Wrecking Ball: Race, Friendship, God, and Football

The Montana writer Norman Maclean wrote, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing." Rick Bass, born and raised in Houston, knows that in Texas, there's no clear line between religion and football. In Wrecking Ball, award-winning writer Rick Bass chronicles three seasons on the field with the Texas Express, a semiprofessional team in the Dynamic Texas Football Association. Light-years from the NFL, it has nowhere near the pomp of college football nor even of Texas high-school football. Most players are in their twenties, but some are older. Every year a few get to try out for the college game; others get scholarship money and a shot at another life. But for most, this is their last chance. One hundred and fifty-five pounds and forty-five years past his playing career as a one-season walk-on at Utah State, Rick Bass came to Brenham to write about the Express. But with a disastrous season unfolding, Bass was induced to suit up and take the field. Suddenly the writer became part of the story in a tale reminiscent of George Plimpton and Paper Lion. Rick's experience on and off the field and his observations about the game, the injuries, the expectations and pleasures of comradery, the influence of the coach, and race, poverty, and religion on the field, are the unforgettable subjects of Wrecking Ball.