Mallory Lewis 

5 April 2016

Phillips/ English 101

Essay 3

Friday Night Lights

Devotion to American football is a prevalent causative factor that contributes to much controversy in today's society. American football contributes to a majority of health related issues for athletes. The direct contact sport inevitably results in injured players during practices and games. However, a blindfold is often put on by players and coaches to ignore injuries because of dedication to the sport that shapes American culture. In addition, players are often driven by family and community members to ignore pain and continue playing to show their passion for the great American sport. The controversial issues that arise from American football are prominent issues in society that have even been portrayed in multiple medias such as the novel Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger and the television show Friday Night Lights. Researching the impact of devotion to American football on American culture and juxtaposing it with an excerpt from Friday Night Lights contributes in depiction of the use of textual media to illustrate the misled impact of this great American sport. 

In Chapter 2 of Friday Night Lights, devotion to American football dictates the lives of players and community members to an extent that develops misplaced educational priorities as well as ignorance of health concerns. In the excerpt "The Watermelon Feed", the narrator tells about the annual Watermelon Feed that is hosted to bring together the community in light of the upcoming football season at Permian High School. The narrator explains the importance of participating in Permian community events as something that children spectate at a young age (Bissinger 317). 

Bigginger's purpose of publishing this text is to create a parallel situation to illustrate the great amount of devotion towards high school football in America and the impact this devotion has on players and members within the community and within their culture. The text describes how taking away football in the Permian community would be like stripping away the identity of the people (Bissinger 320). This metaphorical comparison shows how valued the sport is and how it shapes the people of the Permian community. Bissinger defines the Permian community with the sport and explores the conflicts that arise from their ignorance of reality. 

Football is often linked to the same ideas as the American Dream, involving work ethic, sacrifice, and importance of support from individuals in the community. A Brief History of American Sports by Elliot J. Gorn and Warren Goldstein points out "games were cultural glue, binding men together with shared identity"(Gorn 8) even from colonial times. This is significant in showing the continuation of emphasis of sports on cultures. 

In addition, American football can be seen as a symbol that represents American society as well as patriotism. An article from The Wall Street Journal compares the violence in football to the violence in American society stating, "We live in a violent country, have violent impulses, love a violent game. Players must work themselves into a rage to succeed" (Person). As depicted in Friday Night Lights, football represents a sense of patriotism. The sport gathering brings together individuals with similar faith and interests to support a team. This is shown be the dedication of the Permian community. 

In the novel, football isn't just a sport enjoyed by the community. In the Permian community, football represents a sense of strength amongst the community. Throughout the novel, the value of Permian football is emphasized through repetition. Many individual repeatedly say how elimination of football in their community would result in removal of a piece of their identity. The repetition of this reference is significant because it shows how the sport impacted their culture within the community. 

When analyzing this emphasis of their value to football, one can come to a generalized conclusion that sports represent patriotism. Patriotism is displayed in sports simply by the idea of cheering for ones 'home' team. On a larger scale, this is represented through cheering and supporting national teams for events such as the Olympics. In any case, the slightest amount of patriotism is something never gone unnoticed. Patriotism is one of the underlining factors that drive sports, including football within the Permian community. Patriotism represents a sense of devotion to ones home whether it is just a small community or a united nation. 

Friday Night Lights describes the dedication of players, parents, coaches, cheerleaders, and other individuals to relate the devotion within their community. Dedication of players in the novel is portrayed by their determination to stay in the game with injuries such as a broken arm or sprained ankle. In the excerpt, he states that whatever it took, the players train and practice hard to reach their goal of playing for Permian (Bissinger 321). 

Key issues originating from devotion to high school football are misled priorities and issues that arise from impact of the hopes and goals of the community lived vicariously through youth members. Mislead priorities can be focused not only on social aspects, but also on academic aspects. Devotion to football within the community can often lead to abundance of flexibility in academics. This flexibility often encourages football players that academics can come after their priority of being a star football player. Ultimately, this should not be the case. Athletes should be taught that playing a sport is a privilege that follows behind academic success. This issue is explored in the text with multiple examples. Star football player of Permian High School, Shawn Crow said, "the teachers understood what they were doing. They respected football" (Bissinger 325). Without directly saying it, Crow references to the encouragement of teachers to miss class to recover from injuries and to prepare for games. 

Mislead academic and economic priorities are also displayed in the text with reference to Permian High Schools failure to use funds for academic purposes. The text refers to an episode of ABC's "Nightline" that calls Permian fans "football crazy" and points out the $5.6 million high school football stadium built in Odessa (Bissinger 320). Bissinger includes this in the text to show how misled priorities can be with a culture that revolves around American football. Instead of spending the money on new academic facilities or technological improvements for schools in the area, the money was spent on a high school football stadium. 

This reference to the $5.6 million high school football stadium is significant in showing how football drives the economy. Football and many other sports events are moneymaking businesses that bring in and put out large amounts of money. "Taxpayers contributed an average of $262 million to each NFL stadium built between 1990 and 2010" (Waldron). Football isn't just a sport that impacts social lives of community members, but also economic aspects of communities. 

