Support is relative for Florida's Brewer

LA Times ^ | March 30, 2007 | Bill Plashke

[kms61]

PORTLAND, TENN. — In a patch of farmland on the edges of this tiny hill town, there's a pristine subdivision with two-story brick houses, deep lawns and backyard pools.

The Brewers live across the street, in a matchbox house with a weed-choked yard and a backyard beer tub.

In the subdivision, smooth driveways lead to fancy garages on which are mounted basketball hoops.

The Brewers have a gravel driveway, no garage for their 100,000-mile cars, and a couple of warped lawn chairs around that beer tub.

Every morning, when Glenda Brewer leaves for her job as a special education teacher and Pee Wee Brewer wheels himself outside to visit friends, they look across the street into that fancy subdivision.

Every night, they phone the son who could have put them there.

And they tell him they love him because he didn't.

[kms61]

Great story about a family who raised their kid right. I encourage everyone to go to the link and read the whole thing. Florida is a bitter SEC rival, but I'll be pulling for them tonight, and I hope Corey Brewer has a big game.

[ClaireSolt]

Just what we need, teachers who don't weed their lawns but drink beer instead and others who celebrate that.

[mongrel]

That's what the reporter decided to point out, but if you read the story you would probably have a little sympathy for his amputee father.

For myself, parts of the story were almost funny as the reporter tried to point out what constituted hard living:
-Driving a car with a 100,000 miles on it (a PT Cruiser at that)
-Shopping at Walmart, helpfully noting they still do
-Having a 15 year old TV

There were some other items that were a bit more legitimate, but I laughed at these 3 because we choose to do those things because they make financial sense.

It sounds like the family has the right values of hard work.

BTW, here's a link to read without registering:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-plaschke30mar30,1,6451600.column?page=1&track=rss