PawneeSports
02-08-2006, 11:30 AM
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/oly_full.56685883cc219_super_bowl_xl.jpg
DETROIT - FEBRUARY 05: Place kicker Josh Brown #3 of the Seattle Seahawks reacts as he follows his missed 50 yard field goal attempt in the third quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL at Ford Field on February 5, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Claremore Daily Progress Article (http://www.claremoreprogress.com/archive/article24416) (prior to the game)
Written by: Terrell Lester
Date: 02-04-2006 16:38:25
It's a long way from Foyil, Oklahoma, to Detroit, Mich. Route 66 doesn't even go that far.
But there is a link between the two that's even more conspicuous than the venerable old highway.
That would be Foyil's new favorite son, Josh Brown.
He's in Detroit, but he hasn't left Foyil.
He's preparing for pro football's biggest game, but he's talking about small-town Foyil.
He has put Foyil on the map, and himself on a pedestal.
It's been 75 years or more since Foyil had this measure of publicity, this level of celebrity.
Josh Brown, the placekicker for the Seattle Seahawks, is in the Super Bowl.
In 1928, Foyil's Andy Payne ran across the United States.
More people will see Josh Brown in one minute in Detroit, in the Super Bowl, than saw Andy Payne in 25 days of running coast to coast.
More people will hear Josh Brown mention his hometown in a single Super Bowl sound byte than lived in the United States in 1928.
The Super Bowl is big.
And Josh Brown, Foyil's Josh Brown, is big just by virtue of being a part of it. They erected a statue of Andy Payne in Foyil after he won a 3,500-mile foot race.
They might rename the town if Josh Brown wins an XL-year-old football game.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times sent a news reporter and photographer to Foyil for an in-depth profile of an eight-man football player who made it to the Super Bowl, and the community he calls home.
Since the prelude to the Super Bowl began two weeks ago, Brown has been posting a daily diary on the Internet. He includes phrases such as "Couldn't make it without you Foyil."
He makes his living playing football in Seattle.
He learned to play football in Foyil.
His parents still live there.
His heart will always be there.
He told the Los Angeles Times staff writer: "Why wouldn't you go to Foyil? The world's largest totem pole is there."
At the moment, Josh Brown is taller.
He's more famous than Andy Payne. More famous than the totem pole and Ed Galloway combined.
And on Sunday, he will be a part of a football game where advertisers pay $2 million for a 30-second spot on television, where a world audience will be watching, where his every move, his every mood, will be captured and documented by high-definition television cameras, digital cameras, and cell-phone cameras.
The other day, Brown was talking by telephone from Detroit about the scope, the magnitude, of the Super Bowl.
He had just experienced, up close and personal, the madding crowd that is known during Super Bowl week as Media Day.
Only the Super Bowl can attract 4,000 media members for a one-day feeding frenzy.
That's the day the enormity of the Super Bowl finally penetrated the mind of the kicker from Foyil.
He calls a community of some 250 home. He saw that many microphones within every 30-minute ebb and flow of media.
"It's overwhelming, the size of the Super Bowl," Brown was saying. "Just the magnitude of this game, and the way they build it up. It's pretty spectacular.
"It's been awesome so far. It sure lives up to its name."
DETROIT - FEBRUARY 05: Place kicker Josh Brown #3 of the Seattle Seahawks reacts as he follows his missed 50 yard field goal attempt in the third quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL at Ford Field on February 5, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Claremore Daily Progress Article (http://www.claremoreprogress.com/archive/article24416) (prior to the game)
Written by: Terrell Lester
Date: 02-04-2006 16:38:25
It's a long way from Foyil, Oklahoma, to Detroit, Mich. Route 66 doesn't even go that far.
But there is a link between the two that's even more conspicuous than the venerable old highway.
That would be Foyil's new favorite son, Josh Brown.
He's in Detroit, but he hasn't left Foyil.
He's preparing for pro football's biggest game, but he's talking about small-town Foyil.
He has put Foyil on the map, and himself on a pedestal.
It's been 75 years or more since Foyil had this measure of publicity, this level of celebrity.
Josh Brown, the placekicker for the Seattle Seahawks, is in the Super Bowl.
In 1928, Foyil's Andy Payne ran across the United States.
More people will see Josh Brown in one minute in Detroit, in the Super Bowl, than saw Andy Payne in 25 days of running coast to coast.
More people will hear Josh Brown mention his hometown in a single Super Bowl sound byte than lived in the United States in 1928.
The Super Bowl is big.
And Josh Brown, Foyil's Josh Brown, is big just by virtue of being a part of it. They erected a statue of Andy Payne in Foyil after he won a 3,500-mile foot race.
They might rename the town if Josh Brown wins an XL-year-old football game.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times sent a news reporter and photographer to Foyil for an in-depth profile of an eight-man football player who made it to the Super Bowl, and the community he calls home.
Since the prelude to the Super Bowl began two weeks ago, Brown has been posting a daily diary on the Internet. He includes phrases such as "Couldn't make it without you Foyil."
He makes his living playing football in Seattle.
He learned to play football in Foyil.
His parents still live there.
His heart will always be there.
He told the Los Angeles Times staff writer: "Why wouldn't you go to Foyil? The world's largest totem pole is there."
At the moment, Josh Brown is taller.
He's more famous than Andy Payne. More famous than the totem pole and Ed Galloway combined.
And on Sunday, he will be a part of a football game where advertisers pay $2 million for a 30-second spot on television, where a world audience will be watching, where his every move, his every mood, will be captured and documented by high-definition television cameras, digital cameras, and cell-phone cameras.
The other day, Brown was talking by telephone from Detroit about the scope, the magnitude, of the Super Bowl.
He had just experienced, up close and personal, the madding crowd that is known during Super Bowl week as Media Day.
Only the Super Bowl can attract 4,000 media members for a one-day feeding frenzy.
That's the day the enormity of the Super Bowl finally penetrated the mind of the kicker from Foyil.
He calls a community of some 250 home. He saw that many microphones within every 30-minute ebb and flow of media.
"It's overwhelming, the size of the Super Bowl," Brown was saying. "Just the magnitude of this game, and the way they build it up. It's pretty spectacular.
"It's been awesome so far. It sure lives up to its name."