Friday Night Lights

[airpolgas]

I would like to preface this thread with the fact that I am not much of a football fan. But my comments are not about the sport in general, because I believe you can replace the sport in this story with anything else, like basketball, or those bands in the Drum Line movie, or in some other cases Cheerleading.

I just can't believe that in a very developed country like the US, there are still towns so small and so out of it, that their lives are hinged on a particular activity, in this case, football. You can imagine the pressure these kids were put under in the first 10 minutes of the movie, and the struggles they have to go through in order to covet something that will define the rest of their lives - after high school - as far as their town is concerned.

I'm an immigrant here, and have been living in Los Angeles for 15 years. Are there really towns like these, or was it done in exaggeration for the movie?

[Nick]

We moved in Valdosta, a small town in south Georgia during the 60s when the Valdosta HS Wildcats reigned as "national champs" for a time. It was absolutely nuts - as if Friday night HS football was the only thing, and the only thing to talk about and think about. Wright Bazemore, who coached there for years, was a legend who walked on water according to the 'born and bred' locals. The VHS stadium was aptly named "Death Valley" and 10,000 screaming fans would fill the it to SRO capacity at every home game. Even the Wildcat marching band was nationally recognized and played Sunday halftime gigs at Atlanta Falcon football games.

I was a young banker at the time and I remember well the local power brokers drifting into the bank on Monday mornings after game weekends to talk Wildcat football with the bank's officers, and for the younger bank officers, attendance at games was practically a prerequisite to getting raises and promotions. Holding season tickets was a must because individual game seats were almost impossible to get.

It was an intense, crazy time, but for professional and social reasons we allowed ourselves to be swept up with the local football fervor for the six years we lived in the town.

[TNGTony]

You don't even have to go to "small towns" for this phenomenon. Here in Suburban Cincinnati and in the city itself, there are some epic games and rivalries that have been going on for decades! Whenever two GCL South (Greater Catholic Leaguge) teams meet each other there is always a sell-out. Elder, St. X, Moeller, LaSalle all have unbelievable crowds. St. Xavier just built a new stadium to hald 6600 fans. They originally planned for 9500 fans, but the county said no due to parking. Elder is builring a new stadium this year. And this is not restricted to the parochial schools. Just ask any west-sider about Colerain!

I am a little closer to this than many since I cover the local "game of the week" for HS football and basketball. Some of the best games I have ever seen are HS games. The pros may play better, but these young men play with heart.

See ya
Tony

[JM Anthony]

In sports, there is nothing that can compare between a good small city high school or college rivalry. Both the kids and the fans are really into the games. I worked some state tournament high school basketball in Washington state and called a couple of games where there were 8 or 9,000 fans packin' the rafters. What a kick.

John

[ntexasdude]

Umm....I'd venture that high football is bigger than world cup soccer in some respects. I live Texas, a state with some 23 million inhabitants, 254 counties and hundreds of various school districts. The sport is huge. If you look at attendence figures, it is far far bigger than pro football or even college. We have 2 pro teams here, the Houston Texans and the Dallas Cowboys. Each team plays 8 home games and averages about 60,000 home fans. That's about 960,000 home fans per season. There's likely to be that many on any given Friday football night in Texas. Football, good, bad or ugly is a sub-religion here.


BTW - the movie was entertaining but a bit hokey. It's really not that rough.

[Danny R]

Valdosta, a small town in south Georgia during the 60s when the Valdosta HS Wildcats reigned as "national champs" for a time. It was absolutely nuts - as if Friday night HS football was the only thing, and the only thing to talk about and think about.

I spent about 6 weeks in Valdosta back in 1987 and it was still that way then, as they were considered national champions in '86 as well. When you are State Champions 23 times and have a huge winning record (828-179-34, 81.2% Winning Percentage) its bound to make a few folks crazy if you start losing, especially in a small town in the middle of nowhere where football is about the only entertainment available anyway!

Or perhaps they just put something in the water... it certainly stinks.

[Bogy]

One of the reasons I was glad to get back to a small town was for the excitement of the high school games. In St. Louis and Omaha the kids from my church would be spread out over 5 or 6 high schools. All of them go to the same high school here, and when I go to a football or basketball game at least half my members are often there. Including half the team. Right now, depending on which five guys start, either 3 or 4 of the starters are members of my congregation. For small towns, a huge part of the identity of the community is what the kids in high school do. I am glad to say that in this community the community is also proud when the kids do well in state speech, vocal, and instrumental competitions. But last Friday night our undefeated #2 state-ranked girls basketball team won the substate game to qualify for the state tournament. Tonite our undefeated #1 state ranked boys basketball team plays in the district championship, and then will hopefully win the substate game on Saturday. If things go right we will have two undefeated teams going for the state title. Excited? Who's excited? :lol: My voice is already shaky, and since I have a funeral tomorrow I will have to keep my mouth shut more than I normally would on a Tuesday night game. Saturday will be even worse. I love it. :lol:
High School Basketball is bigger in Iowa than football, although football is close. Especially girls basketball. The girls state title games were televised before the guys games were.

