You Ought to Do a Story About Me

Addiction, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Endless Quest for Redemption

De: Ted Jackson

Narrado por: Christopher Grove

“This masterpiece of dogged and loving reporting will astonish you and touch your heart. The struggles and quest for redemption of football star Jackie Wallace make for a fall-from-grace tale that’s both unsettling and uplifting.” (Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci)

The heartbreaking, timeless, and redemptive story of the transformative friendship binding a fallen-from-grace NFL player and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who meet on the streets of New Orleans, offering a rare glimpse into the precarious world of homelessness and the lingering impact of systemic racism and poverty on the lives of NOLA’s citizens.

In 1990, while covering a story about homelessness for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Ted Jackson encountered a drug addict sleeping under a bridge. After snapping a photo, Jackson woke the man. Pointing to the daily newspaper by his feet, the homeless stranger looked the photojournalist in the eye and said, “You ought to do a story about me.” When Ted asked why, he was stunned by the answer. “Because, I’ve played in three Super Bowls.”

That chance meeting was the start of Ted’s 30-year relationship with Jackie Wallace, a former NFL star who rose to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, only to crash and lose it all. Getting to know Jackie, Ted learned the details of his life, and how he spiraled into the “vortex of darkness” that left him addicted and living on the streets of New Orleans.

Ted chronicles Jackie's life from his teenage years in New Orleans through college and the NFL to the end of his pro career and the untimely death of his mother - devastating events that led him into addiction and homelessness. Throughout, Ted pays tribute to the enduring friendship he shares with this man he has come to know and also look at as an inspiration. But Ted is not naïve; he speaks frankly about the vulnerability of such a relationship: Can a man like Jackie recover, or is he destined to roam the streets until his end?

Tragic and triumphant, inspiring and unexpected, You Ought to Do a Story About Me offers a rare glimpse into the precarious world of homelessness and the lingering impact of systemic racism and poverty on the lives of NOLA’s citizens. Lyrical and evocative, Ted's account is pure, singular, and ambitious - a timeless tale about loss, redemption, and hope in their multifarious forms.

“This book will melt your heart. The story of Jackie Wallace is an unforgettable tale of hope, grace, and the miracle of the human spirit. Ted Jackson writes with searing honesty and deep love for a troubled man who started as his subject and became his lifelong friend." (Jonathan Eig, best-selling author of Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig)

©2020 Ted Jackson (P)2020 HarperAudio

Great story, terrible narration

I felt like the story was being read to me by my GPS app... Other than that, it was a very moving piece on addiction and mental health.

Love

I absolutely loved this book! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend EVERYONE to read it/listen to it!

I wish he'd write a story about me too!.....,

Wow..
What an amazing story about being human. Everyone has hurts, hangups, challenges, and a genuine need for grace that is freely given when openly saught. Late in the book, a comment that stuck was when Ted said "I had no idea how much we were alike" (referring to He and Jackie). From walks of life that could not have been further apart brought together two guys who began a journey that could not be made up.
No Politics, no race, no opinions, but rather the art of listening to hear (really listening), daring to care for someone who didn't care for themself, and the heart of a servant for a friend.

Jackie was right when the title was conceived, and what a story it is!!!

So much more than a book about a former football player

Jackie’s story is one that helped me better understand addicts that have been in my life. It helped me better understand my own struggles and all of our quest for salvation.

Good Book Hard Listen

Story was good and I think I could have been more into it had the narrator not sounded boring. Like someone else said it sounded like we were hearing the story being read by GPS. I had to speed it up like turbo speed to not fall asleep to the narrator. Otherwise a good book.