unwithered on its curls                                                                          The garland briefer than a girl’s.

I heard those words before they became a cliché. Before ESPN trotted them out every time some pro athlete did too much coke and blew up his heart, like it was a national tragedy that we'd never get to see him dunk a basketball again. I heard them in response to a real tragedy.

When I heard them, I was sitting on a makeshift stage along the side line at Panther stadium. It was south Alabama in July and, in the local lingo, it was hotter than two rats making whoopee in a...

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