Friday Night Lights.

Mike Simonds · #1 (**permalink**) Mon Jan 31, 2005, 03:56pm

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.

mcrowder · #2 (**permalink**) Mon Jan 31, 2005, 04:09pm

I have, and it is. A district game is as intense as a University of Texas conference game. A playoff game can be as intense as UT-OU. It's really a different animal.

Permian beat my school (Cy-Fair) in the state semifinals in 1996, so I can't quite bring myself to watch the movie.

I keep meaning to, but keep finding reasons not to.

Snake~eyes · #3 (**permalink**) Mon Jan 31, 2005, 08:59pm

I didn't think it was such a good movie.

quiggle · #4 (**permalink**) Mon Jan 31, 2005, 10:09pm

I too thought the movie was good. However, I think that the officials were portrayed in a bad light during the state championship game. I know it makes for a good movie, but I find it hard to beleive that any crew would let as much crap as went on in that game actually go on, especially in a chamionship game.

Sleeper · #5 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 01, 2005, 12:58am

I grew up here and call football here. FNL is a movie, and as such has some things added for dramatic effect. That being said, I have lived in different parts of the U.S., and it isn't the same. Yes Texas football is that intense from the small privates to the big 5A's. Depending on who you talk to, there are still places with the racial pressure exists. Permian is a shadow of its former self and doesn't carry a very big stick anymore. Southlake is the big dog now, and their program is like a college program.

Within every stereotype there is a kernel of truth. This is just a big damn kernel.

BktBallRef · #6 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 01, 2005, 10:35am

Quote:

Originally posted by quiggle
I too thought the movie was good. However, I think that the officials were portrayed in a bad light during the state championship game. I know it makes for a good movie, but I find it hard to beleive that any crew would let as much crap as went on in that game actually go on, especially in a chamionship game.

At least it wasn't as bad as "Remember the Titans," where the officials were intentionally making calls against Titans so that they would lose the game.

Mike Simonds · #7 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 01, 2005, 01:18pm

Thats the problem with Hollywood. Remember the movie with Robert Redford titled "The Natural". Roy Hobbs hits a home run to win the game, but in the book he strikes out and then walks away from the ball-park in the darkness...

I think you gentlemen should go and secure a copy of the book Friday Night Lights and after you read it you will understand what the author was really attempting to communicate about are the race relations, struggles with the economy, and most importantly of all: the benefits and the dark-side of high school sports. Its how these themes are so interwoven around one high school football season that make this such a great book.

The movie I'm sure touches on this themes also but you gotta read the book to get the whole story.

Not sure if the movie touched on this, but two of the Carter Cowboys served jail time for armed robbery which basically ruined their college careers before they even got started.

Gosh, the largest crowd I ever officiated in front of was around 17,500 at the state high school D-1 championship game last season but it sounds like Permian gets that just for their home games. Mojo!

Snake~eyes · #8 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 01, 2005, 03:29pm

Quote:

Originally posted by BktBallRef

Quote:

Originally posted by quiggle
I too thought the movie was good. However, I think that the officials were portrayed in a bad light during the state championship game. I know it makes for a good movie, but I find it hard to beleive that any crew would let as much crap as went on in that game actually go on, especially in a chamionship game.

At least it wasn't as bad as "Remember the Titans," where the officials were intentionally making calls against Titans so that they would lose the game.

I don't know, in that movie it seems to me like it could have been based more on facts, racism was a big factor in the officials calls in that one specific game, also politics. I think in FNL the officials were portrayed as flat out poor, they missed calls, they let the game get out of hand. I know its just a movie but its a good example of what not to let your game be like.

Ed Hickland · #9 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 02, 2005, 11:30am

Quote:

Originally posted by Snake~eyes

Quote:

Originally posted by BktBallRef

Quote:

Originally posted by quiggle
I too thought the movie was good. However, I think that the officials were portrayed in a bad light during the state championship game. I know it makes for a good movie, but I find it hard to beleive that any crew would let as much crap as went on in that game actually go on, especially in a chamionship game.

At least it wasn't as bad as "Remember the Titans," where the officials were intentionally making calls against Titans so that they would lose the game.

I don't know, in that movie it seems to me like it could have been based more on facts, racism was a big factor in the officials calls in that one specific game, also politics. I think in FNL the officials were portrayed as flat out poor, they missed calls, they let the game get out of hand. I know its just a movie but its a good example of what not to let your game be like.

I was shocked but not surprised at the level of politics in the game.

The championship game was an slam on all the good honest officials who could and would control a game of that caliber. One call that no good officiating crew would have let go was the complete pass that bounced to the receiver.

I suggest the movie "Go Tigers!" is a much better representation of a football crazy society.

Mike Simonds · #10 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 03, 2005, 01:12pm

For football movies its hard to beat John Wayne in "Trouble along the way".

Another good book is "When pride still mattered" by David Maranis. Its a great biography of the life of Vince Lombardi.

P.S. When you read about Vince Lombardi you realize what a complex and multi-talented man he was. Also, that he probably would have succeeded in just about anything he set his mind to. And how competitive he was: whether it was coaching football or playing gin rummy at the country club. Truly an amazing man.

[Edited by Mike Simonds on Feb 3rd, 2005 at 01:16 PM]

Uncle Ernie · #11 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 03, 2005, 02:30pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike Simonds

Another good book is "When pride still mattered" by David Maranis. Its a great biography of the life of Vince Lombardi.

[Edited by Mike Simonds on Feb 3rd, 2005 at 01:16 PM]

Mike,
Couldnt agree more. The VL book is great reading. As a matter of fact, now that you have reminded me, I am going to read it again.

Regarding the movie. This is exactly why I did not go to the movie. I read the book when it was first published in the early 90's. Great story, but I could tell by the previews the movie would be nowhere near the quality of the book.

BktBallRef · #12 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 03, 2005, 02:50pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Snake~eyes
I don't know, in that movie it seems to me like it could have been based more on facts, racism was a big factor in the officials calls in that one specific game, also politics.

Actually, that's not as true as you would think.

A local girls HS basketball coach was on that 1971 Titans team. He stated that the movie played up the racial issues, much more strongly than they actually were.

BktBallRef · #13 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 03, 2005, 02:54pm

A few things I noticed in the movie:

#1 - The scoreboard clocks had tenths of seconds. Scoreboards didn't have tenths in 1988. The NBA didn't begin using tenths until a couple of years later and they were the first to use them for sporting events.

#2 - Officials had our present day penalty flags instead of the old, yellow nylon flags of that day.

There were a couple of others that I can't recall at the moment.

JugglingReferee · #14 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 03, 2005, 11:26pm

I did not like the movie. I felt there was not enough character development.

Ed Hickland · #15 (**permalink**) Sun Feb 06, 2005, 02:05pm

Quote:

Originally posted by BktBallRef
A few things I noticed in the movie:

#1 - The scoreboard clocks had tenths of seconds. Scoreboards didn't have tenths in 1988. The NBA didn't begin using tenths until a couple of years later and they were the first to use them for sporting events.

#2 - Officials had our present day penalty flags instead of the old, yellow nylon flags of that day.

There were a couple of others that I can't recall at the moment.

Add UnderArmor shirts and Oakley visors worn by the Dallas Carter players, they did not exist in 1988.