The Hurricanes

by Longman, Jere

• ISBN13: 9781586486730
• ISBN10: 158648673X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-25
• Publisher: Public Affairs

Summary

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina pummeled the lower end of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, a peninsula housing one of the nation's most isolated, vulnerable, and vital counties. A year later several ravaged communities came together to form South Plaquemines High. Kids who were former rivals defiantly nicknamed their football team the Hurricanes and made the 2006 state playoffs.In 2007, South Plaquemines set its sights on a state championship. The Hurricanes used a trailer as a makeshift locker room and lifted weights in a destroyed gym that had no electricity. For the players, many of them still living in FEMA trailers, football offered a refuge.Bestselling author Jere Longman spent two seasons following the team. InThe Hurricanes, the team's journey provides a lens through which to view the legacy of Katrina, the cycle of poverty in rural America, and the attempt to maintain traditions in the face of uncertainty. Football is a familiar remnant of the way things used to beand a sign of hope in a place of disaster.

Author Biography

Jeré Longman, a sportswriter for The New York Times who has written about sports for over thirty years, grew up on the Cajun prairie in Eunice, Louisiana. Jeré is the author of the New York Times bestseller and Notable Book, Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back, The Girls of Summer, and If Football’s a Religion, Then Why Don’t We Have a Prayer? He lives in Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Storm Warning	p. 1
A Tide of Extraordinary Circumstances	p. 22
A New School Opens	p. 40
A Chance to Equal Our Strife	p. 58
"Son of a Gun, We'll Have Big Fun on the Bayou"	p. 77
"Call Everybody! Call the White House!"	p. 96
"They Can't Call Us Paper Champions Anymore"	p. 105
A Chain's as Strong as Its Weakest Link	p. 110
"I Can't Sit. I've Got to Play."	p. 125
"Like Pit Bulls on a Fresh Pack of Pork Chops"	p. 137
"Like Chasing a Ghost"	p. 147
"If There Was a Time to Live, It's Now"	p. 163
"Like the Storm Keeps Happening Over and Over"	p. 173
"Nothingness Builds Bridges to Nowhere"	p. 180
A Coach Suspended, a Player Hurt	p. 193
"I'd Rather Them Do Anything But This."	p. 200
Bloody Mary	p. 214
Controlled Rage	p. 225
"How 'Bout Them Cowboys!"	p. 237
Life on the Half Shell	p. 252
"Knock Somebody Out!"	p. 271
An Opponent Named Desire	p. 282
Crutch in the Hole	p. 299
Big Stage Right There	p. 316
Epilogue	p. 333
Acknowledgments	p. 343
Bibliography	p. 347
Index	p. 349
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