SB Nation’s beautiful profile of the “Black Hills Brawl”

Recently, I read a fantastic piece of journalism. Ryan Nanni, a football writer for SB Nation, a prominent sports and pop culture blog, went to South Dakota’s “Black Hills” to write about the rivalry that is known as the “Black Hills Brawl.”

The game is between the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Hardrockers and the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets, two Division II football programs that compete for the coveted Homestake Trophy every November. This fall marked the 129th game in the series, which dates back to the start of the 20th century.

To profile the rivalry, Nanni went to the Black Hills of South Dakota and simply took it all in. He describes his experience as well as the history of the rivalry, which revolves around misconceptions, the Sioux Indians, and so much more.

What I appreciated the most was his lede; he opens the story with a photo of a ‘snake warning’ sign at the local airport and explains that the airport personnel were telling people to beware of snakes that might inhabit the parking lot because the unusually-warm weather.

This was a great opening to the story because it got my attention and it set the tone. Most of what the “Black Hills Brawl” rivalry entailed was unusual but straight-forward, and this scene was no different.

Although Nanni’s pictures were not spectacular, his coverage of the rivalry and the story behind it was fantastic. He used the location of the schools and the people currently involved in the rivalry to get a feel for it, and his description of it was beautiful.

The only thing that could have made this piece better was better photography and maybe some audio pieces, but Nanni’s writing made up for story’s lack of sensory stimuli. If you appreciate college athletics or rivalries in general, this is a must-read.