Friday Night Lights: Character, Discipline, and Football's Costs

Introduction

Friday Night Lights is a film about the Permian Panthers, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. The town is racially prejudiced and economically depressed. The one exciting event of the week is Friday night, when the Permian Panthers take the field. Because of the problems the team faces and the ways they respond to those problems, the Permian Panthers teach lessons in character, discipline, and teamwork — while also revealing some of the troubling realities of football culture.

Reflective Analysis: Character, Discipline, and Teamwork

Friday Night Lights shows how the positive qualities of character, discipline, and teamwork can be developed through football. According to Dictionary.com, "character refers especially to moral qualities, ethical standards, principles, and the like." "Discipline" is defined as "behavior in accord with rules of conduct." "Teamwork" is "cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause" (Dictionary.com).

The team built character after their star tailback, Boobie Miles, broke his knee. Despite a season that seemed destined to fail, the players chose not to give up. They understood that the town still relied on them, and so they trained and played their best even when victory seemed unlikely. This determination also reflects discipline: the players behaved as they were supposed to, according to the rules of conduct expected of them. They were supposed to train hard and compete fully no matter what — and they did. Finally, the players demonstrated teamwork because they did not persevere alone. They kept trying, trained together, and played together in pursuit of their common goal of being the best football team they could be.

Their entire season, and all the good qualities they developed along the way, is captured by Coach Gaines's words in the film: "Perfection is being able to look your friends in the eye and know you did everything you could not to let them down" (Abrams).

Applying Football Values to Personal Life

The character, discipline, and teamwork shown in Friday Night Lights can be applied to all aspects of a person's life beyond the football field. A player who has developed character through football can carry those moral qualities and ethical standards into family life, community involvement, and the workplace — regardless of the challenges that arise. That same player can apply the discipline learned through football by consistently following rules of conduct in personal and professional settings.

Teamwork, too, transfers directly to everyday life. There are countless situations — in a family, in a community, or at work — where goals must be achieved collectively. A person who has already learned how to function as an effective team member will be far better prepared for those moments.

Conclusion

Buzz Bissinger has argued that football is a "celebration of violence" and that removing the violence would essentially end the sport as we know it (Bissinger). That violence leads to injuries that can cripple or kill. For example, Rasul "Rocky" Clark, who was paralyzed playing high school football in 2000, died on January 7, 2012 from related complications (Mayer). In another well-known case, Dave Duerson — a Notre Dame football player who went on to play for the Chicago Bears — died by suicide and left a note requesting that his brain be studied, believing that the repeated concussions and brain injuries he sustained during his career had deteriorated his mental state. The same reporting notes that approximately two dozen retired players have shown the same type of neurological deterioration as a result of concussions (Schwarz).

These examples are cited by critics who argue that football is so inherently violent that it ultimately destroys the well-being of those who play it. Traumatic brain injury research has reinforced these concerns, highlighting the long-term cognitive consequences of repeated head impacts in contact sports. Others point to the pressure placed on young athletes — particularly in communities like Odessa — where football can feel less like a game and more like a burden that outweighs everything else in life.

Friday Night Lights glorifies high school football by showing how it builds character, discipline, and teamwork in its players. Even though football can cultivate these admirable qualities, the sport remains a subject of serious criticism. Some argue that football distorts priorities by making a game more important than life itself, or that it encourages harmful drug use. Others contend that football is too violent, pointing to young men who are paralyzed or killed, or to cases like Dave Duerson, who died by suicide after suffering debilitating brain damage from football concussions.

It is difficult to see how football can remain the thrilling and culturally significant sport it is while also addressing the legitimate concerns raised by its critics. The tension between football's value and its cost is one the sport has yet to fully resolve.

Abrams, Zac. Internet Movie Database Web site. 2004. Web. 20 January 2012.

Bissinger, Buzz. "NFL Playoffs: Why Football Needs Violence." 17 January 2011. The Daily Beast Web site. Web. 20 January 2012.

Dictionary.com. character, discipline, team work. n.d. Web. 20 January 2012.

Mayer, Larry. "Paralyzed Football Player Rocky Clark Passes Away." 7 January 2012. Chicago Bears Web site. Web. 20 January 2012.

Schwarz, Alan. "Duerson's Brain Trauma Diagnosed." 2 May 2011. New York Times Web site. Web. 20 January 2012.