From the Inside Flap
Tonight, you have a mission, a personal one. You want to learn why Ohio high school football is, beyond dispute, tops in the country. You want to get at the scratch beneath the contest, to uncover the patterns and motivations that bring us out, faithfully, every weekend, to scream ourselves hoarse, to endure bone-chilling rains and frozen aluminum benches, to donate our time, effort, and money, to freely give our emotions over to the performances of 16- and 17-year-old kids, and to promise to do it all over again next week and next year and the year after that. Yes, you've heard arguments on behalf of other states- Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, California- but you know there's no state where high school football forms a more vibrant part of its culture. Maybe this sounds crazy to you, and maybe it doesn't, but one thing is for sure: It's an Ohio thing; people in the Buckeye state understand; and everyone's welcome.
About the Author
Christopher Butler is a former broadcast journalist who is currently a grantwriter at the Cleveland Foodbank, and Rothchild is an amateur photographer who has traveled extensively and photographed subjects in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.