Friday Night Lights: Chapters 7–10

It was hard for teachers not to feel depressed by the lack of rudimentary knowledge, like in the history class in which students were asked to name the president after John F. Kennedy.

Some blamed it on the breakdown of the family unit; more and more kids were living with single parents who had to work morning, noon, and night just to make ends meet and didn’t have the time or the inclination to promote the virtue of doing well in school.

No matter how many books he read, no matter how exquisite his arguments in government class about gun control or the Sandinistas or the death penalty, he never got the latest scoop on who was having the weekend parties. Only the football players were privy to that sacred knowledge.

Her father, H. Warren Gardner, vice president of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, a branch of the University of Texas system located in Odessa, believed the disparities in performance between boys and girls were a result of the social hierarchy of the school.

Cheerleading had a special cachet for girls at Permian as well. Just as the football players walked down the school halls in their game jersies on Fridays, so did the cheerleaders in their uniforms.

Her salary, commensurate with her ability and skill and twenty years’ teaching experience, should have been $50,000 a year.

The value of high school football was deeply entrenched. It was the way the community had chosen to express itself.

Boobie enjoyed this class. It gave him an unfettered opportunity to express himself, and the teacher didn’t expect much from him.

Each year there was always the dream that this was finally it, the game where the juggernaut of Permian would somehow self-destruct and the sheer emotion of Odessa High would finally prevail.

Odessa was growing, the promise of good work in the oil field an irresistible lure. With that growth came the inevitable pattern of social stratification.

During the 1988–89 school year, Odessa High also had a greater percentage of students than Permian pass the state-mandated test in math and English that was required for a diploma. That too was a wonderful accomplishment. But it did not mitigate the feelings of failure on the football field.

Aware of the rivalry between the two schools, employers searched for some middle ground of impartiality, fearful that any inadvertent slip might cause a mutiny from one half of the work force or the other.

The Permian fans got tired of the incessant whining of the Odessa High fans, of hearing that the Bronchos’ ineptitude on the football field was always somebody else’s fault.

The only thing to herald his return was the shame and ignominy of a white shirt.

When the reality of the injury set in, when it became apparent to Boobie that there was no magic wand, the grueling regimen of rehabilitation became more frustrating and futile.