Although its participants are still in grade school, Pop Warner football is serious business in Miami, where local teams routinely advance to the national championships. Games draw thousands of fans; recruiters vie for nascent talent; drug dealers and rap stars bankroll teams; and the stakes are so high that games sometimes end in gunshots. In America's poorest city, troubled parents dream of NFL stardom for children who long only for a week in Disney World at the Pop Warner Super Bowl. In 2001, journalist Robert Andrew Powell spent a year following two young teams through rollercoaster...
Although its participants are still in grade school, Pop Warner football is serious business in Miami, where local teams routinely advance to the nati...