A cop-turned-coach takesyouth from gang-ridden streets to the gridiron
From the author of Irish Thunder comes the true story about the collision of violent crime and high school football in a tough New England town. Friday Night Lights meets Boyz n the Hood in this book about a football coachalso a cop on the gang beatwho pulls kids off the streets and puts them on the field with a combination of kindness and intimidation.
In Breakdown (whose title alludes to a pregame psyche-up ritual), Bob Halloran gets inside the life-or-death struggles of student athletes from the Bloods, Crips, MS-13s, and Latin Kings in Chelsea, Massachusetts--the Boston area's cruelest city.While exploring theanger, fear, and violence of these young men, he follows the Chelsea Red Devils as they vie for a championship andthe playerstry making football theirway out. Meanwhile, tough-love coach James Atkins serves as a cop in the Chelsea Police Departments Gang Unit, asking for his players blood, sweat, and tears on the field . . . and hoping their blood doesnt spill off it. Will football be their way to a better life, or will street life forever haunt them?
