The Permian Panther Football Team In Friday Night Lights By Buzz Bissinger

H.G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights brings to mind the cold, autumn nights of 1988 where a town, just like any other rural town in America, was brought together in such a raw and emotional way. From the rise and fall of Boobie Miles to the push for the playoffs, it is clear that 1988 Odessa was swept up in the glory of football to replace the grandeur of the 1950s, which seemed to deteriorate throughout that hectic decade. While a modern reader may view Bissinger’s masterpiece as a tale from a dated and faraway place, several factors have kept it in the public’s eye. What is it about Friday Night Lights that still resonates today? The answer can still be found in the same rural towns of America. Though it may seem incredible, Texas is

Football is America’s go to entertainment sport. The NFL hit its peak in 2015, with an average of 114.1 million television viewers throughout the year (“Statista,” 2017). This sport is loved by all, the players, parents, coaches, and fans. But, is football merely entertainment? Is it just a simple game, teaching young boys the value of teamwork, dedication, and discipline? Are parents spending their Friday nights to support their boys, or is there something bigger happening? In H.G Bissinger’s novel, Friday Night Lights, one can see the true effects of this toxic drug through the mindset of the players and the actions of the coaches. While society sees football as entertainment, it actually functions more like a drug.

Intern Nation by Ross Perlin tells you most everything you ever wanted to know about internships and then some. Equal parts history lesson, tell all and personal commentary, this should be assigned reading for anyone considering taking part in an internship. It has been coded into the minds of the young job seekers today that they must first work for free if they ever hope to find a good paying position. Perlin sends the necessary message though that the system that has been put in place to make this possible is cracked and presents a bad deal for internship seeking individual.

    Mike Winchell,Permian’s starting quarterback, strived to make his father proud. His father, Billy Winchell, had been in an oil accident that “Had cost him his leg,” and eventually his father leg go,all too soon for Mike(Bissinger,73). Mike’s fathers death at 13, combined with his parents split-up when he was 5, forced Mike to grow up at a very young age. Billy and Mike had a very strong father-son relationship,and his father assisted in coaching Mike the sports that he played; Billy was a very demanding and harsh,but compassionate instructor, guiding Mike through his baseball and football career. Billy was very leaneate in certain charastics of raising his son,but also consequential in other aspects,insisting “He had to go to college,there could be no two ways

“But there was no way he could fulfill the requirements of the NCAA for number of courses needed to qualify for a nonrestrictive scholarship” (Bissinger 65). Boobie thinks that he has to show the college scouts more of his football playing ability so he pushes himself too hard and comes out with a serious knee injury. All Boobie wants is to have a career in football, and now ruins his own dreams. He has made himself his own worst enemy and ruined the only thing he was prepared for in life.

Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight depicts the coming-of-age of a young black boy as he struggles with and endures abuse for his sexuality, causing him to hide his internal conflicts. The life of the protagonist, Chiron, is split into his three main stages of life, with each part focusing on the physical and emotional abuse he endures due to his homosexual orientation. When the viewer first meets Chiron, he is running from bullies. As he ages, the bullying follows him, causing him to harden and avoid vulnerability in his adult life. Jenkins uses climactic scenes in Chiron’s life to portray how prejudice against black sexuality forces him to conceal his true identity. In Moonlight, Jenkins’ cinematic style illustrates Chiron’s public and private

He is eventually cleared to play through court cases and relentless commitment by the school’s administration. In the midst of all the madness and all of the hype surrounding high school football in Texas, it is clear that there is no recognition of the importance of education. There is so much emphasis put into high school football in these communities like Odessa that athletes pour all of their hopes and dreams into it. Ultimately once these you athletes are eventually stripped of the game of football, their futures are jeopardized and their lives are irrevocably damaged. They are finally exposed to the real world more underprepared than ever. Fundamentally all that is left is a few memories of athletic stardom and still an inadequate education.

