History. Hard Work. Kansas. And basketball.

As a kid, I remember playing basketball for hours in a day: shooting buckets until I couldn't see the hoop for the dark; ball-handling drills in my basement when it was too cold to go outside; shooting free throws even while my fingertips were dry, cracked and bleeding.

I cannot claim to know exactly what life is like in Larned or Chanute, but this story by Kent Babb in Sunday's Kansas City Star is still incredibly emotive for me. As a Kansan, a history major and a lover of college basketball, I still didn't know how rich my home state's heritage is where this sport is concerned.

Even if you don't love basketball — or have never visited a town of less than 20,000 — I'm sure you can enjoy this piece. With just the first graph, how could you not?

"They say the soul of basketball is out there in a place where grain elevators are
skyscrapers and barbed wire gives an order to things."

Some may find it saccharine, but I assure you it's real. There's a lot of truth in this thing.

PLEASE read it HERE.