When I first saw the trailer for the movie "Friday Night Lights" back in 2004 I was anxious to see what direction this football movie would take.  As a fan of football movies I have enjoyed everything from the feel good elementary story of "The Little Giants" to the controversial portrayal of harsh realities of "Any Given Sunday", so "Friday Night Lights" promised to be an entertaining 2 hours in my life if nothing more.  After watching the movie I realized there was much more behind the movie that was not being said.  I decided to read the book by H.G Bissinger with the hope that there was more to the story that was not told in the movie, and I was not disappointed.  In his book “Friday Night Lights” Bissinger talks about racism, discrimination, poverty, and above all the exploitation of young student-athletes for the entertainment and profitability of an entire town.

One of the most interesting characters in the movie “Friday Night Lights” (If not THE most interesting)  was a young black running back named Boobie Miles.  Boobie was supposed to be one of the best running backs to come out of Texas but in his senior season he tore his ACL and was unable to play.  As a result his life went into a downward spiral in which some may argue he has yet to hit rock bottom.  According to Bissinger, because of the fact that Boobie was so talented, teachers, counselors, coaches, and administrators passed him from grade to grade never once taking the time to make a back-up plan in case he did not succeed in football.  The stakeholders at Odessa Permian were not concerned with the well being of Boobie Miles (or any black athlete for that matter), all they cared about was “can he carry the ball and win us a State Championship?”.  Naturally, this set Boobie up for failure and when he tore his ACL, failure was inevitable.

The most troublesome part of this story is that Boobie’s case is not an isolated incident.  Many more children have grown into the grasps of High School Football and its promises of fame and fortune in college or the NFL and come out empty handed.  Which raises the question “What are we doing to our children?”  Where are Ryan Leaf, Todd Marinovich, Marcus Dupree, and most recently Junior Seau?  If they’re lucky they ended up like Boobie Miles in this excerpt from Bissingers “After Friday Night Lights”.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7829415/an-excerpt-buzz-bissinger-friday-night-lights


Jazz Rodriguez
Kin 577