Tuscaloosa Knights - not what I expected

Again, I am having mixed feelings as to whether or not I liked this particular story. Upon learning that this story was set in the Tuscaloosa area, I became excited because I was going to get to read a story with visual areas about a place that I knew. There were a few places in the story that I recognized, however, for the most part of the story, I didn’t quite find the familiarity that I had hoped for. I wish the story would have brought out more scenes from around the Tuscaloosa area – scenes that would have been more familiar to me. I found it funny that the author describes Tuscaloosa as a “dinky town with nothing to do.” Being in college and living in a very busy city, I find this hard to believe. There is always something too do. However, I have to remind myself of the time period in which this story was written. Back then there might not have been a lot to do in town. I think that small detail says a lot about the time period of the story. It’s a strong comparison to how those of us today view the city.

I liked the part about Coach Bryant not being able to play football because of a broken leg. However, because I’m from Tuscaloosa and remember hearing my mother and grandmother talk of “Bear,” I was upset that the story didn’t include true stories of Coach Bryant. In a way, I wanted it to be true he’d broken his leg. I think that having the preconception of thinking that everything in the story would be true to form for the Tuscaloosa area really hurt my ability to read this story and take it for face value. At times I wanted to create things that weren’t there and it hurt. Seriously.

The story brings out some interesting points regarding race and racial inequality. I think the plot of the story is very well written but the pinpoints about Tuscaloosa aren’t as accurate as they should be.