# Friday Night Lights **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834 "2013-02-19T21:19:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/1 "2013-02-19T21:19:51Z")
One of the UK satellite channels is showing FNL here at the moment, where we’re just three episodes into season 4. It’s a good show, and I’ve got pretty hooked on it. As a Brit, I’m curious to know how much the show exaggerates in its portrait of a small Texas town that’s utterly obsessed with its high school football team. Do towns like Dillon really have local TV anchors interviewing the players like celebrities? A boosters committee with such disproportionate influence in running the school? Parents and local businessmen who live or die by the team’s results? The whole town turning out with flags waving for every game? I realise there are plenty of towns in the vastness of America where there’s no professional sports team for many miles around, and maybe no college team for quite a distance either. And any fiction is entitled to stretch the truth a bit to intensify the drama. But just how much does FNL do so? Scale of one to ten - one being barely exaggerates at all and ten being beyond all recognition - how far is Dillon from reality? ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/2 "2013-02-19T21:33:10Z")
The series is based on a non-fiction book: > **[Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night_Lights:_A_Town,_a_Team,_and_a_Dream)** > > Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a 1990 non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas, as they made a run towards the Texas state championship. While originally intended to be a Hoosiers-type chronicle of high school sports holding together a small town, the book ended up being critical of life in the town of Odessa. It was later adapted into a short-lived 1993 television series,... ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/3 "2013-02-19T21:53:34Z")
Since this is not GQ, I’ll offer my opinion. As somebody who grew up with high school sports in Chicago–a large city with professional teams of all sports–and whose major local papers had dedicated copy in the sport section to high school sports, I do not think the importance of high school sports is being very much exaggerated at all. One of the largest events at Soldier Field–home to the professional National Football League team the Chicago Bears–was 113,000 to 125,000 in 1937 to see Leo play Austin in a high school football game. I’m actually a little confused about this, as I could swear the largest attendance for a sporting event at the time was that Leo-Austin high school (American) football game, until it was beaten out by some (proper?) football game in South America. But [Soldierfield.net](http://Soldierfield.net) tells me the Notre Dame - USC game (college/university) of 1927 had a 123,000 attendance, and Wikipedia is telling me the largest attendance is hard to determine. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/4 "2013-02-19T22:00:40Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > Scale of one to ten - one being barely exaggerates at all and ten being beyond all recognition - how far is Dillon from reality? Depends on the region. Where I grew up in WA State, it wasn’t a big deal. In Texas, it’s a Very Big Deal w/ some high school teams more popular than college or pro teams in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/5 "2013-02-19T22:06:18Z")
I grew up on the Louisiana/Texas border and we had the high school football culture described in the book. It isn’t exaggerated much at all. I would give it a two or one for lots of towns like that and I am sure that many are exactly like that. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/6 "2013-02-19T22:11:22Z")
High school football is a very big deal in Texas, especially in small towns. They will even show video of football plays on the nightly news in nearby cities. This blows my mind. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/7 "2013-02-19T22:18:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > High school football is a very big deal in Texas, especially in small towns. They will even show video of football plays on the nightly news in nearby cities. This blows my mind. You’ll see clips of Chicago high school football games on local news here in Chicago, too. And it’s not even just football, either. Basketball and volleyball will get attention late enough in the season, too. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/8 "2013-02-19T22:39:33Z")
I would be a much happier man if obsession with high school football was the stupidest characteristic of southern US towns. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/9 "2013-02-20T00:57:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Since this is not GQ, I’ll offer my opinion. As somebody who grew up with high school sports in Chicago–a large city with professional teams of all sports–and whose major local papers had dedicated copy in the sport section to high school sports, I do not think the importance of high school sports is being very much exaggerated at all. One of the largest events at Soldier Field–home to the professional National Football League team the Chicago Bears–was 113,000 to 125,000 in 1937 to see Leo play Austin in a high school football game. > > I’m actually a little confused about this, as I could swear the largest attendance for a sporting event at the time was that Leo-Austin high school (American) football game, until it was beaten out by some (proper?) football game in South America. But [Soldierfield.net](http://Soldierfield.net) tells me the Notre Dame - USC game (college/university) of 1927 had a 123,000 attendance, and Wikipedia is telling me the largest attendance is hard to determine. This site claims that one South American match was just shy of 200,000. > **[World's Largest Sporting Crowds](https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/crowd-largest.htm)** > > list of the some of the biggest crowds for sporting events And a Wikipedia cite here: > **[Maracanã Stadium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Est%C3%A1dio_do_Maracan%C3%A3)** > > Maracanã Stadium (Portuguese: Estádio do Maracanã, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Portuguese pronunciation: \[esˈtadʒi.u du maɾakɐˈnɐ̃\]), officially named Journalist Mário Filho Stadium (Portuguese: Estádio Jornalista Mario Filho; \[isˈtadʒ(i)u ʒoʁnaˈlistɐ ˈmaɾi.u ˈfiʎu\]), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi... ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/10 "2013-02-20T01:15:04Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I would be a much happier man if obsession with high school football was the stupidest characteristic of southern US towns. I don’t think it’s stupid. Not my cup of tea but not stupid. ---
