football player with a chance to make something of his life? It matters to people who didn't even know him. Maybe he would have starred in college. Maybe he would have starred in the pros. Maybe he would have injured a knee next season, and that would have been that. There's no way to know. What mattered was the promise that something could happen, that something might happen. And although A.E. Hausman believed it's a blessing in disguise for an athlete to pass early ...

Come on. Just...come on.