American football culture is a strange phenomenon for people to understand.  Almost every person in this world is passionate about one thing or another, and it just so happens to be that football is becoming a huge aspect of everyday life for many people. Football has been growing to new heights in the last few decades, and is creating fanatics across the globe. Football has become more than a game, football has become a lifestyle, a religion, and the life and soul for many people. Football gathers communities, states, and even enemies bringing them together as one. It is a relatable subject for people to converse about in everyday life, and has even brought huge economical increases to major cities, Columbia being one of them. In the book, Friday Night Lights, Chapter 2 The Watermelon Feed, Bissinger(author) discusses the sacrifices that both players and fans make for their high school football team, the Permian Panthers. The fans and players of the Permian Panthers in Odessa, Texas revolve their lives around the game of football, but it is not always beneficial to everyone.

Football in West Texas has become more important than life itself for the natives. Bissinger has a quote from a Permian fan in his book saying, "When somebody talks about West Texas, they talk about football." "You take it away and it's almost like you strip the identity of the people" (Bissinger 320). These sentences give us a great understanding of the world of ravenous fans that these high school football players have to deal with on a daily bases. The pressure for a teenage kid on this football team must be outrageous considering football is a religion to families in West Texas and the boys are the heroes to the cities Cinderella Story. Words like "prayer" "pastor" "Temple" "joy" "hero" and "respect" pop up in this chapter, showing an emphasis on religion and also giving us the authors stance on this subject. It is obvious to point out that Bissinger accepts the Texans fashion of fanatical outlook towards football for the most part, and finds it thrilling in a sense. He explains the atmosphere of the city with such passion and exuberance, that'll make any true football fans hair stand up. He quotes a Permian fan by saying, "I have to have something to look forward to, or life is just blah." "That football is just something that keeps me goin"(Bissinger 319). Football season is unlike anything else, and it is a unbelievable feeling to be a part of it.

This book is full of positive stories about West Texas football, but we can also assume from reading this chapter of Friday Night Lights, that Bissinger has a few problems with the way football is played in Texas. He goes on a minor rant about football injuries and how the Permian players push their body to extreme limits to play. He also throws in a few comments in about how the competitiveness of the game can get the best of the fans, and also discusses instances of when teachers made school easier for football athletes. He gives multiple examples of players in past seasons who have very serious injuries, but out of ignorance ignored the precautions because the pressure they felt to perform. He states, "Allen knew Phillip was something special in eighth grade when he had broken his arm during the first defensive series of a game. Rather than come out, he managed to set it in the defensive huddle and played both ways the entire first half" (Bissinger 321). This kid was raised this way to believe that this is normal. It was football over his own well being and as demented as that sounds, there is a silver lining to this that only the die heart football fanatics can understand. Bissinger explains a scenario where a man talks down on the Permian football program and then gets attacked verbally by hundreds of people. I am almost certain that there is probably not a football fan in Odessa that thought this was wrong, and that's just the way it is. Bissinger is quoted in saying, "Friday nights under a full moon that filled the black satin sky with a light as soft and delicate as the flickering of a candle"(Bissinger 319). This sentence is very symbolic to his stance on Texas football. His quote paints a picture of a dangerous and scary night sky, which is also an image of the game of football, but then uses the lights and moon as a way of showing how football brings communities together and can brighten lives for people. Playing the game puts your body at risk, but the happiness it brings to you and others outweighs the negatives! 

Whether you are a male, female, old, or young, life in West Texas will revolve around football. Bissinger explains throughout the chapter the urgency to attend every football event, and the way the players are portrayed as Hollywood stars. It sounds like an absolute place of paradise for a football fan. He does an excellent job in using real life symbols to help us picture the world he is describing. Bissinger uses the Permian field house to describe it as covered in mystique and tradition. He explains the paintings of the wall of hall of fame players as if the high school athletes were warriors from centuries ago. He also discusses the Watermelon feed which is the present setting in this chapter, as if it was a church service that could not be missed. To top it all off, he brings the Pepettes into the discussion which were the football players personal cheerleaders, to let us comprehend that football season infects more then just the players. These girls endure the whole season right next to these boys and are affected, but some of the outcomes just as much as the boys are. 

The whole town of Odessa's happiness during football season is reliant on the football team which once again brings us back to the point of football being bigger than life itself. There is not very many that can unite a large town like the bright lights on a Friday night, and spark similar interests among thousands of people like football does. It is unique in almost every way imaginable and I think that's why its popularity is spreading like a wildfire. Most of the things in this chapter might sound like ludicrous to most people, but to the people of Odessa it is all they know, and all they ever want to know!  

