Friday Night Lights

Categories: Sports , Entertainment , Movies & Books , Rediscoveries , Nonfiction

I don’t like football.  I understand the rules, but not the fascination with the game.  As strange as it may seem, I enjoy watching the television show Friday Night Lights, starring Kyle Chandler and the Dillon Panthers, the high school football team of small town Dillon, Texas.  Season two kicks off this Friday, October 5th. 

The television series (and the 2004 movie) is based on the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger.  Originally published in 1990 (around the time yours truly was graduating from high school), Bissinger follows the 1988 Permian Panthers of Odessa, Texas into the locker room and onto the field, from preseason to playoffs. 

The Panthers keep the hopes and dreams of this oil town alive, so Odessa takes its championship team seriously.  The Permian High School stadium seats 19,000 and has artificial turf.  Women carry black leather purses that look like footballs.  One man has attended every game since the school opened in 1959 (except when he had heart bypass surgery).  And angry fans, upset over a loss, place “For Sale” signs in the coach’s front yard. 

Library Journal says, “(In Odessa) there is no high-blown talk of playing the game well, just the raw need to win at all costs. In this atmosphere, players vomit from nervousness before each game and often play with injuries.  Bissinger makes you feel the tensions of the kids, who are not just playing a game, but literally fighting for the honor of their town.” 

When Friday Night Lights was first published, it set off a controversy in Odessa that still flares at the mere mention of the book’s name.  Read the Afterword in this edition to find out what happens to the town and its players ten years later.