Research Paper On Friday Night Lights

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In a little town called Odessa, Texas, football is the center of the universe. In a town full of old fashioned texan depression and discrimination, there is one thing that brings them all together: Permian High School Friday night football. In Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights; Odessa Texas is transformed on Friday nights to a football paradise. Permian’s star full back James Miles is hit with the reality of no longer being the star, when more advanced athletes transfer to Permian for the 1988 season. Don Billingsly, who was the starting tailback, struggled for a short period of time in practice, resulting in another player named Chris Comer taking his spot. After his spot was taken, Billingsly went at Comer with racial slurs and pressure, trying to get him to quit the team. Gary Gains, the legendary coach of Permian, showed his leadership qualities and faith in his players when his quarterback Mike Winchell was lacking confidence in his abilities to lead the program to victory. With all eyes on Gains during the 1988 season, the pressure to bring the Panthers to a state championship was at …show more content…

He spends months with the Permian Panthers, going to their games and practices, having conversations with the team and coaches with the intention of figuring out the social environment. Sitting in on team meetings, Bissinger realizes that there is one goal in mind: win a state championship. Not only does he look at the team, but he also studies the town of Odessa itself; including the discrimination, racism, violence, and the oil company. Throughout the whole season, the team battles through adversity, including the tragedy of losing their best player to a life changing injury. With the pressure of the whole town weighing on a bunch of high school athletes, the weight of a win over the rest of the state is at an all time

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