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#5 Platform - Friday Night Lights
Dec. 2nd, 2007 02:05 amI'm not an acolyte of the religion of football, but it makes for a fascinating study.
Book #47: Friday Night Lights
Author: H. G. Bissinger
Provenance: Gift from my parents from the Penn bookstore
I will admit that I picked this up largely because I had just finished the first season of the TV show, and my parents really wanted me to get a book at the bookstore, and this is what I chose. However, I don't regret that choice as all; this is one of the best books on sports and society that I've ever read.
The book looks at a year of football for the Permian Panthers, a perennial high school football power from Odessa, Texas. There is some football stuff, in terms of games and such, yes, but it looks more at the lives of the players and the role that football plays in the society there. These people are peaking in their lives at 18, giving everything they have to the sport and then generally losing it; the educational system around it is often a joke; the game itself is held truly as a religious rite, it seems. There's also talk of racism in the area, and the feelings of supremacy that the kids get from being football players.
None of this may be exactly new, but it's taken to great depths, and the style of the writing and the layout makes the book a very compelling story. The focus may be on a few of the players, but it really looks out at the society around it, and it's not all that pretty, even if it's remarkable how much people can pull together in pride over their town and their team. The TV show definitely got the spirit right.
Anyway, if you're interested in books on the role of sports in society, the line forms here. Really. Start with this one. It's very, very good.
Next up: The Pinhoe Egg. One more Jones for the year, I think.
Book #47: Friday Night Lights
Author: H. G. Bissinger
Provenance: Gift from my parents from the Penn bookstore
I will admit that I picked this up largely because I had just finished the first season of the TV show, and my parents really wanted me to get a book at the bookstore, and this is what I chose. However, I don't regret that choice as all; this is one of the best books on sports and society that I've ever read.
The book looks at a year of football for the Permian Panthers, a perennial high school football power from Odessa, Texas. There is some football stuff, in terms of games and such, yes, but it looks more at the lives of the players and the role that football plays in the society there. These people are peaking in their lives at 18, giving everything they have to the sport and then generally losing it; the educational system around it is often a joke; the game itself is held truly as a religious rite, it seems. There's also talk of racism in the area, and the feelings of supremacy that the kids get from being football players.
None of this may be exactly new, but it's taken to great depths, and the style of the writing and the layout makes the book a very compelling story. The focus may be on a few of the players, but it really looks out at the society around it, and it's not all that pretty, even if it's remarkable how much people can pull together in pride over their town and their team. The TV show definitely got the spirit right.
Anyway, if you're interested in books on the role of sports in society, the line forms here. Really. Start with this one. It's very, very good.
Next up: The Pinhoe Egg. One more Jones for the year, I think.
