Across the River

May 31, 2021
The coach of a champion football team worries more about keeping his players alive than winning on the field in this dramatic account of the 2019 season at Edna Karr High School in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. Washington Post sports reporter Babb (Not a Game) presents a rich and admiring portrait of Cougars coach Brice Brown, who was born and raised in Algiers—where life expectancy is 10 years less than the national average—and returned there after playing football at Grambling State. Babb also compassionately recounts the travails of players including senior linebacker Joe Thomas, who struggles to keep the apartment he shares with his mother while she’s in prison for selling drugs. In addition to running grueling practices and dissecting opposing defenses during the team’s quest for its fourth state championship in a row, Brown and his staff instruct players on how to react to social situations that may put them in danger, and offer rides home and cash for meals and other necessities. Babb skillfully interweaves on-field action with the history of Algiers and the story of the 2016 murder of a former star quarterback for the Cougars. The result is a moving and evocative portrait of football and life in the tradition of Friday Night Lights.

Starred review from July 15, 2021
A sociologically oriented look at a high school football season in a poor section of New Orleans. Washington Post reporter Babb isn't interested in delivering a play-by-play analysis of Edna Karr High School's 2019 season. More significantly, he offers well-rounded portraits of the personalities involved with the team: the coaches, players, fans, and the city as a whole. The primary character is head coach Brice Brown, who displays a sharp football mind and exudes grace and generosity, creatively treating his players as distinct individuals who respond to varying treatment. If needed, he will provide for his players: clothes, shelter, food, transportation, life advice, etc. He also conducts uncomfortable discussions, creating "challenging, often uncomfortable, social scenarios that fluster kids by design. These are meant as psychological stress tests." Most players live in poverty-riddled, dangerous neighborhoods, so Brown is constantly looking out for their well-being. Babb explains the psychogeography of New Orleans and especially how Hurricane Katerina impacted the students' sense of place and their insecurities. He also investigates the burgeoning gentrification of the city, an ongoing process with dire consequences. "Displaced residents aren't just physically uprooted from their homes, neighborhood, and comfort zones," writes the author. "They often carry harsh emotional burdens that, in particular for children, can lead to higher risk of anxiety and depression." At the same time, Babb wrestles with an existential element that attends the sport of football in most marginalized communities: the physical dangers of the game versus the opportunity to rise out of poverty--not just via college scholarships or (rarely) being drafted in the NFL, but by providing a transformative atmosphere that fosters independence, self-worth, and discipline. The author also probes the New Orleans police department through the lens of investigations into the shootings of players and the impact that violence has on all members of the community. A penetrating, wide-screen story of what it means to mentor under the toughest of circumstances.

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