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    Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen
    Unavailable
    Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen
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    Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen
    Ebook279 pages5 hours

    Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen

    By Joe Drape

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Joe Drape's Our Boys tells an inspiring portrait of the extraordinary high-school football team whose quest for perfection sustains its hometown in the heartland

    The football team in Smith Center, Kansas, has won sixty-seven games in a row, the nation's longest high-school winning streak. They have done so by embracing a philosophy of life taught by their legendary coach, Roger Barta: "Respect each other, then learn to love each other and together we are champions."

    But as they embarked on a quest for a fifth consecutive title in the fall of 2008, they faced a potentially destabilizing transition: the greatest senior class in school history had graduated, and Barta was contemplating retirement after three decades on the sidelines.

    In Smith Center—population: 1,931—this changing of the guard was seismic. Hours removed from the nearest city, the town revolves around "our boys" in a way that goes to the heart of what America's heartland is today.

    Joe Drape, a Kansas City native and an award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times, moved his family to Smith Center to discover what makes the team and the town an inspiration even to those who live hundreds of miles away. His stories of the coaches, players, and parents reveal a community fighting to hold on to a way of life that is rich in value, even as its economic fortunes decline.

    Drape's moving portrait of Coach Barta and the impressive young men of Smith Center is sure to take its place among the more memorable American sports stories of recent years.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateAug 18, 2009
    ISBN9781429985055
    Unavailable
    Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen
    Author

    Joe Drape

    Joe Drape is the author of the New York Times bestseller Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen, The Race for the Triple Crown, and Black Maestro. He is an award-winning reporter for The New York Times, having previously worked for The Dallas Morning News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, he lives in New York City with his wife and son.

