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More on my novel Fourth Down in Texas

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It doesn’t take long for Gordon Nehls, the narrator and lead character of Fourth Down in Texas, to get across how much he loves high school football. As the novel begins, the longtime football coach is standing in one of the team entrance tunnels at AT&T Stadium, minutes before the start of a playoff game. He looks at the players, including his oldest son, and remembers how these moments felt as a player. "This stadium will be rocking soon, and the players standing next to me are the reason why. They’re shoulder-to-shoulder, internally pacing, waiting to take the field. They’re both thrilled and terrified, the unforgettable combination of being simultaneously fired up and scared shitless that I remember from the last time I put on shoulder pads in high school. Even then, as a teenager who rarely thought farther ahead than my next Whataburger order, I thought about becoming a coach." It’s fair to say that Nehls is a conglomeration of the coaches I've known ov

What happens if high schools stop offering football?

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High school football participation has decreased nationally over the last five years. High schools in dozens of states have canceled varsity or junior-varsity seasons, and in a scattering of cases, schools have cut entire football programs. And so football is doomed, some people say, from the pros to the pee-wees. It’s destined to get spiked like a football in the classic touchdown celebration. Well, here’s another view: Football isn’t going away. Not anytime soon, anyway. Football is too ingrained in the history, culture and rituals of America to get run out of the stadium. It’s a huge part of the country’s attitude. And, oh yeah, football still brings in a ton of money.   It’s like Minnesota Vikings receiver Stefon Diggs in that GEICO commercial, where everything sticks to his hands. The NFL has its hands in everything, and the money just sticks -- layer upon layer of it. That’s how the NFL generated about $14 billion in revenue last year. And college football is

Eric "Mosey" Posey: The Heart of Fourth Down in Texas

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Coach Gordon Nehls is the narrator and protagonist of Fourth Down in Texas, but Eric “Mosey” Posey is the heart of the novel. He’s also the character I enjoyed writing the most, partly because he’s inspired by a former high school football player that I covered as a reporter for The Dallas Morning News (more on that in a minute). Coach Nehls describes Mosey -- a nickname shortened to “Mose” by those who know him best – as a once-in-a-generation player. Mose was a kid who could launch a thousand coaching headaches, but he could also do it with a smile and a charm, and his immense competitiveness and ability made him a high school star. That comes across when Coach Nehls talks about the final touchdown Mose scored in high school:          One thing that has stuck with me from Mose’s last touchdown is the sound. Players and coaches around me were cheering, of course, but I could still hear the cracking and creaking of pads as the defenders changed direction and gave chase

First Chapter of my novel Fourth Down in Texas

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If you're reading this, you probably already know that my novel Fourth Down in Texas is now available at -- ta-dah! -- www.fourthdownintexas.com . The novel is available exclusively at that website until the publisher gives it widespread release. Chapter 1 of the novel is below as a sample. This is a book I worked on for a couple of years while I was a sports writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News , and the characters are inspired by coaches and players that I have known (and still know, because I'm not losing my memory that fast). Before the sample chapter, here's some info about it from the news release: Football, with both a rich history and a history of making people rich, might seem to big too die. But in FOURTH DOWN IN TEXAS, a novel set amid the simmering debate of football safety, the dominoes are falling on a cultural cornerstone of America. Evidence is mounting regarding the lasting effects of concussions, the NFL and NCAA are targets of neglige