"Friday Night Lights"- Fact or Fiction?

[Bullaholic]

How much fact or fiction about Texas High School Football do you think is contained in the book "Friday Night Lights"? The movie is releasing Oct. 8. I think the basic premise of the book is partially based in fact concerning tradition....but I think the author employs a lot of "poetic" license to hype the storyline.

[Keith7]

i read the book while i was playing high school football and thought i could relate to alot of it.. its a great book, and maybe goes over the top in a couple parts, but over all seems pretty accurate

[NHSRattler60]

I just think its cool that its about a Texas football team. Odessa Permian.

[Pudlugger]

I'm reading it now and feel that it is a good reflection of the social tensions in West Texas in 1988. Football in West Texas is more than a metaphor for life...it is life. The character Boobie, and how he ultimately fails due to his over-arching pride and self absorbtion, rings true to me. This is a thoughtful book that looks at all sides of the subject and yet succeeds in capturing the essential truth of high school football: it affirms the dignity and worth of the individual and the community.

[LST_Terry]

Funny how you think Boobie failed by his actions while some feel the coaches let him down. To me that shows how great the book is in that it makes a person think about the issues.

The movie is more like a feel good movie than the truth. Also they do not show the classic Marshall-Odessa Permian game the way it really happened.

[Keith7]

on another message board people were talking about how they actually changed the result of the final game (i don't want to give it away)

does anyone know if this is true?

[GoDeep]

I wasnt there, but I have friends who were there(on both sides). They all call the book "a great work of fiction".

[Pudlugger]

Originally posted by LST_Terry
Funny how you think Boobie failed by his actions while some feel the coaches let him down. To me that shows how great the book is in that it makes a person think about the issues.

The movie is more like a feel good movie than the truth. Also they do not show the classic Marshall-Odessa Permian game the way it really happened.

Well in many ways the coaches did let Boobie down by passing over him so casually when he got injured. However the real message here is that it is the individual's responsibility to shoulder the burden in such difficult challenges rather than get angry and quit like Boobie did. Ultimately it was he who was most damaged by his refusal to continue to play on the team. You see this sort of thing all the time in high school football. A kid gets his feelings hurt so he quits. Many latter regret that decision but it is too late. Yes this book is most likely somewhat of a fictional work as I'm certain the author Bissanger took some license with the facts.

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by Keith7
on another message board people were talking about how they actually changed the result of the final game (i don't want to give it away)

does anyone know if this is true? :eek: I hope this isn't true! :mad: It would ruin the movie for me. :( I'll still go watch it, but it is really gonna upset me if they change they outcome. :flamingma

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by LST_Terry
Funny how you think Boobie failed by his actions while some feel the coaches let him down. To me that shows how great the book is in that it makes a person think about the issues.

The movie is more like a feel good movie than the truth. Also they do not show the classic Marshall-Odessa Permian game the way it really happened. I think both Boobie and the coaches let each other down, but I agree w/ Pudlugger in that Boobie ultimately should be held accountable for his actions. He choose to quit. I love this book. It is on my desk right now. :)

[BULLRUSH]

The author was not well liked in west Texas after the book came out. Sometimes the truth hurts. Then again, noone looks good under a microscope.

[lobo12]

i think alot of it is true but not all of it. i dont think gaines is as bad as the book makes him out to be. what do you mean they didnt show the marshall game the way it happend? i have also heard they changed the result of the final game

[Phil C]

We will have to see the movie to see how much it ties to the book. Then we can see how it compares to what really happened. The only thing is that if the game results were changed then it is fiction - maybe good fiction but still fiction.

[Phil C]

I have seen previews on tv about the movie. It looks like the actor who plays the head football coach was also in Hoosiers with Gene Hackman. He was the one who was coaching the team on an interim basis before Gene Hackman showed up. Hackmen kicked him off the coaching staff and he was Hackman's enemy until the team starting winning and going to state. Then he was a big team supporter.

[PPHSfan]

Phil,

The actor that plays coach Gaines is none other than Billy Bob Thornton.

[tmac]

im not sure about fact or fiction but im lookin forward to it regardless

[Dogman]

Last year at the Dvi I 3A state game my son and I sat on the Burnet side and the man in front of us was the QB of the team that the book was based on. He told us that most of the book was accurate. I can't recall his name but he lives outside Gainsville and was a good guy. He did say that his family lived moved into the OP school because his father was given a job in the oil field when he was a freshman or sophmore and showed promise as a QB and the Mojo wanted him........

[pirate4state]

I bought the "Tenth Anniversary Edition" with a new afterword by the author. He updates what the players have been up to since the book was first released. Mike Winchell was the QB.

[this is the way we ball]

Originally posted by lobo12
i think alot of it is true but not all of it. i dont think gaines is as bad as the book makes him out to be. what do you mean they didnt show the marshall game the way it happend? i have also heard they changed the result of the final game

Didn't they lose to Dallas Carter in the Semi-Finals that year?

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by this is the way we ball
Didn't they lose to Dallas Carter in the Semi-Finals that year? yes

[Keith7]

Originally posted by this is the way we ball
Didn't they lose to Dallas Carter in the Semi-Finals that year?

way to ruin the entire story

[Phil C]

Well history is history and it can't be changed and should be disclosed. I have seen several movies with Titanic in it and it always has the same ending but I won't risk giving away the ending today. :D

[renegade*dawg]

every good movie has a little fiction involved. It has to do with Texas high school football, so that's enough for me.

[LST_Terry]

I agree with every movie has fiction in it, but if you change the attitude of the book and make this a cheesy feel good everyone goes home happy in the end story then the movie is missing the point. This book showed the good AND the bad of HS football

[Z motion 10 out on 2]

I graduated in 1988 and played in 87 for Arlington Martin. we didn't field too good of a team that year but Arlington Lamar did. OP lit them up. I remember everyone was scared to go and play in Odessa and they believed that there was some MOJO that made other teams fumble, etc. OP was in the head of most teams in the state. Save Dallas Carter as they knocked off Permian several times in the playoffs.

I remember the book and how the writer was given all access to the team. It should be close to the truth. But you know how it goes, two people see the same fight and each think their guy won.

I'm glad this movie is out though! Good for our Texas Football fans~