My high school is in the state semifinals. Mother'f'n whoot...I suppose. An article was written about them in the Detroit News. Apparently, every Detroit sports journalist, no matter what level they're covering, is required to write a narrative about tough economic times and "helping everyone forget for a couple hours."
Friday nights have helped alleviate some of the misery the difficult economic times have wrought on this city of 4,090 on the St. Clair River. Foreclosures and for-sale signs on cars and trucks line many of its streets. In nearby Port Huron, the unemployment rate is 20 percent. St. Clair County is suffering. Rumors abound about possibly merging schools and school systems.
Daryn Letson teaches at Marine City and has been a full-time varsity assistant since 2000. To help pay bills, he also runs a lawn service. The city contracts Letson to service and cut lawns of abandoned homes and businesses.
"We're swamped with work," said Letson, who lives in nearby East China. "We've done a ton of homes and businesses. I can't count them all. In one area, on Derguse Street, there are a number of industrial places. Two out of a dozen shops are open. We tell the players, for two hours you're the one reprieve for these people to forget about what's happening in this world."
I'm surprised: I thought Mitch Albom had copyrighted that particular angle. Maybe they should have mentioned the $800,000 they dropped a couple years ago on turf for the stadium.
0 comments:
Post a Comment