[airpolgas]

I'm sure it is exciting for the people that live there, but going back to the movie, do the townspeople put considerable amount of pressure on their 17 year olds to win (like the movie), or is the "just being there" and "have fun" crowds also present.

I really hated the drunk dad in the movie, but they were able to make a hero out of the guy because "he wants good memories" for his son, again, as far as the town is concerned.

All in all, it really is fun to watch in the high school or collegiate level because the players are putting their hearts out in every game.

[Bogy]

I would rather go and watch a good high school game than a pro game.
A lot of pressure does get put on some of the kids. It depends on the town, and it especially depends on the parents. Coaches also can put a lot of pressure on the kids, because a lot of pressure gets put on them. In many communities a coach that doesn't produce winning teams is going to be looking for another job. When we were living in St. Louis County in Missouri, in a large and wealthy school district, teachers were hired for their teaching credentials and abilities, and then they hoped to find someone who could also coach. In a lot oHoof smaller communities, they hire a coach and then try to figure out if there is something he or she can teach.
For a really great movie, with some of the same themes, watch Hoosiers. It is a great move, with some of the same pressures centered on the small town team and coach, but basketball is the game. Remember the Titans is another great movie. My son attended a brand new high school in Nebraska that had picked the name Titans for their teams. The coach the movie is based on came to speak to the kids during the first week of school. My son was very impressed with him.

BTW, our boys are now 24-0 for the year, and play in the sub-state game on Saturday night. Win that one and both our teams go to State, undefeated. As I said Sunday morning, no pressure on the guys at all, none at all. :lol:

[Richard King]

In some states it's basketball.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4503740,00.html

[Ron Barry]

Off-topic posts have been removed. Like I said earlier. Please keep the posts on topic.. This is airpolgas thread about a movie he has some questions on. I am sure he does not appreciate it used for a flame war.

If you have any issues with the my clean up, feel free to contact me or any other admin/moderator through pm.

[Bogy]

I was talking with the carpenter who is working on our bathroom. He is the father of one of our local basketball stars. :)
We were talking about his nephew, who is also a basketball starter, but took his Jr. year off from football because of the pressure. He had been a backup quarterback his sophmore year, with the expectation he would be the qb as a Jr. The pressure was getting to be too much, so he didn't play football at all that year. Lot's of pressure on some of these kids, at an age when they are already questioning themselves and they don't want to let anyone down.

[Ron Barry]

Pressure can be a tough thing and kids are getting it earlier and earlier. Hoosiers and Remember the Titans are excellent movies about a drive for success. Being in SoCal there is a lot of diversity. I think this is both good and bad. It keeps things like fanatical high school must win at all cost to a minimum but you also get the fan that leaves half way through the game because the team is down by 10 points.

There is a very thin line between a strong supporter and a fanatic. You can even see this when parents have yound kids in sports. There are parents that can be supportive and then there are that small percentage that makes the kids life and experience a living hell.

Guess my point is that this type of win at all cost or excel at all is not just at the small town "HS Football" only thing going type environment.

[Bogy]

Especially at the younger levels there is nothing that can made the whole experience very unpleasant for all the rest of the parents than the parent who publicly berates his or her child in front of everyone for their poor performance. A few years ago my son had a girlfriend who was very involved in softball. She loved it, and was very good at it. She was a great catcher. But if she missed a pitch or an out at home, there was hell to pay. Very sad.

[Opynion]

Are there really towns like these, or was it done in exaggeration for the movie?
Not everybody in Odessa is a big fan of high school football;
I'm a big fan of pro-football, specially of the Dallas Cowboys/Americas-Team, but I've never cared about the local Permian Panthers football games.
I have to admit that I did like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, but I also think the cinematography could have been better, at least when it comes to showing off more scenes of Odessa, TX. :rolleyes:
I would like to see a sequel to FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, but still I don't and won't go the Ratliff Stadium.
I should be a Panther fan, but I'm not, even though Odessa is my hometown. :)

[JM Anthony]

Especially at the younger levels there is nothing that can made the whole experience very unpleasant for all the rest of the parents than the parent who publicly berates his or her child in front of everyone for their poor performance. A few years ago my son had a girlfriend who was very involved in softball. She loved it, and was very good at it. She was a great catcher. But if she missed a pitch or an out at home, there was hell to pay. Very sad.
It's more than just the parents. Coaches for that age group can be a real pain in the butt. It's the "Little League" or "Junior Football" syndrome. My first full-time job was with our city's parks and recreation department. First Saturday in September was draft day. Coaches would huddle, kids would huddle, the first group of "all star" names would get posted, then the next, until finally all kids had been placed on a team. Gotta wonder what the kids in that last group felt like and how much playing time they ever saw. Some of the coaches were real jerks on the field as well. Needless to say we didn't use many of them for our youth sports programs!!

John