Friday Night Lights.

[Mike Simonds]

I have not been able to post anything for a while due to work, etc. but I promise to get back into the groove this week.

I'm sure most of you have seen Friday Night Lights. I would also suggest buying a copy of the book. Its a gripping true story of the 1988 Permian Panther football team in Odessa, Texas.

My initial reaction was this: the passions surrounding high school football, while perhaps not as intense as they are at Permian High School, are very strong in our community and around the country also. While reading the book I felt a strong bond with the characters in the book based on our common love of the game of football.

Other reactions while reading the book was how powerful the racial and social-economic tensions were that simmer below the surface of the community. I remember playing for our local Catholic high school where we had a mixed student body: Hawaiian, Asian, Hispanic, White, etc. but we were united by the bonds of football and the David vs. Goliath attitude we carried onto the field playing schools a lot bigger than us. But I know we did not have the same segregation and racial bias that existed in Odessa, at least not the same high amount.

However, the racial and social-economic tensions existing in Odessa, Texas as described in Friday Night Lights just blew me away.

Have any of you officiated games in Texas? Is high school football still the intense experience that is described in Friday Night Lights? And are any of you from Odessa? I sure would love to officiate a Permian High game just for the experience.