Sports Hope

The Goose's Roost has a great post up about James Starks, a Packer and Buffalo native, and what having someone from a depressed area make it big means to the area:

When I started my job at the Gazette in September, James Starks was an unfortunate footnote in the NFL season. He was hurt and unsure about a roster spot and going on almost two years of inactivity. Anyone who saw him play knew he had potential, but much like the city he grew up in, the difference between potential and reality is immense.

It is difficult to put into words the crushing impact living in a place like this can have on you. Verbs like “demoralizing” and “depressing” don’t do the feeling justice. What it comes down to is the fear of being stuck, an inability to escape the black hole caused by land speculation and decades of failure.

You see it every day and can’t shake it no matter where you go. I can see it in the eyes of the people I meet when I tell them I’m from the Cataract City or that I graduated from Niagara Falls High School. I feel it when I see friends give up on themselves decades too soon or classmates work their mug shots into the police blotter.

Where you come from isn’t written on your face, but it’s something that stays with you no matter how much you may want to forget it. Thing is, I don’t want to forget it. I’m proud of where I came from and what it has made me as a person. I know how bad things are but I know people who have what it takes to be successful in spite of the air they breathe and the zip code on their mail.

More here.