The big story this Super Bowl week is "Deflategate" or however one wants to term the New England Patriots' use of under-inflated balls in their AFC title game rout of Indianapolis.
But there are other story lines, if the national writers and broadcasters choose to look beyond the low-hanging fruit -- another Patriots' cheating scandal.
One feel-good tale involves someone with Blytheville ties.
Before working for Pete Carroll at the University of Southern Cal and now the Seattle Seahawks, Chris Carlisle served as assistant coach at Blytheville High School, spending spent six seasons as the offensive line coach and strength coach for the Chickasaws from 1986-91.
"The thing I remember most is that we had a lot of 180-pound kids with the hearts of kids 280 pounds. Blytheville has always supported the team there ...," Carlisle told the Courier News in a 2003 interview. (His other tie to the area is marrying a Blytheville girl -- the former Louon Pope -- in 1989.)
Since leaving BHS, Carlisle has overcome a bout with Hodgkin's disease and he survived a near fatal freak accident when an electric fan fell on him. Oh, and he has been a part of championships on three levels -- junior college, Division I and the NFL.
Carlisle has been with defending Super Bowl champion Seattle since Feb. 4, 2010, but he began his career as the head football coach and strength coach at Dodge (Nebraska) High in 1985.
After coaching at Blytheville, Carlisle was a strength and conditioning graduate assistant coach at the University of Arkansas for two years (1992-93) before becoming the head football coach and strength coach at Subiaco (Arkansas) Academy. In 1997, he moved on as an offensive line coach and strength coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, which won the NJCAA national championship.
He was part of another national title a year later -- at the University of Tennessee, where he spent three years.
Doctors discovered Carlisle had Hodgkin's Disease in 2000, while he was with the Vols.
Carroll hired him a year later at USC; he and Carroll kept the illness a secret for a few months, before telling players in the 2001 fall camp.
Along with being part of a couple of national championships -- it would have been another, but USC was stripped of its 2004 BCS national title -- Carlisle was one of 17 nominees for the 2003 Most Courageous Award presented by the Football Writers Association of America and was one of 11 nominees for the 2005 award.
He was named the 2006 National Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year by the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society.
And he also owns a Super Bowl ring for last year's championship. Not bad for a guy that used to coach up Blytheville kids at Haley Field on Friday nights.
Carlisle will try to add another ring to his collection on Sunday night, when the Seahawks take on the Patriots on the biggest stage in sports.
He's had a pretty incredible career. It just goes to show you, with work and determination, the sky is the limit. Carlisle's story is inspirational and shows a guy from a little town like Blytheville, Arkansas, can be a success, no matter what challenges lie ahead of him.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com