Description
Return once again to the enduring account of life in the Mojo lane, to the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high school football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, Bissinger chronicles one of the Panthers' dramatic seasons and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires-and sometimes shatters-the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.
Bissinger is seen as a controversial figure in the town of Odessa for several reasons. While he gives the town fame and recognition for being a high school football power house he also reveals the negatives about the town. While most people see the number of state championships Odessa has won, Bissinger magnifies how this town has become engulfed with the epidemic of football. By exposing the educational system in Odessa he lets people see how the system the school had would spit out students after they graduate with barley any skills that will help them advance in life. The term "Football Factory" fits this town perfectly because the kids that play football are seen as dispensable pieces that can be replaced at the snap of a finger like a loose and squeaky bolt in machine. As education takes a back seat for the students that play football their futures go down the drain if they aren't atop of the class. Not only is this educational system exposed but the racial views of the town are magnified putting a bruise on the town's ego. nothing is more apparent than the racial differences in this town that Bissinger writes about as the town is separated not by law but by unspoken rules the town has that lays down the borders of each race within the town.
Return once again to the enduring account of life in the Mojo lane, to the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high school football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, Bissinger chronicles one of the Panthers' dramatic seasons and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires-and sometimes shatters-the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.
Bissinger is seen as a controversial figure in the town of Odessa for several reasons. While he gives the town fame and recognition for being a high school football power house he also reveals the negatives about the town. While most people see the number of state championships Odessa has won, Bissinger magnifies how this town has become engulfed with the epidemic of football. By exposing the educational system in Odessa he lets people see how the system the school had would spit out students after they graduate with barley any skills that will help them advance in life. The term "Football Factory" fits this town perfectly because the kids that play football are seen as dispensable pieces that can be replaced at the snap of a finger like a loose and squeaky bolt in machine. As education takes a back seat for the students that play football their futures go down the drain if they aren't atop of the class. Not only is this educational system exposed but the racial views of the town are magnified putting a bruise on the town's ego. nothing is more apparent than the racial differences in this town that Bissinger writes about as the town is separated not by law but by unspoken rules the town has that lays down the borders of each race within the town.