Essay on Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger

Many movies, tv shows, and books about high school have depicted football as the main focus. In the majority of these forms of entertainment, the high school football players are seen as ginormous, ignoramus, fools. Buzz Bissinger portrays these stereotypes all throughout his book Friday Night Lights. Though these depictions may be true in some cases, playing American high school football neither limits academic success nor future success in life. Bissinger addresses this topic through two characters; Boobie Miles and Bryan Chavez. Boobie Miles being a stereotypical unintelligent jock and Bryan Chavez being an academically inclined individual who is also on the football team.

Plot: Brandon just had another football practice. After the next one he’ll get to use pads. Coach Van Kuffeler still going hard on Brandon for always almost doing nothing. Coach Hewitt is being nice to Brandon. He thinks Brandon has a great arm and he might just start as QB even. Even some of the players like his best friend Mak is seeing potential in Brandon as a starting

In the famous book Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger he details a story of a place called Odessa texas and its extreme love for football. Throughout the book he details the 1988 season of the Permian High School panthers football season and the events it brings about. However, although football is a great pastime it kills kids lives in Odessa Texas leaving them confused and unprepared by too much community involvement, unrealistic expectations, and excessive dreams. In high school we try to live it up and get as much in as we can experience.

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

The novel Boo by Neil Smith is the personnel journal of the late Oliver “Boo” Dalrymple, and is about how the adolescent experience shapes him as a person. The theme of the adolescent experience is explored as Boo matures, ironically after he dies. Firstly, he is constantly bullied because of his difference in appearance and personality. Secondly, Boo’s love for science and obsession with great scientists is an intricate part of his character, as he decides what he wants to do in the future. Lastly, Boo grows up during the course of the novel, when he learns more about himself and his peers.

The show Friday Night Lights gives viewers an inside look into the lives of high school football players of a small town in Texas. The show is astonishing on many levels, from it's unique camera styles to the complex characters. Many people usually dismiss athletes as dull characters and some think of sports as something pointless or shallow. The show disproves these thoughts by giving viewers a perspective into the lives of the players, coaches, and fans of the Dillon Panthers football team. This show ultimately builds empathy for the lives of the football players in the show, which helps in understanding real life athletes and their coaches.

Boo was extremely misunderstood. In chapter one, we find out that the entire neighborhood is afraid of Radley and his family. Everyone has made up stories about The Radleys. According to their neighbor, Miss Stephanie Crawford, he stabbed his dad with some scissors. In multiple chapters, Scout mentions that people have said that Boo eats wild animals. In chapter four, they mention that he bit off his mother’s fingers because he could not find any cats or squirrels to eat. Due to these stories about Boo, people wanted to kill him. Boo also never left his house. Scout’s brother Jem thought that Boo never left his house because his dad had him chained to the bed. While talking about misunderstanding people, Atticus hints at Boo and Walter Ewell. He tells her,

Sports are a large part of America’s culture as well as Odessa’s. In Friday Night Lights, the players spend their entire lives training to be successful because sports are all they have to look forward to. During the final game of the season to make it to state, Ronnie Beavers told his team, “This is the last minute of your life” (326). Beavers quote shows the importance of the moment. If Permian does not win the game, they have nothing to look forward to in their future. This semi-final game is “much more than a game” for Permian. What Beaver is saying is ridiculous, the Permian players act like Football will determine their future. By following the players and the town, Bissinger is able to show readers how important sports are in Odessa. Bissinger notes how it was “obvious” that the students of Permian hold the town on their shoulders (XIV). By following the story of the American small town, including many personal anecdotes, Bissinger shows the effect that sports have in Odessa. Friday Night Lights supports Lapham’s claim that games represent much more than a game. It is not merely a game but a way of life. Permian players eat, breathe, and live football. Their lives are centralized around one thing: Football. Bissinger describes the town when he states, “If you went to their homes, you might find black toilet seats, or black seat cushions, or black phone book covers, or black paper plates, or black clocks, or black felt on their pool tables” (39). Bissinger throughout the book displays how the town revolves around sports. Everything that Odessa does is centered around the football team. The players train everyday to work to improving their record and that is all that matters to

Football was and is a very popular sport in America and has always been a favorite. Erik Fisher plays football because he is great at the sport, hence page 27, “Dad had brought Erik to meet Coach Warner earlier in the summer. Dad had knelt down and held the ball for Erik to drill fifty-yard field goals, one after another, while according to Dad, the Coach’s jaw had dropped lower and lower.” But, Erik played football primarily for and because of the fame. He had never cared about whether he had to hurt someone in order reach the top of the “Erik Fisher Football Dream”. On September 5 (pages 50-94), when Mike Costello dies of lightning, Paul finds Erik and Arthur laughing about how Mike’s hair was singed off. Paul was disgusted. Though Erik and Arthur didn’t kill Mike, their laughter reflects their inner evil and selfish selves. Paul then reflects on his own self and decides to walk a path of truth, unlike Erik. In continuation, Ray Lewis had once said, “Don't walk through life just playing football. Don't walk through life just being an athlete. Athletics will fade. Character and integrity and really making an impact on someone's life, that's the ultimate vision, that's the ultimate goal-bottom line.” Erik never had any character or integrity, whether he played sports or not. On the other hand, Paul did have character and integrity. Paul noticed Erik’s evil actions to get higher and higher up the Erik Fisher Football

It’s been almost two years since Boosie has been free. A long battle with the legal system following a possible murder charge ended in him walking away a free man, back to his family, friends and fans. Even on the outside, he’s still fighting. Most recently, for his life. Late November ’15, he announced to the world that he has kidney cancer. A few weeks later, he lost half a kidney during surgery but it was a successful operation. This weighed

     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

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.

Sports are a significant part of society and spectators enjoy particular events regardless of the type. However, there are many players who develop special working and social relationships with whom they are participating regardless of the type of sport. The relationship and how people interact with one another can be the determination of how successful a team can be. The particular film based on a true story that I chose is titled When the Game Stands Tall. This film consists of a high performing football team of De La Salle High School in the state of California. Jim Caviezel portrays the head coach (Bob Ladouceur) as a man with such vision and passion that goes beyond the fundamental principles of coaching the game of football. The football team had won 151 games without being defeated which is the highest winning record a team has had in the game of football. The film shows the internal struggles of the players in their lives as people, and how they perform on the field. It also shows the external tragic difficulties that they face while they attend and play for De Le Salle High School. In the movie, the head coach helps the students/players by not only coaching them but also showing them how to live a flourishing life by committing to endure difficult life situations and the way to overcome them. He helps teach the principles of brotherhood and companionship with the team that they build. In the movie, the head coach and the staff had taught the players

Football in some states is treated as a religion more than it is a game. In small towns in Texas, Friday nights in the fall are designated to host a high school football game. It is a ritual to support the hometown team, just as going to church on Sunday mornings. Just as one would find the majority of the town at church on a Sunday morning, the same goes on a Friday Night. The game is the talk of the town at the local restaurants between the old men that have spent their whole lives’ in the same town. They look forward to see what the young men of the town will show on the gridiron that week and how the team has been playing and what to expect in the future. In a small town, the players are decently in close contact with the young children

He was in his living room cutting articles out of the newspaper to put in his scrapbook. Boo’s father walked by him. The next thing that Mr. Radley knew, Boo had plunged the scissors into his father’s hamstring. Boo pulled it out, wiped off