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    Reviews for Our Boys

    4/5

    40 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is the chronicle of one season for a high school football team in a small town in western Kansas. While that may not sound too enticing to some readers, there's in fact quite a bit going on in this book that elevates it into the category of pretty darn good sports literature. Even readers who don't have much interest in football, or high schools, or even Kansas may find a lot to like here.Smith Center sounds like a fairly average rural farming community. What makes them stand out, however, is the Redmen, their local high school football team. When New York Times reporter Joe Drape begins telling their story, the Redmen are preparing to begin a new season, one they hope will end with the team's winning its fifth consecutive state championship title and maintaining an undefeated streak lasting just as long. There's some question, though, whether the current crop of seniors are good enough, and unified enough, to maintain the standards set by their predecessors. Is this the year when everything goes bust?Joe Drape tells a good story, one that reminded me more than once of Stefan Fatsis' "Wild and Outside," about the impact of sports loyalties on small mid-western towns. "Our Boys" has that to an even greater extent, though, because the while the fabled Smith Center Redmen have a statewide reputation for fearsome football, they're still -- as Drape makes clear -- a bunch of kids. It'd be too easy to label this "a coming of age story," but there's certainly some of this here. It's also a look at the impact a good coach can have on a community, a school, and, again, a bunch of kids.There are any number of ways a story could have gone adrift, and Drape has skillfully avoided them. There is a lot of football here, to be sure, but "Our Boys" is not a play-by-play almanac of practices and games. We get to know players, coaches, and families, but our look at them is respectful and appropriate, not voyeuristic. Best of all, perhaps, Drape resists the temptation to make "Our Boys" any sort of allegory about the crisis in family farming, the decline of the rural way of life, the tension between athletics and academics, or any of the other Big Issues you might expect a New York Times writer to flirt with. This is a story of a team and the community that surrounds and supports it. It's straightforward, well-written and insightful, and by the end of the season you might even find you have a bit of an emotional connection to the Redmen yourself. Nicely done.
    • 3/5
      A Kansas small town with a big football story to tell. I personally love the game and as a parent of a son who played and learned so many life lessons from his coaches and the game itself, I had an idea of what to expect. It was a feel good story and if it didn't have real people and a real place tied to it, I would have considered it a work of fiction. It was too perfect at times, what school wouldn't love to have such a huge staff and great community support?As far as the book istelf, at times it felt disconnected and more like underdeveloped glimpses leaving the reader to feel like they are reading scrapbook excerpts. But the passion of the story, the game and the people came through clear. A feel good story for sure but if I hadn't committed to write a review, I would have put it down about halfway through.
    • 4/5
      Our Boys is the story of a high school football team from Smith Center, Kansas. It tells the stories of the players, coaches, and different community members. As I was reading, I felt like I knew these people. This book really touched me. Perhaps it is because I'm a teacher, or maybe because I am a football coach's wife. Or maybe because Smith Center seems to do everything with their boys that I wish my community did with our boys. Our Boys is more about life lessons than football lessons. And isn't that really what we should be teaching them?
    • 5/5
      Simply put, this is a wonderful book about values, small town life, and helping young people become solid citizens. It follows a high school football team in Kansas as it pursues another championship season and approaches an all-time winning streak. However, this is a not a typical narrative about a season in the life of a football team. Although it proceeds chronologically, there is very little suspense in a traditional manner of a sports book - we know from the title that the team again goes undefeated. Mr. Drape avoids describing whole games in too much detail, instead highlighting the key moments where a lesson is learned or a relationship is altered or some event occurs where you witness the growth of a player or coach.The book is full of memorable characters, beginning with the head coach. You can see he takes his charge seriously in not only teaching the game itself, but instilling values and sportsmanship in his players. The assistant coaches, the players, and the good people of Smith Center are all portrayed crisply - usually in a positive light, but as real people with their occasional flaws and weaknesses.Mr. Drape has a fluid style of writing that is easy to absorb. He described people, places, and situations well, without ever falling too much in love with his metaphors or wordplay. Even though he moved to Smith Center for a year to live the experience, he lets the characters drive the story, and he and his family never become disproportionately important to the narrative. I highly recommend this book. It is enjoyable to read and inspirational on a number of levels. Based on my experience with "Our Boys," I would be happy to read Mr. Drape's other works because of his writing style, even if the subject matter didn't immediately interest me.
    • 4/5
      The author, a New York Times reporter, moved to Smith Center, Kansas, in the summer of 2008 and this book is his account of the 2008 football season of the Smith Center High School. They went undefeated and the season is portrayed with skill. I found the book often poignant and inspiring even though I had never heard of Smith Center until my daughter suggested I read the book. The coach, Roger Barta, is a most admirable person and should be an inspiration to other coaches. This is as good a book about high school football as I have ever read, although I admit I have not read much on that subject.
    • 4/5
