Friday Night Lights Essay

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Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger is a story about a football town. The name of the town is Odessa. It is a small town on the west side of Texas and football is the only thing that matters. Bissinger gives the reader a glimpse of what life is like at an area high school called Permian. Very few towns are obsessed with sports like Permian and Ringgold when it comes to sports programs. In this essay, Permian and Ringgold sports will be compared by their programs and values that they place on sports. Permian football is the only thing that the people of Odessa, Texas looked up to every single day. They did not care about anything but Permian football, and they would spend any amount possible on the gear that the football program supplied.
It is a town with less than 5000 people, and it is not a location that has many jobs. People must commute to neighboring towns to make a living. Ringgold is a town in North Georgia and is looked over when people visit Georgia. It is not a vacation spot and does not have many recognizable landmarks. Throughout the year, the people of Ringgold only have one thing to look forward to on a given day. That one thing is sports, and for a small town like Ringgold, sports are the only thing on the townspeople minds after 6 p.m. Starting from the age of five kids are placed on recreational teams and taught how to play football. The kids learn about the tradition of Ringgold football and how to play with pride. They are taught to give 100% and never to give up. The parents wear all blue in support of the Ringgold Tigers. Fans will spend almost any amount on the gear just like the Permian fans. The area grocery stores even carry the gear and support the football team every Friday. The people of Ringgold fill up the stands every week and support the team even though the team has never in its history produced a state championship like Permian football has. The fans show up and have a fire in their eyes that would mirror that fire that is shown in the eyes of Permian football fans. Ringgold is willing to support its team at any cost, and that was on display when the school built a brand new football field and had

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