SMITH CENTER FOOTBALL MAKES THE NY TIMES

Some of you

may have thought that Ivan Burgess was simply a literary device; and some of you may have wondered why anyone should be interested in what happens in the middle of the middle, the geographic center of the the lower 48 states, Smith County, Kansas; and some of you may have wondered about Ivan's huffing and puffing regarding the Smith Center high school football team in his Echo Echo which I excerpt from each Tuesday. Well, I'm here to tell you:

IT'S THE REAL DEAL. (Total combined scoring in Smith Center's games this season: 704-0.)

No less a publication than the New York Times reports today on "A Football Power in a Small Kansas Town." That would be Smith Center, whose football coach, Roger Barta, thinks it's all about not football but raising good kids. In fact, the final quote from Barta that closes the piece sounds a bit like "It takes a village to raise a child."

You have to register to gain access to the NY Times, I believe, put it's painless, has no untoward after-effects. Check it out.

Thanks to my fellow travelers George Bower and Jim Abel for bringing this story to my attention! I appreciate it, guys.