      Joe Drape moves to Smith Center, Kansas for the 2008 season to follow the Redman high school football season as they attempt to break the Kansas State High School record for the most consecutive wins (66). What you get is more than a book about High School sports. Smith Center, Kansas is a town of little more than 1500 people in a county of less than 5,000 people. In Western Kansas. During the season, the farming schedule will play as big a role in these kid's lives as the football schedule. In a community where the school district is the largest employer and the per capita income hovers around $15,000, this work is important. Many of the players will have worked up to three jobs during the off-season. They are the antithesis of the spoiled, coddled high school football stars.When it comes to Coach Roger Barta, Drape's portrayal is one of a sensible man with a handful of solid ideas and a solid work ethic. Coach Barta readily admits to not knowing how to coach a throwing game (they almost exclusively run the ball). Coach Barta strictly forbids his players from drinking, smoking, drugs and expects them to perform academically to remain on the team. They sign a pledge. This is expected by the entire town - so viewers and/or readers of Friday Night Lights expecting a series of spoiled star athletes getting away with whatever they like because of a talent for football will be disappointed.Games stories are not blow-by-blow accounts of the games. Instead, they focus on the town and the town's support for the team. And while it seems that nearly everyone in town knows a player, was a player or is related to a future player, they have perspective on the role that football plays in these kids lives. They know that the majority of their players aren't going to be scouted by Division 1 schools - most will be lucky to get partial scholarships to smaller schools. In the end, the entire community concentrates on supporting these kids through whatever endeavors will allow them to achieve as adults. Smith Center comes across as that small town that's often touted in political campaigns as the "real America." Of course, Smith Center faces the hardship of trying to attract industry and growth - a struggle Drape chronicles in Our Boys, but doesn't really fit nicely into a stump speech. It does, however, fit into a book about building up a football program that is designed not to be the biggest moment in a young man's life, but a stepping stone that will allow these kids the opportunities to one day come back to Smith Center with the knowledge and ability to allow the tradition to continue.
    • 5/5
      If perfection is boring, then Joe Drape has turned in a really fine job in his book, Our Boys: A Perfect Season On The Plains With The Smith Center Redmen. To write about a team that steamrolled opponent after opponent and make it compelling must have been a daunting task. Yet, he has produced a fine work in Our Boys.Drape, a reporter for the New York Times, moved his family out to Smith Center, Kansas ( pop. 1,931) from Manhattan to write a book on the most successful team in Kansas high school football history, a team which was in the midst of a 54-game winning streak. His goal was to write a book on the 2008 season as they attempted to set a state record for consecutive victories. In 2007, the team had rolled through opponents. The team had even scored 72 points in one quarter to set a national record. Writing about Kansas farm boys beating up on other teams could have been a boring book but Drape’s writing is so engaging, he manages to overcome those obstacles.Drape was helped by the fact that the incoming seniors who had inherited the win streak were considered a weak class. There were doubts they could step up to fill the shoes of the previous senior classes; doubts that the team was committed to winning. Indeed, the Redmen’s best senior player had not shown up all summer long to team workouts. We watch as this senior class grows from self-doubters to champions. It is compelling stuff.Drape takes you through the season, week by week. But he manages to sprinkle in what life in a Midwest town during tough economic times is like. These moments are what make the book so very enjoyable. Particularly fun are the fish-out-of-water moments that he and his young son have as they grow accustomed to life in Smith Center after spending years in Manhattan. It’s clear that Drape has fallen in love with Smith Center and this is his love letter to Smith Center.This is no Friday Night Lights expose on high school football. In fact, at times the book makes it seem like Smith Center has cornered the market on kindly, wise and generous people. Some may say this is the book’s weakness. But the book’s main theme is the love that Smith Center head coach Roger Barta uses as his tool to bring the team and community together. It’s an unusual approach in high school football. Drape tries to show how the team has affected the community and vice versa. And it all revolves around coach Barta and his mantra of hard work and love.Obviously this is a book first and foremost about high school football. But it also has enough elements about a Main Street USA community and its relationship to its youngsters that it will be enjoyable to the non-sports fan.
    • 4/5
      When the Smith County Redmen set a Kansas state playoff record for the most points scored in one quarter, the team caught the interest of the national media, including New York Times reporter Joe Drape.But after the story calmed down a bit, Drape began to dig a little deeper into the history, tradition and story of the Smith Center Redmen and their long-time coach, Roger Barta, Drape found there was more to the story than just one of the most dominant high school teams in the history of the state of Kansas. The team had won four straight championships and looked poised to make a run at a fifth. If they could make it through the 2008 season undefeated they'd not only have a fifth title but a state record for the most games won in a row.And yet the team was facing some questions going into the season, including whether or not the team would gel on the field. "Our Boys" is the account of the events leading up to the season and the season itself. But it's about a lot more than that. It's the story of the impact one man can have on his team--in this case, it's Coach Bafta. It's about how Bafta works to instill on his team the virtues they will need to be successful on the football field and, more importantly, in life beyond football. It's the story of how a town finds its sense of community from the team and what it represents to the faithful who gather each Friday evening to watch their team play. It's about the pressure placed on the team not only by themselves but the outside world as they make the run. It's about the sport of football and how it can bring people together in a positive way.I've seen this book compared to "Friday Night Lights" and while I can see the similarities, the two are very different beasts. Both are good, but "Our Boys" is a far more inspiring tale about what can happen when the emphasis in football isn't entirely all about winning but instead being part of something bigger than yourself--whether it be the football team or the community. Both a good books and a must read for any football fan, but they're both very different books.