Illusion Of Innocence In Friday Night Lights

All over America, friends and families join together on Friday nights in order to watch their hometown’s high school football game. However, many of the spectators do not go to just watch the game. As suggested by Lewis Lapham, the players play and the spectators spectate in order to feel a sense of various abstract things. There is much more to sports than the game itself. In Friday Night Lights, sports establish the illusions of both innocence and hope.

Not only do sports offer many opportunities, but they also create an “illusion of innocence.” On the field, the players are the stars of the show. They are the best. They are the role models. They are innocent. All the spectators look at these players as if they are superheroes when they are

not. In reality, these players are not innocent at all. They are just teenage kids trying to have a good time. They drink, do drugs, swear, etc. In Friday Night Lights, not only do the football players fail in school, but they also constantly drink, smoke, “hook up” with girls, etc. English teacher Elodia Hilliard was talking about what her students strive for when she said, “‘Having fun is what it’s all about’” (133).

She agreed that the players did not care about their school work whatsoever. They did not care for their future. They only looked at what was right ahead of them: parties. For instance, Billingsley lived his life by a certain motto: “I'm gonna party, see how intoxicated I can get and how many rules I can flaunt” (135). Billingsley, and many others on his team, partied day and night. They only cared to have fun. Partying is not a crime, however, underage drinking/doing drugs is. These players are perceived as so innocent by so many people when they clearly are not. Every night, they are going against the law. Furthermore, football stars Derric Evans and Gary Edwards, were known to be the Carter Cowboys football heroes. They were the best on the team and had many opportunities lined up ahead of them. They were perceived as innocent when on the field by the spectators. Many admired them. Many looked up to the star players. They believed that these football players could do no wrong. Nonetheless, on May 18, 1989, Derric and Gary “committed their first armed robbery together” (341).

They continued with the robberies resulting in the imprisonment of them for many years. Because Gary and Derric were so great on the field, the audience apprehended them to be good people off of the field as well. These men were Carter’s role models. However, they clearly were the opposite of innocent: they robbed banks! On the field, these players gain a sense of innocence; however, off of the field, innocence is no longer a virtue--it is only an illusion.
Additionally, sports create a sense of “hope” in the community which was ultimately shattered.

The feeling of hope is just an illusion. In Friday Night Lights, Odessa High and many others were very conceited teams. They believed that no one could beat them. Odessa High had extremely high hopes during the season. The players worked extremely hard, Coach Gaines constantly gave the team speeches, the audience was always cheering the team on and pressuring the team to do better. Odessa High had a great game record, ultimately allowing them to make it to the State Championship where they played The Carter Cowboys. After a terrible loss by Odessa, the players were destroyed. Their hopes were too high, causing the Odessa players to be oblivious upon how to react. After the loss of the State game, “there were teenage boys in tears, their great, compelling belief in themselves punctured” (335). The boys lost all sense of hope in themselves. They were too cocky from the start. They thought they would never lose. The “hope” that they had only tore them down. In addition, Boobie Miles hoped to become a professional football player. Being in the pros is all Boobie strived for in his life. He upheld the “blameless expectations of a child.” Consequently, after a blow to his knee, Boobie was torn. He could no longer play football anymore. Boobie stated, “‘If I had a good job and stuff, I still wouldn’t be happy. I want to go pro. That’s my dream’” (56). Because Boobie only relied on

football, he had nowhere to go in the future. He had no future plans. He hoped to be a professional, but what hope was only an illusion. If it existed, he would be playing professional football today--not working in the “Odessa area doing inventory work” (361).
All in all, sports contain much more than just the game itself. Playing a sport creates illusions of innocence and hope for everyone in the society. Spectators strive to go to sporting events in order to feel the thrill of being there, not just to watch the game/match.