Friday Night LightsIs high school football a sport, or is it more than that for some people? Recent headlines include articles such as coaches abusing student athletes; fathers of athletes who kill coaches and mothers who disable cheerleading candidates to ensure their daughters make the cheerleading team. In Odessa, Texas high school football is a major contributor to small-town Texas society. Every Friday night, 50,000 people fill the stadium to watch high school students put their lives on the line to win a football game. H. G. Bissinger writes a novel called Friday Night Lights, about a year in 1988 in which high school players prepare for and play on the high school team, and the impact they have on a small town in Texas. The novel begins with preseason football in the heat of a Texas summer. Players and coaches train for more than 4 hours a day in 100-degree weather. The media influences every player pushing for a state championship and college scouts at every practice. A star player named Boobie Miles is in the spotlight and is expected to attend and earn a scholarship to a major state college. The community can't wait for the season to begin to see the greatest team in Texas history continue the winning tradition of the Permian Panthers. In one of the first games, Boobie Miles suffers a serious injury and will probably play again. Coach Gary Gaines, the head coach, had almost all the game settings for Boobie and he will ...