Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights by H .G Bissinger is about a team and towns dream, is the story of the Permian High School 1988 football team in Odessa, Texas. The book goes through a year in the life of the players, from the ending of the 1987 football season to the State Championship at the end of the 1988 season. It displays the behavior of the entire town towards the high school's football team, along with the amount of pressure onto the young players on the team such a level, and how they react to the pressure. Many important issues such come about such as race, parenting, and the image of the kids.

The film opens the door into the lives of several players. Boobie Miles, the quick and powerful running back around who coach Gaines has built his offense, seriously injures his knee on opening night, and then faces the dilemma of letting it heal correctly and returning to the field as fast as possible. Mike Winchell is a solid quarterback, along with worry over his chronically ill mom.

The dominating character is Thornton's coach, whose front lawn has many "for sale" signs when the team loses. He can get very angry upset but never loses self-control of himself, or loses control of the team.

The state championship game played in the Houston Astrodome which has a rapidly rising climax that won't let you to exhale. It takes a while for you to realize that this is a High School team playing in not only a pro football stadium but one of the best stadiums. The all black Dallas team, the opponent of the Panthers, is a tough group willing to hurt anyone who stands in their way of the Championship. The lone black referee into making a call late in the game costing them victory does not help either.

The boys went through some of the harshest conditions to make it all the way to the championship. The last few pages are very intense. Boobie Miles goes into the game where he gets blind-sighted injuring his leg once more possible ending his carrier. Then the team later in the game looks to have a comeback and may possible win the game when the favoring referee makes a call unfair to the Panthers costing them the victory