James+and+Jamel

=__Odessa, Texas__=

By //Jamel Mcknight//

Odessa is a small city located in Texas. Odessa is located in Ector country and had a population of 90,000 in 2000. By 2008 the population grew to 98,000, averaging about 1,000 people entering the small city every year. Odessa is known to be home of the largest jackrabbit in the world. Odessa survives with only about 13 inches of rain a year and was know 20 be a deep stagnant marine basin about 250 years ago. Odessa is also known for the worlds largest reservoirs of old and natural gases in the country of Ector. With Odessa once being a deep stagnant marine basin its hard to believe that the total land mass is 95.3 km with only 0.2 km being water. One of the states largest high school stadium is home of the Odessa Bronchos and the Permian Panthers. Odessa also has other sports that they have every year, like rodeo indoor football ice hokey and much more. The jackrabbit is best known in Odessa Texas for their symbol. The reason Odessa picked this as their symbol because it had burro like ears and protective color of fur, which blended it with the surroundings of west Texas like sand and dry grass. The rabbit’s long legs were able to reach speeds of 45 miles per hour and had to keep away from greyhounds, which hunted these jackrabbits. Odessa was home of many celebrities know worldwide. Examples of people that lived in Odessa Texas include President George W Bush and George H. W. Bush. Odessa is also home to Dallas cowboy’s wide receiver Roy Williams.

 "Odessa, Texas -." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 24 Aug. 2009. .

//City of Odessa - TX : Home//. Web. 24 Aug. 2009. .

=__Harry Gerard Bissinger III__= By //James Moreland// H.G. Bissinger was born on November 1, 1954 in New York City. H. G. educated from Phillips Academy in Massachusetts. He was a sports editor and editorial page editor of the University of Pennsylvania. He won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting while writing for the Philadelphia on the corruption of the Philadelphia court system of 1987. He states in the book Friday Night Lights that “ maybe it was a suddenly acute awareness of being thirty something (Bissinger). He always had an idea of a place where high school sports held the town together. He found his ideal place in Odessa, Texas with the Permian Panthers.

 Bissinger, H. G. //Friday night lights a town, a team, and a dream // . Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2000. Print. "H. G. Bissinger." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 24 Aug. 2009. .