"Friday Night Lights," a fictional series whose roots trace to a disturbing 1990 nonfiction book about a team from Texas by H. G. Bissinger, will have its premiere on NBC on Oct. 3. The current MTV reality series "Two-a-Days" follows the exploits of the 2005 Hoover High School Buccaneers of Alabama. Needless to say Hoover High is not the most loved of football teams around here after all the publicity this past year. Adding even more pressure to both the Bucs who have to live up to the hype, but the schools playing them who feel slighted by all the media attention givin to Hoover. Should there be concern about how much importance is being placed on high school football?
There have been--almost always are--TV series about high school students so I wouldn't put FNL in the same batch. But there's no doubt in my mind that kids in America (not sure about elsewhere) are being pushed to deal with life as adults more and more every year while adults (and I'm not excluding myself) look to take less responsibility.
I for one am very concerned with the emphasis placed on prep football,Folkways. Here in Texas there is nothing bigger than the Friday night games.There is something amiss when football coaches make far more than other teachers in our high schools.We are sending a message that sports is the main thing in life.This is particularly unfortunate for some minorities, marginal students and others who put their future in a career in pro sports. Only a very few will make it to the pro level, leaving a large uneducated underclass with no future in our high tech world.
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Thanks Ufez.
Make sure they stay away from car dealerships.
Christine Brennan of USA Today makes some pretty good points in this column.
I am sad to see high school sports being dirtied up by the media. High school games, and some college's, are the only place you can find people playing for the right reasons, cuz they want to win...
