High School Football in Texas is Out of Control

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Abstract: High school football in the state of Texas has become out of control. The sport is no longer played for the sake of the school but rather has become a Friday night ritual to these small towns in Texas. The players are no longer just high school kids inter acting in school sports but have now become heroes to these small town communities. Communities simply no longer support their local high school team but rally in pride of their hometown rivalry against another team. School administrators and coaches no longer are teachers and mentors for the kids but are the equivalent to what in professional football are team owners and "real coaches". Parents have become agents and sacrifice their jobs and homes so that their child may play for the right team. Finally the fans, the fans have lost the sense that it is just a high school sport and changed the game to a level of professional sports. I plan to prove and show that for all these reasons Texas high school football has become out of control. It is no longer the game that it was originally meant to be. High school football. Is it still just a relatively harmless school activity played amongst students in high school or has the tide turned and the game become out of control? In the state of Texas the game has taken a turn for the worse. Coaches threaten to kill players and use physical force in punishing them. The game is no longer what was simply a sport to entertain the students when pursuing academics. Chartered 727's for away games. Homes repainted in team colors. Parents relocating so their child can have the best "football" school. The game is not what is use to be and in small towns across the state of Texas a Friday night ritual has chang... ... middle of paper ... ...e reasons are evidence enough to say safely "High school football in Texas is out of control." Works Cited 1. Bissinger, H.G. Friday night lights: A town, a team, and a dream. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1990. 2. Eitzen, Stanley D. Sport in contemporary society. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2001. 3. Maccormack, John. "Without Permian, playoffs have eerie feeling." TAAS (1997): C10. 4. Stoeltje, Melissa Fletcher. "Football players are high school celebrities; Pursuing Photo." AP (2000): Sports News. 5. Layden, Tim. "Friday night fever." Newsday (1993): 20. 6. Buchanan, Olin. "The sign says it all, y'al l At almost any Texas high school, football game." AAS (1999):C1. 7. Kurland, Bob. "Fiendish football coaches give new meaning to evil." TR (1990): D09. 8. Pennington, Bill. "Making sport of education." TR (1990): D01

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