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It gives you the flavor of life in a small Midwestern town. Joe Drape got to know the people of Smith Center so well because he moved his family there. The book covers the high school football team during the 2008 season. The author takes us through the pre-season and season in chronological order. We learn what happens in all the games, but what the author does best is help us get to know the members of the team, the coaching staff, and the members of the community. We get to know so many people in the book that at times it is hard to keep track of who is who. The author helps is by placing a team roster at the front of the book. The book really revolves around the Smith Center coaching staff, mainly head coach Roger Barta. He is depicted a somewhat larger-than-life. He has the ability to take a seemingly ordinary group of boys in a dying town and turn them into an unbeatable team. He does this by concentrating on fundamentals and hard work, but also trying to make the game fun for his players. He knows that most of his players will never play college football, so he wants to make sure that he does his best to prepare them for life.I have read other books about high school sports, such as “Friday Night Lights”, “Fall River Dreams”, and “Counting Coup”. I feel that this book is in the same class as those books. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      This book makes me want to follow the Smith Center Redmen as avidly as I follow the Oklahoma Sooners. The little town of Smith Center, KS clearly has a big heart, especially when it comes to the young men they call "Our Boys"; those who play for the high-school football team. This book follows the incoming Redmen seniors, living in the shadows of last year's seniors, uncertain whether they can continue the winning streak that has been handed them. Unlike the previous class, they haven't bonded, haven't been regular attendees at summer weight training. The underlying concern is that this may be the season the winning streak comes to an end. Coach Roger Barta takes these young men, and helps them become a force to be reckoned with. I enjoyed the play-by-play of the games. You can see the team really becoming a TEAM. I also really appreciated the fact this was a 2A school. There is plenty written about 6A schools. Yes, I read "Friday Night Lights". I liked this book MUCH better.
    • 4/5
      The book was about a team, a team that included the entire town of Smith Center. Joe Drape makes this clear from start to finish that the entire community is involved in making Our Boys not only winners, but also good men.A major theme through out the book was hard work, and how it is the vehicle to get the team to reach their goals. Another top was how generations of Smith Center men were tied to the team as either having played for coach Barta, having family who did, or taking on a role in helping with hosting games.If you want to hear about football action in great detail, you may want to try another book, as this was a study of the town and the team, not the action. For what it is worth, wishbone type football can be boring no matter how you look at it. Overall, I found it to be an entertaining read, but I just wished it had dug a bit deeper on some topics and issues. There were moments where it seemed the book was heading in to thoroughly cover a topic in great detail, but so many interactions that I thought could have been covered in detail, were glossed over. At only 270 pages, the book left me wanting more info on the players, coaches, and community. The book was an easy read, and I would recommend it to anyone. With its’ positive message, it is appropriate for all.
    • 4/5
      I live in Texas where it is often said that the two most important sports at high schools and colleges across the state are Football and Spring Football. In such an environment, we are routinely inundated with stories and articles having a “football as a metaphor for life” theme, particularly as each new season is about to begin. Indeed, Buzz Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights” has set the bar quite high for anyone trying to contribute something new and interesting in this area.Despite those long odds, “Our Boys” manages to succeed in doing just that. Joe Drape tells the story of the 2008 football season for the Smith Center high school team and its quest for a fifth straight state championship as well as the state record for consecutive victories. For the project, Drape moved his family from New York City to this western Kansas town of about 2,000 people in order to live the entire experience first-hand. This decision proved to be critical as the author was quickly able to integrate himself into the rhythm of life in the town as well as into the homes and hearts of the residents.One curious thing about the book is that the football sequences themselves are surprisingly bland and unengaging. In fact, there is very little drama at all in the story; the book’s subtitle tells you everything you need to know about how the season turns out. What actually redeemed “Our Boys” for me is the remarkable sense of community that the author is able to convey. This is really more a chronicle of the collective values and commitment of an extraordinary group of people—and the hard work and personal relationships that define their connections—than it is a narrative about the game itself. Living in Smith Center clearly affected the author deeply and he is able to recreate for the reader much of what made that experience so special.As Drape tells it, the values espoused by Coach Roger Barta, the larger-than-life figure around whom the entire town coalesces, are simple and compelling: It’s not about winning and losing, it’s about being a team and trying to get a little better every day. These sentiments could easily slip into the realm of clichéd “coach speak,” except for the fact that everyone in Smith Center--from the players to the parents and the other fans--truly believes in them and lives their lives accordingly. The coach tells his team before the season begins that they should start by respecting each other and from that love for one another and collective success will follow. I’m sure that the players thought the coach was referring to football, but it is clear that the people of the town had long since realized that he was talking about so much more. “Our Boys” is far from a perfect book—it contains more than a few factual errors or omissions and the copy-editing in the last few chapters is atrocious—but it is one that I am happy to recommend. Smith Center is a town that I would love to visit and that has nothing to do with how the high school team performs on the field.