**Author:** ![basset\_hound](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/basset_hound/32/1432_2.png) [@basset\_hound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/basset_hound)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/11 "2013-02-20T01:40:10Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I would be a much happier man if obsession with high school football was the stupidest characteristic of southern US towns. Why do you consider the emphasis placed on high school football by many small towns to be a stupid characteristic? The people who live in these places are certainly entitled to fanatic sports entertainment (something not at all limited to such places). What is the unnamed “stupidest characteristic of southern US towns” that you find so offensive? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/12 "2013-02-20T01:44:07Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > This site claims that one South American match was just shy of 200,000. Yeah, that’s sounds about right to me. But the memory I have is that through the 80s or 90s, that Leo-Austin game was the highest attended sports game, but the numbers I’m seeing now don’t really support that. It was close, yes, but it seems there were a few relatively contemporaneous games that had a higher attendance. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/13 "2013-02-20T03:01:01Z")
I am a school band director in a small town in Texas. I am about one hour away from Austin, the closest large metropolitan area. I have spent most of my life in school band and all of my career as a small-town band director. I have attended hundreds of high school football games. I do not watch _Friday Night Lights_. I live it. A Friday night game in a town of ~5000 people is a big deal. It is the time that the whole town turns out for a single event. It is more than a football game. Everyone in town is somehow related to the goings on at the game. Our football team has about forty guys on the sideline. There are a dozen cheerleaders and about twenty-five girls on the dance team. We have 110 in the high school band. Even though there is some overlap, you have about forty percent of the school population involved in the game. It is easily the largest community event of the year. I, too, lament the over-emphasis on sports in our culture. However, I would not call the love for a Friday night game stupid. It is more than a football game. It is a community event. Everyone turns out to see their kids and their friends’ kids do amazing things. I’ve done this for more than two decades and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/14 "2013-02-20T03:36:12Z")
It is a community event and I don’t think it is destructive at all in general. The only part that I find sad is that high school football in such places is the absolute pinnacle of many people’s lives and that is way too soon. Most of the players aren’t good enough to get football scholarships to college and that is really the only way they would attend higher education because they don’t have any other way to pay for it and their families don’t value it\*\*\*. Even the cheerleaders peak at 16 - 18 years old and many of them reference the fact that they were one in their youth for life even if they couldn’t do a pyramid without somebody getting crushed to death today. \*\*\*A few stellar athletes do get college scholarships and some of them do quite well afterwards. One of the best high school running backs ever in our state is a black guy that grew up in absolute poverty and still writes to me sometimes. He got a scholarship, graduated from college, became a community organizer and has published two books of poetry about dire prospects early in life. High school football was the only way out for him. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/15 "2013-02-20T03:41:21Z")
I agree about the sadness of witnessing teenagers who peak so early in life. At a football game, one might see a sixteen year old boy running down the field and literally everyone in his entire world screaming in delight. That is a tough peak to top, for anyone. However, I believe that most parents and coaches are pretty good about teaching their students to keep these things in perspective. It is perfectly fine for the student to be thrilled during the game. However, it is a good teaching moment to help the young man learn how to weather the storms of one’s successes as well as his failures. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/16 "2013-02-20T05:51:28Z")
Here in Alabama, TV stations have special shows on Friday nights during football season to show all the high school football scores and highlights. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/17 "2013-02-20T10:06:48Z")
Thanks, everyone. That’s just the kind of insight I was hoping to get. Drum God’s point about the town being small enough for just about everyone to have a direct relationship with someone involved in the game is something that hadn’t really hit me before. I think the Dillon in my head is probably rather bigger than the real town would be, but I can correct that now. It occurs to me also that part of FNL’s appeal must surely be that it shows a town operating as a genuine community, which is something many of us city-dwellers no longer experience in real life. We have a radio soap over here called The Archers which offers a similar vision of rural England, albeit with fewer bone-crushing tackles. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/18 "2013-02-20T13:46:13Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > Thanks, everyone. That’s just the kind of insight I was hoping to get. > > Drum God’s point about the town being small enough for just about everyone to have a direct relationship with someone involved in the game is something that hadn’t really hit me before. I think the Dillon in my head is probably rather bigger than the real town would be, but I can correct that now. > > It occurs to me also that part of FNL’s appeal must surely be that it shows a town operating as a genuine community, which is something many of us city-dwellers no longer experience in real life. We have a radio soap over here called The Archers which offers a similar vision of rural England, albeit with fewer bone-crushing tackles. With an ever increasing percentage of the population living in urban areas, plenty of Americans are unaware that those places exist as well. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyCarbon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@MostlyCarbon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyCarbon)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-lights/650834/19 "2013-02-20T20:01:47Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > One of the UK satellite channels is showing FNL here at the moment, where we’re just three episodes into season 4. It’s a good show, and I’ve got pretty hooked on it. > > As a Brit, I’m curious… As a long-time resident (40 years and counting) of Odessa, Texas (the oily town from which FNL sprang) I’ll try to offer some insight. High School football here is very popular and it’s not uncommon to have a capacity crowd (~19,000) which equals about 20% of the town’s population. All three local TV stations will show game highlights on Friday and Saturday nights during the local news segments and a couple of those stations will have a 30-minute area football show after the news on Friday nights. All area teams are covered. Maybe one-half of one-percent of the local population are “fanatical” but at least 50% of the local population are no more than mildly interested. If the local teams are not having a winning season, the interest is much less. Booster committees have little influence in running the school. Though, as with politics everywhere, a couple of prominent members can be very loud and get noticed. Parents can be fanatics (obviously) but local businessmen in general just try to be supportive. The events and people in the book are, for the most part true, but exaggerated in that few outside the coaches, players and their families shared the events and portrayed attitudes. As for comparing the fictional town of Dillon… I can’t say because I’ve never seen the TV show. I thought the book was very good because it was entertaining and it highlighted some provocative scenario’s which were based on facts. I thought the movie was so-so entertainment-wise though it stretched reality as expected in a movie. It was certainly not a documentary. Personally, I suspect the story pales in comparison to those to be found in British football. Now those are some crazy fans!