Learning From Mistakes: The Pact and The Gridiron Gang Essay

Abstract: High school football in the state of Texas has become out of control. The sport is no longer played for the sake of the school but rather has become a Friday night ritual to these small towns in Texas. The players are no longer just high school kids inter acting in school sports but have now become heroes to these small town communities. Communities simply no longer support their local high school team but rally in pride of their hometown rivalry against another team. School administrators and coaches no longer are teachers and mentors for the kids but are the equivalent to what in professional football are team owners and "real coaches". Parents have become agents and sacrifice their jobs and homes so that their child

I found it difficult to relate with the book, The Pact, for near the first half of the story. The three boys, Rameck, Sam, and George all grew up in impoverished neighborhoods in New Jersey. They were surrounded by drugs, violence, theft, prejudice, and death. None of the 3 had a father figure within their home while growing up and discovered that it was extremely difficult to find any positive role models within their area. As kids, Sam and Rameck both caved under the peer pressure and became entangled in immoral activity. Rameck had even let adrenaline take over during a fight and stabbed a man in the thigh with a switchblade. As a result he spent 4 days in jail, some time on house arrest, and faced attempted

The novel The Pact which was read over the summer by Penn State students was considered interesting to some and dull to others. I personally enjoyed the book since I could relate to the book in more ways than one. The story takes pace in an inner city setting with three young men who become doctors and plan to give back to the community in any way they possibly can. The three young men are known as Sam, George and Rameck. Each of these characters posses a different personality which contributes to the book as a whole.

“‘Athletics last for such a short period of time. It ends for people. But while it lasts, it creates this make-believe world where normal rules don’t apply. We build this false atmosphere. When it’s over and the harsh reality sets in, that’s the real joke we play on people’” (Bissinger xiv). “Friday Night Lights” shows the darker side of high school football. Players are taught to play games to win, and thats all that matters. Football players are put under a tremendous amount of pressure, almost enough to be considered unfair. Even though football is a “team sport”, pressure on individual players is unnecessary. Some players have the burden of the team, the city, their family, and their future, resting on their shoulders. These players

The film wasn’t about that 13-0 record and winning a state championship, but the struggle that came with it and all the hardships they had to deal and get past. Racism, prejudice, compassion and love were all key aspects of this film as shown. The racism, prejudice of the team when they first met was severe and had been changed. The love and compassion came as the team grew to become one unit and love each other and be able to become something more powerful than they could be by themselves.

When I read “The Pact”, I felt some connection between the characters; Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Hunt Rameck. Throughout their hardship and struggles, It encouraged me to read on. But as I continued reading on, the three main characters stood out the most. But out of those three characters, one stood out in particular. Throughout his experiences and trials, I could see myself in that situation. In how he felt, in the manner in how he saw things around, I could see how I would have done the same thing myself. Dr. Hunt is someone I could relate to, someone I could see becoming friends with.

In H.G. Bissinger’s novel Friday Night Lights he goes in-depth describing the world surrounding high school football in Texas. There is nothing like high school football in Texas, it is the best thing to happen to many of the people that live there. Winning a high school state championship in Texas can make someone a hero for the rest of their lives. This being said, it causes a lot of difficulties once this peak in their life is over at such a young age. Many of these people do not know how to live with themselves after their days of football are over. They grow up and live through their kids. Sports and academics are two of the areas of life where parents attempt to live their dreams and ambitions through their children.

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Some kids play sports to have fun whereas others play sports to become elite athletes. The youth playing in the Texas Youth Football Association have no choice but to play and train like elite athletes. The film, Friday Night Tykes, illustrates how the youth are pushed passed their limits to become successful football players and successful teams.

There are a few things I enjoyed from reading the Pact. The way they were raised and how they lived was interesting because everyone in that neighborhood was living the same way. They were all poor and there was drug use around them as well as family members and friends selling or using drugs. Reading how they overcame that part by going to school, getting good grades, and having each other was what kept them on track.

The one real mistake I believe we can make in life is to not learn from missteps

It is always good to learn from your mistakes. Sometimes mistakes can be considered good things because it lets a person change how they do something and that there could be many ways for doing one task.

Boone and his family face horrible experiences when moving to Alexandria. When moving to the neighborhood, many neighbors were so upset but many were also happy that he didn’t back down. He was offered the head coach position but turned it down because he felt it would be incredibly disrespectful to Coach Yoast. Boone & Yoast agreed to make the relationship work. The African American students meet with Coach Boone in the gym, the meeting turns into a disaster when Coach Yoast and the white students arrive and disturb the meeting. Gerry Bertier was one of the students among the crowd of white students to interrupt. “I’m Gerry Bertier. I’m the only All-America you got on this team. If you want us to play for you, you reserve over half the positions …we don’t need any of your people on defense we’re already set.” said by Gary Bertier to Coach Boone. Boone makes it clear that all players will be on the team regardless of the color of their skin.

Chris and Doughboy, two brothers in gangs, live with a single mother. Chris is headed for an athletic scholarship and there is hope he will escape gang

In order to properly understand the group functioning within the football team, we must first understand why these boys joined the organization in the first place. From the

Mistakes something that we all do. People are not perfect therefore we will all make mistakes many times in our life. But there are two types of people in the world's ones that will live up to their mistakes and accept that they did it so they can move on. And there are those that will never live up to the mistakes they made and they will never be able to move on. The only way to truly learn from a mistake is to accept that you made one. There have been many times in my life that I have messed up and made mistakes. Some very terrible some not so bad. But none of them never were as bad as this one but, what i learned from the mistake made it all worthwhile.