Falcon Fans

The mighty Falcons of Jordan High School are now 2-0 under the watchful eyes of the Taylors. Jordan used a goal-line stand at the end of Friday's game to secure a homecoming victory over the winless Northern Durham Knights. Jordan is 5-2 overall.

We've enjoyed the enthusiasm and community feel that the Jordan games offer. The school's marching band is also quite entertaining. On Friday they performed while decked out in an amusing variety of Halloween costumes from the Chick-fil-A cow to Tigger.

We became bigger fans of the team earlier in the week when we heard head coach Stuart Albright discuss his new book about high school football in North Carolina.

Albright, a native North Carolinian who returned to the state after recieving a master's degree in education at Harvard, had all the right things to say about how football can teach kids about teammwork and responsibility while also instilling an oftentimes needed sense of confidence in the players. He offered some telling personal anecdotes about players whose lives have greatly improved as a result of their participation in football.

In short, the guy remembers the all-too-important lesson which is often forgotten by players, fans, and adults alike: football is just a game. However, the sport can be a tool to instill values and pride in young men.

It's probably no surprise that we purchased an autographed copy of Albright's book, "Sidelines."

Here's a description of the book from Albright's website:

Every Friday night in autumn, stadium lights illuminate the rural farmlands and concrete cityscapes of America with a glimmer of hope. Sidelines is an insider’s look at the fascinating world of high-school football, and, beyond that, it is also about the death and rebirth of the American community. Stuart Albright uses football to explore our nation’s complicated history of race and public education and to explain why some communities continue to thrive while others are slowly dying away. Sidelines tells the story of nine very different communities across North Carolina, from deep in the Appalachian Mountains where a team of Cherokee Indians carry the hopes of an entire tribe on its shoulders, to military outposts where the War in Iraq dominates every aspect of daily life. We meet resilient coaches in urban schools on the brink of state take-overs and men who lived through segregation, fire bombings, and shattered dreams. Sidelines profiles ordinary coaches and community leaders who do extraordinary things.