Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook10 hours
Muck City: Winning and Losing in Football's Forgotten Town
Written by Bryan Mealer
Narrated by Dion Graham
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
In a town deep in the Florida Everglades, where high school football is the only escape, a haunted quarterback, a returning hero, and a scholar struggle against terrible odds.
The loamy black "muck" that surrounds Belle Glade, Florida once built an empire for Big Sugar and provided much of the nation's vegetables, often on the backs of roving, destitute migrants. Many of these were children who honed their skills along the field rows and started one of the most legendary football programs in America. Belle Glade's high school team, the Glades Central Raiders, has sent an extraordinary number of players to the National Football League - 27 since 1985, with five of those drafted in the first round.
The industry that gave rise to the town and its team also spawned the chronic poverty, teeming migrant ghettos, and violence that cripples futures before they can ever begin. Muck City tells the story of quarterback Mario Rowley, whose dream is to win a championship for his deceased parents and quiet the ghosts that haunt him; head coach Jessie Hester, the town's first NFL star, who returns home to "win kids, not championships"; and Jonteria Willliams, who must build her dream of becoming a doctor in one of the poorest high schools in the nation. For boys like Mario, being a Raider is a one-shot window for escape and a college education. Without football, Jonteria and the rest must make it on brains and fortitude alone. For the coach, good intentions must battle a town's obsession to win above all else.
Beyond the Friday night lights, this book is an engrossing portrait of a community mired in a shameful past and uncertain future, but with the fierce will to survive, win, and escape to a better life.
The loamy black "muck" that surrounds Belle Glade, Florida once built an empire for Big Sugar and provided much of the nation's vegetables, often on the backs of roving, destitute migrants. Many of these were children who honed their skills along the field rows and started one of the most legendary football programs in America. Belle Glade's high school team, the Glades Central Raiders, has sent an extraordinary number of players to the National Football League - 27 since 1985, with five of those drafted in the first round.
The industry that gave rise to the town and its team also spawned the chronic poverty, teeming migrant ghettos, and violence that cripples futures before they can ever begin. Muck City tells the story of quarterback Mario Rowley, whose dream is to win a championship for his deceased parents and quiet the ghosts that haunt him; head coach Jessie Hester, the town's first NFL star, who returns home to "win kids, not championships"; and Jonteria Willliams, who must build her dream of becoming a doctor in one of the poorest high schools in the nation. For boys like Mario, being a Raider is a one-shot window for escape and a college education. Without football, Jonteria and the rest must make it on brains and fortitude alone. For the coach, good intentions must battle a town's obsession to win above all else.
Beyond the Friday night lights, this book is an engrossing portrait of a community mired in a shameful past and uncertain future, but with the fierce will to survive, win, and escape to a better life.
Unavailable
Author
Bryan Mealer
Bryan Mealer is the author of All Things Must Fight to Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo. He is a former Associated Press staff correspondent and his work has appeared in several magazines, including Harper's and Esquire. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
More audiobooks from Bryan Mealer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kings of Big Spring: God, Oil, and One Family's Search for the American Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Muck City
Related audiobooks
The Baseball Whisperer: A Small-Town Coach Who Shaped Big League Dreams Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bracketology: March Madness, College Basketball, and the Creation of a National Obsession Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hedge Fund Tale of Reach and Grasp: ...Or What's a Heaven For Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGameDay: The Untold Story of College Football Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf You Were Only White: The Life of Leroy “Satchel” Paige Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand: African American Athletes and the Fight for Social Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We All Wore Blue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFor a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made It to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mallparks: Baseball Stadiums and the Culture of Consumption Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endzone: The Rise, Fall, and Return of Michigan Football Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Champions Way: Football, Florida, and the Lost Soul of College Sports Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Kids Got It Right: How the Texas All-Stars Kicked Down Racial Walls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kid Athletes: True Tales of Childhood from Sports Legends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking Through the Lines: The Marion Motley Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBackyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud Between Texas and Texas A&M Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Awakening: Eight Principles to Restore the Soul of America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Hero: Extraordinary People on the Heroes Who Inspire Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion, and Pluck Take You from Ordinary to Extraordinary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Social Science For You
Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Cute When You're Mad: Simple Steps for Confronting Sexism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: Journey Through The Human Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fucked at Birth: Recalibrating the American Dream for the 2020s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Left Hand of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Muck City
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews