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Like Father, Like Son
For a young man, perhaps the most important and influential relationship in life is
that with his father. A father gives one an image of how to act and also helps to guide his
son through the struggles that life brings. H.G. Bissinger explores several models of
masculinity in his creative non-fiction book Friday Night Lights, a story of Odessa, an oil
town in West Texas, and its citizens’ obsession over high school football. The people of
Odessa live vicariously through the players on the football team in order to escape the
unpredictable nature of the oil business as well as to avoid examining strong racial
tensions throughout the town. Bissinger chronicles the lives of a few football players on
the Permian high school team and their quest for a state championship. As he views
these players, attention is put on the relationship between Don Billingsley, Brian Chavez,
and Boobie Miles and their respective father figures. Through close third person
analysis, detailed description, and revealing dialogue, Bissinger analyzes how the lives of
these players are determined as a result of their paternal relationships. Due to their varied
yet complicated upbringings, these players are either helped or hindered in understanding
that Permian football is a temporary means of proving one’s masculinity that will
inevitably come to an end.
Living in the shadow of a father’s greatness can be hard to overcome as shown
through the relationship of Don Billingsley and his father Charlie. Don Billingsley is a
senior running back on the Permian football team, and is constantly being compared with
his dad who had great success at Permian. Charlie was a classic Permian football playernot very big or strong or fast but he was tough and just plain mean. However this
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brutality translated to everyday life and Charlie soon enough became a drunken has-been,
living in the glory of his high school football days. Don is extremely similar to Charlie in
many aspects of life. Bissinger uses comparison in order to portray their interesting
similarities from their “insouciant swagger” to the “shark’s-tooth smile that could be both
charming and threatening” (83). This use of comparison and imagery allows the reader
to understand how alike these individuals are by describing them simultaneously. The
tragedy in this is that in being so similar to Charlie, Don seems destined for a life of
failure just like his dad. To make matters worse, the one distinction between the two is
that Don is not quite good enough on the field and is unable to live up to the prestige of
his father’s football career. Furthermore, with his father putting such an emphasis on
football, Don does not try in his academics because he somehow doesn’t understand that
his athletic career will soon come to an end. When speaking of class, Don says, “Do you
like to sleep? This is where I sleep” (135). Due to the fact that Charlie does not
emphasize the importance of learning and did not pursue an education after high school,
Don does not care about learning. By utilizing dialogue, Bissinger shows Don’s carefree
attitude toward school. With such an emphasis on football as the only way to show
greatness, Don is destined for a life of failure because he cannot live up to his father’s
success as an athlete, and he is unwilling to work hard on his academics. The tragedy of
Don is that he has no other model of masculinity that can show him the importance of an
education and life after Permian football.
In contrast with many other players, such as Don, Brian Chavez sees past Permian
football and, through the successful image of his father, is able to realize the importance
of an education. Brian is one of the captains on the football team and is a great player.
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Yet Brian does not seek a football scholarship, instead he wants to receive an education at
Harvard. This focus on an education can be attributed to his father’s hard work and
dedication to creating a better life for himself and his family. Tony Chavez, Brian’s
father, graduated high school with no intention of going to college. However after going
into the military and taking classes he realized he was smarter than he originally thought.
He then decided to create a better life for himself and went to law school to get a degree
(177-179). Bissinger’s detailed description of Tony’s life helps to illuminate the reason
why Brian wants more for himself. To see that his father has achieved success in life
allows for Brian to see Permian Football for what it really is: a temporary way to prove
one’s masculinity that will eventually end. This understanding is crucial for Brian and
allows him to work for more long-term goals, such as Harvard. Bissinger studies Brian’s
view on school by saying, “as he headed into his senior year he also realized that he
wanted something more. No matter how glorious and exciting the season was, he also
knew it would come to an end.” (144). Through this close third person analysis we, as
readers, are able to directly see Brian’s view of football which gives us an understanding
of his want for greater achievements in life. By having a strong model of masculinity, in
his father, who has achieved so much in his life, Brian is certain to achieve great things
beyond high school sports. However, what’s interesting is that even Brian eventually
returns to Odessa after Harvard. This suggests that the pull of Odessa and Permian
football lasts throughout life, even if the players try to escape it.
Boobie Miles’ lack of understanding that football is brief in the larger span of life
can be attributed to his uncle, L.V., who pushed him to be a great player and nothing else.
Boobie is the star running back of the football team and is supposed to lead Permian to a
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state championship. His uncle L.V. has coached Boobie from an early age to be a great
football player. L.V. never had the chance to play football and has amounted to very
little in his life. He uses Boobie’s success in order to feel some sort of self worth.
Bissinger discuses this possibly selfish act stating, “There was also something about
Boobie that excited [L.V.], a certain rawness that if channeled the right way could make
him into something no one ever expected.” (62). By exploiting close third person
perspective, Bissinger allows us to see that L.V. believes that he can bring success to
Boobie, but also that he’s living through Boobie to make up for all his failures in life. If
he can teach Boobie to be a great football player and perhaps help him receive a college
scholarship, then L.V. will feel some feeling of accomplishment. By focusing just on
athletic ability to get into college, Boobie has no backup plan for when he receives a
severe, possibly career ending, knee injury. When Boobie’s football life seems in
jeopardy, L.V. struggles to find the best decision for Boobie’s future. Should he let
Boobie play hurt, which would allow him to still chase after the dream of receiving a
college scholarship, or should he have surgery to prevent further damage while giving up
any hopes of ever making it to the next level (200)? This close third person perspective
allows the reader to see the strong dilemma L.V. faces. He doesn’t want to hurt his
nephew, but by choosing to have him get the surgery, L.V. gives up all hope of Boobie
ever amounting to anything and in turn L.V. finding any self worth. Boobie eventually
goes through with the surgery, which ends his dreams of becoming great. This sense of
failure devastates both Boobie and L.V. Their hard work has not paid off and there is no
way Boobie will receive a scholarship. Bissinger shows the downfall of their
relationship: “‘I’m through working with you,’ said L.V. ‘I’m through with you,’ said
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Boobie. ‘Then get your stuff out.’”(263). This use of dialogue gives insight into the true
relationship of Boobie and L.V. With the loss of their common dream, Boobie and
L.V.’s relationship crumbles. When they no longer need each other for success, Boobie
and L.V.’s relationship falls apart, implying a partnership based off of football rather than
love.
Once Permian football players are done with their high school careers, the main
dilemma is what to do with their lives. Many of them do not put the effort in their
education that will ultimately allow them to live a life beyond football. By observing the
father-son relationships that Bissinger discusses in his book, one can determine that this
kinship has a direct correlation to a player’s realization that football will inevitably come
to an end. If their fathers have achieved something in life that goes beyond Permian
football, than the players have a chance of creating better lives for themselves.
Furthermore through his use of close third person analysis, descriptive language, and
dialogue Bissinger observes how a father figure has a strong impact in determining the
character and overall person that their son will become. Because Bissinger uses
examples of father-son relationships from various situations and backgrounds one can
determine that the affects of these relationships do not just occur in Odessa, but also in
society as a whole.