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“‘Athletics last for such a short period of time. It ends for people. But while it lasts, it creates this make-believe world where normal rules don’t apply. We build this false atmosphere. When it’s over and the harsh reality sets in, that’s the real joke we play on people’” (Bissinger xiv). “Friday Night Lights” shows the darker side of high school football. Players are taught to play games to win, and thats all that matters. Football players are put under a tremendous amount of pressure, almost enough to be considered unfair. Even though football is a “team sport”, pressure on individual players is unnecessary. Some players have the burden of the team, the city, their family, and their future, resting on their shoulders. These players are put under pressure that is physically and emotionally damaging, not to mention future ruining.
Boobie Miles experiences many types of pressure in this novel. Boobie, the player that carries the football team, has the mentality of a child. He gets angry easily and he’ll throw tantrums when a scenario isn’t going his way. Boobie’s child-like mind set makes him more susceptible to the pressures of being a Permian Panthers football player.
Boobie pressures himself when he makes football his whole lifestyle. Everything in his life revolves around football. Even one of Boobie’s coaches said that without football all he would be is “‘A big ol’ dumb nigger’” (Bissinger 67). Boobie doesn’t see school as a priority, which means he completely relies on football to continue his life after high school. He took “...correlated language arts, a class for students at least two years behind their grade level in english” (Bissinger 150). “He then went on to algebra I, a course that the average college bound...
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...football player and scholar. “...and he admitted that part of the problem in the Carter game had been his own lack of belief of his abilities” (Bissinger 348). Finally a starting quarterback, due to Boobie’s injury, Mike pressures himself about being a good enough player to perform under the lights. “He would never be able to throw the ball, never be able to get a grip on it. It wouldn’t be a field of dreams at all, but one of nightmares” (Bissinger 315). Even towards the end of the season, Mike still doubts himself. He worries about helping his team carry the city of Odessa to the state championship. Not winning scares Mike, he doesn’t want to let anyone down.
The coaches inflict lots of pressure onto Mike, so much pressure that he ended up being too burnt out to play in college. His dreams were crushed by the powers that controlled him as he grew into an adult.
Over the past years, many will say that football has become America’s new pastime, taking over our weekends for almost half of the year. Fans travel from all over the country to see their favorite college or professional teams play, and once the football season is over, the countdown clock for the first game of fall begins. There are many positive aspects to the sport, and the fans and players love it, but in John McMurtry’s “Kill ‘em, Crush ‘em, Eat ‘em Raw”, the reader is introduced to a side of football that some have not seen, and many choose to ignore. McMurtry believes that the game of football has become one of people just wanting to hurt other people and too many injuries are occurring to justify the fun
Throughout Mike’s life, he had the fortunate experience of having some inspirational mentors. I have identified four of his numerous mentors as the most critical to his development, both educationally and personally.
In the story Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, a football team in Odessa Texas is held up to a standard of being basically kings in their town. The high school kids are judged on if they are able to win football games or not. The community makes it hard to fail and if they do then the players feel the struggle of their failure. In this journal I will be evaluating self to self, self to community and conflict of self to friend/teammate.
The impression that Bissinger is giving to the readers is that not only is football an awesome sport, but that even if you have tough obstacles blocking you from your aspirations you should never surrender. For instance, Mike Winchell struggles with self-conscious about his family economic circumstances, but that doesn’t stop him from chasing his goal to defeat Midland Lee for a scholarship. Even though They didn’t win, if they did win getting the scholarship could have gotten him out of poverty and the prison of self-consciousness. This brings me to feeling empathy for Mike Winchell because I can relate feeling self-conscious maybe not economically, but in a way that I know suffering in that pain can pull you down to the point where you want to give
Are young children putting their health and even their lives at risk if they partake in the sport of football? Some claim that the American sport is far too dangerous and the risk of concussions and injuries far outway the pros of the physical sport, while others insist that technological improvements and new regulations have made the sport safer. Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history and education at New York University, argues in his paper, “We Must Stop Risking the Health of Young Football Players,” that football is a sport that is too dangerous for the youth. He states his belief that technological improvements in helmets and changes in the rules of the sport have had little effect on reducing injuries and that nothing has worked.
