Movie Night

We saw Friday Night Lights tonight.

Good movie. It must be hard for most people to imagine living in that world. It's hard for me to imagine my life without the emotional and highly-visceral reaction I have to the image of a well-lit football field.

High school football has a way of getting under your skin. Part of it is certainly the impressionable age at which it hits you. For better or worse, football is the first thing that many high school boys are taught to take seriously. Introverted and obsessed communities revolve around these programs. The team provides the drama for the community, which can be an entire city or just those that follow a particular program at a school. We as humans are completely thrilled by any excuse to create an "us vs. them" scenario. The highs of winning and the lows of losing are easily preferable to a steady-as-she-goes state of affairs.

There's something special about growing up with the same kids that you go to battle with on Friday night. I firmly believe that a crowd full of 500 mostly familiar faces can be more penetrating than a crowd of 80,000 drunken college or pro ball fans.

And yes, the coaches, former players, and town boosters really do instill the warlike mentality. The sense of impending doom and damnation that accompanies any and all failures on the field is somehow more palpable than the fear of underachieving in academics, arts, career, and even personal relationships. The opponent is the enemy. They are trying to hurt us. We must protect our community from roaming clans of Raiders, Rebels, Trojans, or Spartans. The will undoubtedly steal our women and rape our horses, all while flaunting crew cuts with side lines and of course wearing butt-pads for extra protection.

Seen lots of football flicks. Like that Waterboy. Even the Program seemed to work in a campy, self-aware way. Remember the Titans entertained me. The Replacements stole minutes of my life that I will work desperately to recover.

I almost wish I had seen this one with my old teammates. Lots of similarities. So close yet so far away. At least a random series of overtime plays sealed our playoff fate rather than a coin toss.

My first Blog

Hello, digital melting pot of anger, naivete, confusion and indifference . I'd like to introduce myself. I am a traveler of both time and space.

I'm quite certain that everything I write will be used against me, either in a court of law, or worse, in the court of private opinion.