Friday Night Lights DVD Scenes
Develop writing prompts based on excerpts. See google docs. “Friday Night Book”
Sports Illustrated: excerpt 2015
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream H.G. Bissinger
Table of Contents
Preface / xi – xv (“FNL Preface & Writing Prompts”): SSR in class reading assignment
“Permian Panthers that played in front 0f 20,000 fans on Friday Nights” (p. xi)
“You wonder what it is like on a Friday Night, when the lights are on and the heart and soul of the town pours out over the field.” (p. xii)
“They [Friday Night Lights] burned with more intensity then I had ever imagined.” (p. xiii)
“An inevitable danger in adults’ living vicariously through their young. And he knew of no candle that burned out more quickly than that of a high school athlete.” (p. xiv)
“These kids held the town on their shoulders.” (p. xiv)
Preface xi – xv (students read) Discuss pictures
Prologue (1-20): Introduction of the main characters: Boobie Miles (RB), Jerrod McDougal, Mike Winchell (QB), Ivory Christian, Brian Chavez, Chris Comer and the Midland – Lee game
“Before [the injury] thousands of fans who had anointed him the chosen son but now thought of him as just another n-word.” (p. 1)
“He felt good when he woke up in the little room that was his, with the poster of Michael Jordan taped to his wall.” (p.1)
PRE-SEASON
Chapter 1 Odessa (23 – 37): This is primarily an overview of the history of the town. The 1st day of practice, the history of the town, and the pressure to live up to expectations of winning a state championship.
Chapter 2 The Watermelon Feed (38 – 52) The Watermelon feed is the kickoff to the football season. It happens in the high school cafeteria in August. It shows what a big deal football is. A football yearbook is 224 pages long and raises $20,000 for the football program.
Chapter 3: Boobie (53 – 69) page 56 I Injury, II L.V.’s history, Crane III
THE SEASON
Chapter 4 Dreaming of Heroes (73 – 88) Mike Winchell, Charlie Billingsley, Don Billingsley
Chapter 5 Black and White (89 – 110) The use of the n-word.
Chapter 6 The Ambivalence of Ivory (111 – 127)
Chapter 7 School Days (128 – 152)
Chapter 8 East Versus West (153 – 172)
Chapter 9 Friday Night Politics (173 – 193)
Chapter 10 Boobie Who? (194 – 207)
page 196
PUSH FOR THE PLAYOFFS
Chapter 11 Sisters (211 – 232)
Chapter 12 Civil War (233 – 250)
Chapter 13 Heads or Tails (251 – 264) Gaines and father story.
POST SEASON
Chapter 14 Friday Night Addictions (267 – 290)
Chapter 15 The Algebraic Equation (291 – 312)
Chapter 16 Field of Dreams (313 – 337)
Epilogue (339 – 355): Great section to read after watching the class. It outlines the story of the Carter Cowboys (What Carter Lost). It also tells the story of the Permian players after high school.
Afterword (357 – 363)
Acknowledgements / 364
List of Illustrations / 365