By now, you’ve surely heard – former QB Josh Booty was arrested for DUI Wednesday morning. After getting belligerent with cops at the Orange County jail, he was tasered, and on his fall to the ground, hit his face on a table, resulting in a black eye. He then fell to the ground, and split his head open, according to TMZ. This required a trip to the hospital, where he was stitched up before spending the night in jail. Many people have already blogged about this sad, sordid tale. Why the melancholy tone for a drunken lout?

Because Josh Booty was the subject of one of our all-time favorite features in ESPN the Magazine. Back when we were in college, we started a ‘great sports stories’ folder (major nerd alert) and a Bruce Feldman piece on Booty was one our favorites. The writing is tremendous, and at a time when our friends were going the IT route for easy riches, it was the kind of story that reinforced our interest in journalism. Plus, it got us rooting for Booty! (Not that you’ll care, but other pieces in the folder: Sally Jenkins on Kwame Brown in Washington Post magazine, April 2002; Mark Rowland on Kobe Bryant in the LA Times Magazine in Jan. of 1999; Michael Leahy on Michael Jordan from the Washington Post in Feb. of 2001; the Art of Choking, Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker, August of 2000 and a few Norman Chad columns.) At any rate, here’s the intro to the Josh Booty story, which we couldn’t find online.

Sept. 22, 1999
ESPN the Magazine
By Bruce Feldman

When a legend comes back to life, word travels fast. But late this spring, a story spun its way through the Louisiana Bayou – from the fried catfish joints down in Lafayette to the Baptist churches up in Natchitoches – in record time. The great Josh Booty was at it again, or so the story goes: Freed at last from a six-year commitment to the Florida Marlins, the home-grown passing phenom uncorked a football so far it cleared the rim of Tiger Stadium and landed in the parking lot. Not bad for a guy just trying to knock the rust off his arm.

Too bad no one – not even the Bayou Bunyan himself – knows where the story started. By now, though, Booty is used to the hype. You learn to expect it when Bill Walsh calls you the greatest high school QB he’s ever seen, when you’re talented enough to play third base for the defending World Series champs. “Some throw, eh?” Booty asks, pulling a baseball cap over his hazel eyes. He pauses to think about it, then leans his thick 6-3, 225-pound frame forward as if he’s got a secret to share. “People around here want to believe,” he says, a sheepish grin crossing his face. “And ya gotta love that.”

We’re too tired to keep tying, but perhaps ESPN will yank it up from the archives to coincide with this arrest. Besides the tremendous writing, the story actually mentions two of Josh’s brothers: “His youngest son, Jake, could pilot Evangel’s spread attack right now. Lil’ Snake is only 10, so he might have trouble seeing over the line, but that hasn’t stopped LSU from sending him a recruiting letter. John David Booty, the third of four boys, is a 6-3, 175-pound eighth-grader with an 87-mph fastball. He pitched three straight no-hitters this summer.”

Booty, booty, booty, booty, booty everywhere!