In Steve Almond’s essay, “You Knock My Brains Out This Sunday and I Knock Your Brains Out the Next Time We Meet,” he starts off by describing a haunting memory from his childhood. He explains how when he watched Jack Tatum collide with Darryl Stingley, he enjoyed the thrill of the violence, yet felt ashamed about the way he felt because Stingley was now a quadriplegic. He goes on to explain why he felt that way, and also why he still kept watching the game, He talks about his childhood and about how his family seemed perfect on the outside, however behind closed doors they were a troubled family with little boys running around with forks and knives and stabbing each other. He goes on to talk about aggression and how soothing it was. He then moves on to talk about the life expectancy of football players and how they live shorter lives, and that Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is common among football players. Almond focuses on how football players suffer long-term brain damage due to the sport. He gives an example of former players saying how they have memory loss and how they see stars frequently. Almond addresses the issue of how the NFL tried to hide the actual facts about what was really going on, and manipulate the players as well. And that even when the truth came out people put

My book “Two minute drill” By Mike Lupica is about a boy named Scott who just moved into a town and is the new kid at the school he is going to. Scott is a smart kid but is afraid to raise his hand for most of the questions even though he knows them because he doesn’t want to be teased for being to smart. But Scott gets bullied anyways and the coolest kid in school sticks up for him and becomes his friend. Scott isn’t good at football but after he creates a friendship with Chris he gets better and he helps Chris become smarter. Scott ends up makes the school football team, but after sitting on the bench for most season he decides he wants to quit. When he decides he won’t quit he goes to practice and breaks his arm and is not able to play in

Under the Lights is the story of two broken souls getting a second chance. It is a fast pace story of find onesself and love along the way. Willa, Gunner and Brady were childhood friends, the closest friends who loved spending them in their tree house. One day Willa got pulled away from them, thinking they would never see them again. Six years later, Willa is back. Both Gunner and Brady are in for it. Both have feelings for her and confused on what to do about it. This story is all about the three friends growing up, finding themselves and each other. We get POV from all three. It has a little bit of a love triangle, that I was too kin on, but ended up enjoying anyway. It is very much a teenage book and what they go through in life at their

In the song Hurricane by Bob Dylan it describes their protest about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It arranges alleged acts of racism and profiling against Carter. Bob Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction. Rubin Carter and John Artis were charged with a triple murder at the Lafayette Grill in Paterson, New Jersey in 1966. The next year Carter and Artis were found guilty of the murders, which were reported as racially motivated. In the following years, numerous amounts of controversy appeared over the case from allegations of faulty evidence and questionable eyewitness testimony to an unfair trial.

“O greatly fortunate farmers, if only they knew/How lucky they are!” Virgil declares in Georgics, illustrating what I admire most about the poem; Virgil exalts the natural world and life on the farm in multiple ways, painting a vocation that is often seen as lowly, simple, and laborious as something of beauty that deserves widespread admiration (Virgil 83). While reading books one and two of Georgics, I noticed that this appreciation for the pastoral lifestyle is illustrated by the careful detail with which Virgil gives his instructions on how to farm; he goes so far as to suggest crop rotation, a method I did not even know existed during his era, and describes specific “methods to use to tell the different kinds of soil from one

12 years a Slave, directed by Steve McQeen, is about a freed black man from New York who is a victim to money-hungry kidnappers and is in the course of time enslaved for twelve years in the deep south. He was a free man that was beaten and drugged into slavery. He struggles to stay alive and retain his dignity. The worst part if he is not allowed to speak of his freedom or else he will be beaten severely. The theme of this movie is the horrors of slavery. Throughout the film, Solomon conveys of lashings, beatings, and other punishments. His masters even tried to kill him while he is a slave. A sub-theme is bravery. Solomon was very brave and never lost hope even when things appeared hopeless. These themes work together to create an environment

Toy Story creates a universe out of a couple of kid´s bedrooms, a gas station and a stretch of suburban highway. Woody the cowboy is young Andy´s favorite toy, but that changes when Andy get the new “super toy Buzz Lightyear” for his birthday. Woody and Buzz has a conflict between an old fashioned cowboy who has always been Andy`s favorite toy and know the new space ranger may replace him. Woody tries to get rid of Buzz, but things backfires and he finds him self in the outside of the world whit Buzz as his only companion. Together the two rivals was set on an adventure to find the way home. On the adventure home they lands in the clutches of Sid and his dog who is a sadistic neighborhood kid who infamous for dismembering and remote toys in

“My City” is a classical poem used and written by James Weldon Johnson to describe his love for his city, Manhattan. James Weldon Johnson clearly expresses his feelings through his brilliant use of words. His word choice helps personify and create sensory details that successfully create an excellent tone and setting for his perspective on the city of Manhattan. James Weldon Johnson accurately proposed his love for Manhattan through personification, sensory details, paradox, and diction. Body Paragraph: