Friday Night Lights - Review

Friday Night Lights was a great movie. I did not read the book, however, I remember some of the controversy surrounding it about the Odessa Permian High School football program. The movie does show a town that projects their identity on a high school football team. Winning gives Odessa hope. Teenage football players are treated as rock stars, or I guess in this context, country music stars. By the way, Tim McGraw was very believable as a father who wanted to relive his own glory days through his son. Billy Bob Thorton also gave a very genuine performance as a coach.

The theater in which I saw the movie was full of Katy High School football players. I watched the movie wondering what many of them were thinking. Late last night, I talked with my son, Matt, a former High School football player, whose team lost in the state semi-finals by four points. He said it brought back many memories, especially the pain, both physical and emotional.

Playing football is a microcosm of life; but there is definitely more to life than football. It does give young men the opportunity to develop their character and resiliency. "Life is difficult," says Dr. Peck. Football teaches young men, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." My coaches talked about "gut check time" when we needed to dig deep to find the will to move forward.