A review by erikakiana
Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream by Buzz Bissinger

5.0

This book is a great way to see how we treat athletes in the US. They don't get the experience of growing up as normal kids so when they become adults they don't know how to handle themselves and they are neither prepared for the real world nor the athletic world. It's incredible to see 20,000 people coming to a high school game. My college stadium held 25,000 and it wasn't always easy to fill it. It really highlights how we as sports watchers put all of our hopes and dreams on these athletes and then blame them and don't forgive them when they are wrong. It brought back memories from my own high school team. We didn't draw in 20,000 fans, but we were one of the best teams in the state. I could see parallels to my own school.

I was absorbed in this book. I read a lot of it on the train to work and I had to keep making sure I hadn't reached my train stop yet. I also loved the shock of seeing Odell Beckham Jr.'s dad mentioned in the book! The events of this book happened 30 years ago, but the issues are still relevant to this day.