Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights

Is High School football a sport, or is it more than that to some people? Recent newspaper headlines include such items as coaches abusing student athletes; fathers of athletes murdering coaches, and mother’s disabilitating cheerleading candidates to assure their daughters make the cheerleading team. In Odessa, Texas high school football is a major contributor to the society of a small town in Texas society. Every Friday night, 50,000 people fill the stadium to see high school students put their lives on the line to win a football game. H. G. Bissinger writes a novel called Friday Night Lights, about a year in 1988 where High School players prepare and play on the High School team, and what an impact they have on a small city in Texas.

The novel begins with preseason football in the heat of a Texas summer. The players and coaches practice over 4 hours a day in 100-degree weather. The media is affecting every player pushing for a state championship and college scouts at every practice. A star player named Boobie Miles is in the spotlight and is expected to attend and earn a scholarship to a large state college. The community cannot wait for the season to start to see the greatest team in Texas history, continue the winning tradition of the Permian Panthers. In one of the first games, Boobie Miles sustains a serious injury and will likely play again. Coach Gary Gaines, the head coach, had almost every play setup up for Boobie and will have to have a new game plan for the season. The team knows what they need to do and with their community behind the team, the Panthers qualify for the state playoffs, but lose to the dangerous Carter team.

This novel develops characters that engage in sex, to teachers cheating so their high school football players can continue to participate on the football field. Many people have a major affect on football and society in this novel. One of the major characters was Boobie Myles. Boobie was supposed to be the star athlete on the Permian football team. In the beginning, Boobie was arrogant to his teammates and wasn’t a good team leader. All Boobie cared about was winning and getting to the next level of football to satisfy his athletic needs. When Boobie is injured, he realizes he took football for granted and would do anything to play again. The team needs Boobie and Boobie needs the team. Coach Gaines realizes Boobie was seriously hurt and gives an inspiring pep talk to the team about how the players need to put their heart in the game and how lucky they are to be playing for Odessa.

H. G. Bissinger is the author of this book and the narrator. He is very descriptive about each individual on the football team and how they impact society. Bissinger’s word choice and sentence fluency is excellent. He establishes his characters, develops the plot, and builds the novel to reach a climatic conclusion. The sentence fluency is well structured and easy to read. Bissinger’s writing will not allow