#43: Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger

I was born in June of 1972 in Dallas, Texas.  I only lived there for a year before moving to Virginia with my mother when my father passed away.  I have often wondered how my life would be different had I grown up in Dallas, or in a suburb of Dallas.  After reading Friday Night Lights, I feel certain that football would have been a big part of my life, if not all of my life.

I grew up respecting the game of football.  My grandfather watched it on TV.  I grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia watching UVA football (well...being forced to watch and follow UVA football).  I was no stranger to the game, but truthfully I had no idea what was really happening out there on that field.  I understood the goal--get the most points, try to score the most touchdowns.  I got that.  But I really didn't get IT.

Fast forward to 1994...I found myself married to a football fan who watched it as much as it was on TV.  God bless him, he tried to explain the game to me, but I still didn't understand.  I am fairly positive I really didn't want to understand either.

I am now the proud co-owner of UVA Football season tickets.  I have been attending games each year with my family for several years now.  While my favorite part of the game is seeing which uniform combination rolls out each week (and Cav Man riding Sabre onto the field), I do now finally understand some basic plays, I know the difference between first down and third, and I know what happens when a team is coached well and when it isn't.  I have sat through too many losing seasons to count and I have felt the thrill of seeing one of my favorite players in my local Food Lion.  I guess you could say that I am now a football fan.

So, it should not have been a shock to anyone when I bought Friday Night Lights, the 25th Anniversary Edition.  But it was.  My children raised their eyebrows and my husband may have, too.  The guy who helped me find it in the Barnes and Noble was clearly shocked that I wanted to read this book (Do I not look like someone who would read FNL?).  Friends could not believe that I had never seen the TV show based on the book.  But I surprised them all by reading it.  It took me weeks, but I did it.  I savored every word of this delicious book (and let me tell you, Bissinger one brilliant writer. He has a way of building anticipation like no author I have ever read before.  It makes for a very satisfying read).  And last night when I closed the cover, I was crying.  Turns out, the person I surprised the most by reading this book was myself.  Perhaps if I had actually grown up in Texas, I would've gotten IT, gotten football and all that it means and all that it stands for.  But I didn't and yet now I do.  Thanks to Bissinger's amazing book about the Permian Panthers from Odessa, Texas in 1988.

Bissigner literally packed up and moved to Odessa, Texas with his family to follow the Permian Panthers for a year-- the year that they had big hopes would end in a State Championship for their team.  He followed them into every aspect of their lives--home, school, the locker room.  He learned about where they lived and where they came from, and as a result, we, the readers, get to learn these things, too.  As I was reading, I was surprised at how much sociology was woven into this text.  Quite honestly, Friday Night Lights is way more sociology than it is football.  Seriously.  The only time I have ever regretted not having my master's degree in anything was when I was reading FNL and realized that someone (preferably ME) could teach a college class using this book as the primary text to explore just about every social issue out there--black vs. white, rich vs. poor, girls vs. boys, educational issues, professional ethics, sports ethics.  This book is filled with more information about the climate of the US in then late '80's than you could ever imagine.  It would make a killer sociology class (and I'd like to teach it, please). The social background is necessary to understanding the town, the boys, and the team.  Without it, you'd only get half of the story.  So, while the pages are densely packed with information that makes reading slow and careful, I found myself craving these parts of the story more than the play-by-plays of the games.  It's what connected me, the reader, to the town and to the overall story being told.

And I did feel connected to this town and their team.  And I cried last night when I finished reading the book for two reasons.  One--Permian did not win the State Championship in 1988 and it killed me.  They had worked so hard and had fought so many battles and they couldn't quite pull it out in the end.  And two--Bissinger included an Afterword in which he spoke to players from the 88 Panthers team 25 years after that last losing game.  Their stories broke my heart and I cried for them.  I cried because they will never feel the glory they felt in 88 every again.  I cried because no matter how hard they worked they were never going to be what they were to the town of Odessa back in 88.  They peaked as teenagers and that makes for a very long life.  And I cried because most of them realized that had they focused a little less on football and a little more on school that their lives could be very different today.  (Sigh...a teacher's dream come true!)

Bottom line...I will never view another football game the same way ever again after reading Friday Night Lights.  I have a new respect for the game and the boys on the field.  I will never roll my eyes at professional player's outrageous salaries (and I will continue to be a proponent for paying college level players), because I now know that their career can end with every game they play.  And money, no matter how much, will ever be able to compensate a player who wants to play, who NEEDS to play, and no longer can.

I hope that I am the only person out there who hasn't read Friday Night Lights, but in case I am not, I highly recommend that you read it.  I especially recommend it for those readers who are not football fans.  This book will convert you.  I guarantee it.

MOJO! MOJO!

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie