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Never ran, never will : boyhood and football in a changing American inner city / Albert Samaha.

Van Pelt Library GV956.M6 S34 2018
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Samaha, Albert, author.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Mo Better Jaguars (Football team).
Football--Social aspects--New York (State)--New York.
Football.
Football--Social aspects.
Brownsville (New York, N.Y.)--Social conditions.
Brownsville (New York, N.Y.).
Social conditions.
New York (State)--New York.
New York (State)--New York--Brownsville.
Genre:
Nonfiction.
Physical Description:
xiv, 343 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition:
First edition.
Place of Publication:
New York : PublicAffairs, 2018.
Summary:
This uplifting story of a boys' football team shines light on the under-appreciated virtues that can bloom in impoverished neighborhoods, even as nearby communities exclude them from economic progress. Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn; its proud youth football team, the Mo Better Jaguars; and the young boys who are often at the center of both. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and their charismatic, vulnerable friends, come together on a dusty football field. All around them their community is threatened by violence, poverty, and the specter of losing their homes to gentrification. Their passionate, unpaid coaches teach hard lessons about surviving American life with little help from the outside world, cultivating in their players the perseverance and courage to make it. Football isn't everybody's ideal way to find the American dream, but for some kids it's the surest road there is. The Mo Better Jaguars team offers a refuge from the gang feuding that consumes much of the streets and a ticket to a better future in a country where football talent remains an exceptionally valuable commodity. If the team can make the regional championships, prestigious high schools and colleges might open their doors to the players. Never Ran, Never Will is a complex, humane story that reveals the changing world of an American inner city and a group of unforgettable boys in the middle of it all.
Contents:
Part I. Boyhood
Gio's arrival, July 2013
Looking for these better days, August 2013
Directed toward decay, September 2013
the fundamentals of life, September-November 2013
Crossroads, January 2014
Pressure chamber, March-April 2014
Between saviors and a dead end, April 2014
What's best for Isaiah, May 2014
Goodbyes, June 2014
Part II. Football
The days and nights of summer, June-July 2014
On the horizon, July-August 2014
Hell week, August, 204
Stop dancin' and run somebody over, August-September 2014
What they've been waiting for, early to mid-September 2014
East Orange, mid-September 2014
To make it in the jungle, late September, 2014
Brick City, late September 2014
None of y'all gon' die tonight, mid to late October 2014
Te rematch, late October 2014
Blessings, December 2017.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-328) and index.
ISBN:
9781610398688
1610398688
OCLC:
1019624673

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