Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by townsend on February 17, 2005 at 16:17:04

In Reply to: Friday Night Lights posted by jamesgarvin on February 16, 2005 at 08:23:15:

I was wondering how many posters live in Texas (one poster mentioned he lived in Louisiana)?

Football is religion, with local variations, in much of the U.S. And yes, this movie is about Odessa precisely because that writer wrote the book about a small West Texas town where epitomized what also went on elsewhere.

I live in Plano, and several years ago, a Plano high school player who used steroids committed suicide. Recently, the Dallas Morning News did a study on steroid use among North Texas high school football players. It is hard to tell how widespread it, but it is all part of the "religion is football" and "win at all cost" philosophy.

The bigger problem is that sports in America is big business, and that this shows up as early as high school isn't surprising. In fact, Sebastian Telfair, who jumped from high school straight to the NBA, was covered in sports magazines and recruiting services WHEN HE WAS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.

I'm not denying that Texas is part of the problem, but football is a huge sport in Oklahoma, California, and Florida, to name a few. And a similar argument can be made, though to a lesser degree, for basketball and baseball.

regards, townsend