Football was not just a sport in Odessa, it was a lifestyle. In Friday Night Lights, Bissinger follows Permian’s high school football team. He is able to gain an understanding of the towns social components, and in the novel he analyzes the incompetence of the adults when making decision for their children, the bitter racism and unhealthy emphasis on the success of the football team. The author often compares Permian to a variety of schools and highlights the disproportionate emphasis on football and touches upon the vanity of the entire events. All in all, Bissinger is able to effectively show the reader the real Odessa.
Mikes father had died when he was only a little boy and you’d never believe it by looking at his mental state. The financial problems he went through being that he left an exceptional job in place for volunteering all his time toward Klal Yisroel, was only something such a holy person could handle.
Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.
...e their life as well as the children. The children receive a ton of pressure from their families to perform at a high level so they will feel satisfied as parents that their football player performed well. Thus the families’ obsession of high school football in particular the parents’ obsession proves to be a continuous and damaging cycle for the high school football players.
In Dan Sabo’s article “Pigskin, Patriarchy, and Pain”, Sabo tells us of his own past experiences playing football, and the patriarchy involved in the game. He also explains how boys in society are brought up to be tough and to suppress their pain and emotions, which is only hurting these men in the grand scheme of things. Sabo grew up wanting nothing more than to be accepted by his peers, and he figured the best way to do this was to join the football team and become like his idol, Dick Butkus. Sabo observed that receiving and dishing out pain was a part of the game, so he developed himself to channel his rage from off the field, on to his opponents. He became an “animal” and he loved being known as one, because that meant recognition. He strived
Boone faces the challenge of being accepted by the community, encouraging them to work together rather than judging and persecuting one another. At that time in Alexandria, Virginia there was an active atmosphere of racial tension within the community between both the African American and Caucasian population. Boone, a black coach, faces the challenge of taking on a new position as head coach of the T.C Williams High School football team. This is fraught with conflict and peril however due to the opposition of those that do not and will not accept the integration of black and white students into mixed race schools. In a move by the school board coach Boone is now unknowingly threatened by the loss of his job if The Titans loose a match. If The Titans are to loose a match Coach Boone will not only loose his job, both himself and the community will loose the hope of ever having this system of integration work. Boone in an effort to be accepted by the community uses his work with the football team to support the system of integration by emphasizing that he is in fact a valued ...
Michael’s life began in Brooklyn, New York, on February 17th, 1963, where his parents James and Delores always stood by his side. His father, known for his unending support, always gave Michael advice on what to do, never letting him down. His mother made sure Michael headed in the right direction with everything he did. As a child he enjoyed athletics, engaging in basketball, baseball and football. He practiced baseball with his dad, persistently playing catch whenever time allowed. Baseball was his favorite. Even at a young age he had already tasted success by being voted Most Valuable Player on his team. “That was the first big accomplishment in my life,” Michael recalled (Harris, Laurie).
This is where he fell in love with the game of football and he knows that to play in the pro league, he had to improve his education. He received educational support and it was critical since he did not develop education prior to living the the Tuohy’s. Moreover, when having a conversation with Leigh Anne Tuohy, his adopted mother, about his football decision, she replies: “It’s your life, Michael, it’s your life” (Hancock, Netter, Smith,..., 2010). Michael comes to the understanding that his identity as a Tuohy, a black male, and a football player, does not have to come with any pressures or expectations (Kim, 2017). He realizes that he is able to decide for himself who he wants to be, and chooses to attend University of Mississippi and accept his football scholarship . This is essential on his development because his choice to focus on athletics, improve his GPA, and choosing a school to attend and play football allows Michael to develop a sense of identity and
H.G.Bissinger, through his novel Friday Night Lights, creates an appeal to pathos to persuade readers to care about his opinion that the emphasis placed on High School Football has a dangerous impact on the lives of students. To support his opinion, Bissinger employs methods and techniques which help create an appeal to pathos. Pathos is an appeal which heavily relates to a reader’s emotion on various different aspects. To establish the fundamental problem Odessa, Texas has when it comes to football, Bissinger shows the religious like attitude the game is conceived with. By adding testimonies, Bissinger ties in emotion while strengthening his argument. Lastly, Bissinger uses personal stories
Sam Woods is a very important character in the novel In the Heat of the Night. He is a racist, and throughout the novel you will notice many changes in his attitude towards Negros.