Friday Night Lights

Book 29 of my 2018 Reading Challenge

Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger

Summary (via the book jacket)
The town of Odessa seethes in the merciless heat of the West Texas desert. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, its unemployment rate skyrockets; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September through December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, all troubles seem to vanish and this hard-luck town becomes a place where dreams can come true. During the season, Odessans' passion for the Panthers - the winningest high school football team in Texas history [as of the writing of this book] - attains heights that are both exhilarating and appalling.
With frankness and compassion, Bissinger chronicles the Panthers' dramatic 1988 season, and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires (or shatters) the teenagers who wear Panther uniforms. His exquisitely written account also brings into sharp focus the bitter clash between sports and education, not only in Odessa but in high schools and colleges nationwide. 

My Opinion
Rounded up to 4 stars.

I really empathized with Boobie's struggles to get back on the field after his injuries and surgery and I wish the empathy didn't come from a personal place of watching my kids and their friends go through similar issues.

I didn't want to do any further research while reading because I didn't want to skew my experience but I did wonder what the aftermath of this book coming out was and if anyone complained about their portrayal.  

Seriously, desegregation didn't happen until 1982???  Along those same lines, the number of people using the 'n' word was surprising and not in a good way.  I know people use it, especially in that time and place, but it was so casual and often I wondered if the author was very good about getting people to let their guard down or if it was pervasive in a way that I'm not used to; probably a mixture of both. 

It was funny reading about Odell Beckham in high school as people wondered if the hype was real and knowing now, since I'm reading it so much later, that not only does he have some success, his son is amazing. 

The author makes the point at the beginning of the book that although this book is about Odessa, it could be about any town anywhere and I think that's true.  I also think the stakes and pressures on high school and college athletes have gotten worse and people have unrealistic expectations, forgetting they are not professional and that they are young men and women trying to balance things out. 

A Few Quotes from the Book 
"I don't think [fans] realize these are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen-year-old kids...they don't realize it's a game and they look at them like they're professional football players. They are kids, high school kids, the sons of somebody, and they expect them to be perfect."

"We got two things in Odessa," Jerrod said once. "Oil and football. And oil's gone. But we still got football, so fuck the rest of you."

"There was no other moment like it, and anyone who had ever played high school football could still recall it with perfect clarity, that emotional peak, that time in life when all energy was concentrated on a single point and everything was crystal clear. Whatever happened afterward, whatever success, or failure, or happiness, or horror, it could not be forgotten."