Other incidents of misled priorities due to excessive devotion to football are portrayed in the text with references to multiple ignored health related injuries. For example, playing for Permian is described as routinely vomiting during off-season conditioning, popping painkillers, getting shots of Valium, and playing with pain from broken bones (Bissinger 321). These situations are prevalent in todays society with the increased concern of health issues associated with football injuries. Research is continuing to be evaluated regarding long-term health issues from injuries. For example, "a 2012 study found that the risk of death from Alzheimer's and ALS was four times higher among NFL players" (Rettner). Ignoring these health issues associated with football injuries is a common situation that is often overlooked because of sacrifice to reach the one common goal of playing and winning. 

Dedication of the school cheerleaders was another factor that displays this devotion to American football. In Friday Night Lights, cheerleaders were assigned a football player each year and with that player they would owe him various responsibilities. Some of these responsibilities included making him baked goods each week before games and making large signs to put in the players front yards (Bissinger 322). Dedication was even shown by making embroidered towels and pillowcases for the football players (Bissinger 322). Bissinger includes this in his text to display the massive joint collaboration within the community that supported their Permian football team. 

Community dedication was not only shown by the vast turnouts at football games, but also in smaller setting such as community churches. Pastors would express their thankfulness of the football players through prayers, and would also show highlight videos in churches (Bissinger 323). Parents would bring their children to the games and festivities at young ages so that they could understand what it was all about (318). As stated by the president of the Permian booster club, Brad Allen says, "it's an integral part of what made the community strong" (Bissinger 320). Bissinger includes this within his text to portray the ability high school football has in bringing together everyone within one community. 

In the text, goals of the Permian community are displayed as being lived vicariously through Permian football. Bissinger emphasizes community involvement by telling how virtually every lawyer, doctor, insurance firm ...  had taken out an ad to show support for Permian football (Bissinger 318). This support is prevalent in society where family and community members still continue these trends. 

Devotion to American football has been portrayed in multiple historical and cultural contexts. During the 2012 United States presidential campaign, Mitt Romney used the inspirational quote from Friday Night Lights, 'Clear eyes, full hearts, cant lose!' to build on his "Believe in America" campaign slogan (Butterworth). Having such a prominent political figure quote Friday Night Lights boosted the juxtaposition between relationships within American culture and the NBC television show or text. Romney used a popular culture approach to develop an effective slogan that created a higher sense of relationship with possible voters in the U.S.  Romney's reference to the American drama carried rhetorical significance by using the quote to illustrate the commonality of his audience (Butterworth). 

In an article written by Jay P. Greene assessing the relationship between academic success and athletic involvement, Greene constructs the comparison of high school football games and church. The comparison of these two completely different things is significant in displaying the value of the high school sport. The article suggest that Friday night football games can be parallel to Sunday church, where families and friends gather with purpose of showing their faith and devotion. The article uses research from the Journal of Research in Education to conclude that high schools focused on successful athletic performance correlate with those that also produce higher rates of academic success (Greene). It is important to notice that this article was published in 2013, whereas the novel Friday Night Lights reflects society in the late 1980s. 

These trends of correlation between academic success and athletic success in high schools are likely to have improved since the novel was published in 1990. Bissinger's purpose for writing Friday Night Lights was to illustrate a non-fiction story about the impact of high school football in the Permian community. Bissinger chose to write about the small town of Odessa to show how the football crazed community revolved around the American sport. 

In the text, racial discrimination is explored through characters such as Boobie Miles. Racial segregation was highly prevalent in the Permian community until the Supreme Court demanded desegregation in schools. Desegregation only became prevalent in schools when black individuals ability to preform on the football field was discovered. This line of segregation temporarily dissolved while using the African American individuals as an advantage on the field. However, once their performance began to decline, the individuals were quickly lifted off of the pedestal. This is portrayed in the novel with Boobie Miles. Boobie was held back from playing until legendary player Crow left to graduate. Once there was no longer an all-star white player available, Boobie then had his time to shine. However, Boobie was quickly retired when his athletic ability was no longer valuable after his injury. 

 Devotion to football within American culture shapes Friday Night Lights by exploring the many concepts of misled priorities, ignorance of health issues, and racial discrimination. The Permian community in Odessa, Texas inspired H.G Bissinger to analyze and assess the impact of people's devotion to the sport of football. 

Works Cited:

Bissinger, H.G. "Chapter 2 The Watermelon Feed." 2015. The Carolina Reader. N.p.: Hayden-McNeil, n.d. N. pag. Print.

Butterworth, Michael, and Raymond I. Schuck. "American Mythology and Ambivalent Rhetoric in Friday Night Lights." Southern Communication Journal, 04 Mar. 2016. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Gorn, Elliott J., and Warren Goldstein. A Brief History of American Sports. N.p.: U of Illinois, 2013. Print.

Greene, Jay P. "Does Athletic Success Come at the Expense of Academic Success? - Education Next." Education Next. N.p., 06 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Person, and Rich Cohen. "How the NFL Reflects American Culture." WSJ. N.p., Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Rettner, Rachael. "Chris Borland Leaves NFL: The Science of Football and Brain Injury." Live Science. N.p., Mar. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Waldron, Travis. "Taxpayers Have Spent A Staggering Amount Of Money On NFL Stadiums." Huff Post Sports. Huffington Post, Sept. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
