When Communities Obsess About High School Football

H.G. Bissinger's book, "Friday Night Lights," has been adapted into a vivid movie on the passion and power of high school football in Odessa, Texas. Many adults depend on the football victories of Permian High School team to fulfill their dreams, provide thrills and anchor their identity.

Though Odessa may be an extreme example of a football obsessed town, Bissinger he feels that factory towns, small rural towns, steel towns, and single economy towns struggling to survive are especially vulnerable when they place too much importance on high school sports.

A religion, an addiction, a way of life. Bissinger believes the danger lies not so much in one winning season but in a winning program that is maintained at all costs for the sake of the town - a tradition that causes parents, educators and youth to lose perspective.

Their winning sports program becomes a religion, an addiction, a way of life. Some people cling to it as if there was nothing else in life.

After Permian lost unexpectedly to a major rival, the wife of the coach reacted to the criticism leveled at her husband and the team. "I don't think they realize these are 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids. I don't think they realize these coaches are men, not gods. They don't realize it's a game and they look at them like they're professional football players. They are kids, the sons of somebody, and they expect them to be perfect."

Bissinger comments, "Yes, they did, and they had too much invested in it emotionally to ever change. Permian football had become too much a part of the town and too much a part of their own lives, as intrinsic and sacred a value as religion, as politics, as making money, as raising children.

"It was the very nature of sports in a town like this. Football stood at the very core of what the town was about, not on the outskirts, not on the periphery. It had nothing to do with entertainment and everything to do with how people felt about themselves."

Pride and identity. "I have to look forward to something or life is just a blah. That football is just something that keeps me going. You know the kids' moves. You know them personally. It's just like your own kids." - A Permian booster.

"There are so few things we can look to with pride . ... There is nothing to replace it (football). It is an integral part of what made the community strong. You take it away and it's almost like you strip the identity of the people." - President of the Permian Booster Club

"In the silence of that locker room it was hard not to admire these boys as well as fear for them, hard not to get caught up in the intoxicating craziness of it, hard not to whisper, 'My God,' at how important these games had become, not only to them, but to a town whose spirits crested and fell with each win and each loss." - H. G. Bissinger.

Permian’s coach reminded the players, "Let's get after these guys, OK: Let's get after them. Let's win it for ourselves. Let's win it for the school, win it for our parents. Let's win it for West Texas. Everybody in this room has paid a dear, dear price to be where you are," he told them. "You represent a lot of people. We're gonna represent 'em well, and we're going to win this sucker."

The price they pay. What is that "dear, dear price" these young gladiators pay? For many, it's not just the toil, sweat and pain of getting there, but the sacrifice of their education. Many players are unprepared for the challenges of life after the din of victories has waned.

A high school English teacher reflects, "The value of high school football was deeply entrenched. It was the way the community had chosen to express itself. The value of high school English was not entrenched. It did not pack the stands with 20,000 people on Friday night; it did not evoke any particular feelings of pride one way or another."

The superintendent of schools fails to see the long term benefit of winning football on the student body.

"It (football) has put Odessa on the map. It has given them a sense of pride I'm not sure could be achieved in any other way. It has created a sense of expectation for the kids that is admirable. I think it has instilled in these kids that go through Permian a real sense of confidence. If that sort of confidence and attitude could be transferred into the academic arena, that would be wonderful. I don't see that transfer."

Looking beyond football. Bissinger notes, "At Permian the priority was football, which beyond the powerful memories and wonderful joy it created, year after year for the town of Odessa, rarely led to scholarships and careers."

Despite four state championships, eight appearances in the finals, and 15 years of qualifying for the playoffs from 1964 to 1990, only two players went on to have extended careers in the pros. Bissinger then quotes a former school board member: "If we prepared our kids academically as we prepared them for winning the state championship, there is no telling where we would be now."

Quotations used with permission of the Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.