Friday Night Fights
This film was sort of a male consciousness-raising for me. Needless to say, my awareness of sexism & racism doesn't need much heightening. If you just joined us, you can start with my 1/20/05 post. Anyway, I guess the guys are just as hard on each other as the girls.
This film was about the Permian HS football team's '88 season as they ran for a sixth state championship in a row, and the importance of HS ball in West Texas where the friday night lights shine on 20k fans. I can relate in some ways. I went to Massapequa HS on LI, where boys football & basketball drew thousands who all paid admission and bought snacks sold by 9th grade "JV Chiefettes". Sport was not quite the way out the way it is working class towns. Massapequans were willing to fork over 1/10 the value of their homes every year in property tax to pay for the lily white schools & sent lots of kids to the Ivies, but, they loved their jocks, that's for sure.
I was a cheerleader for three years, very competitive, girls cried their eyes out, it was announced over the PA in some big fucking deal every year. There were only twelve spots (unlike the dozens on the football team), anyone else who wanted jock stature had to try out for Chiefette, one of a very long yet, very good kickline (like the Rockettes, only better). We got our own singing cheerleader bus to every away game, and there were many. Our teams usually made playoffs, sometimes state.
I even wrote a column in the town paper about the HS jock scene. It was the party scene, huge jock parties of 500 kids every non-school night. It was pretty fucking wild. After high school I never saw a live football or basketball game again. The attraction eludes me for some reason, maybe because I was a jockette. I know it turns a lot of women on, maybe it's just the bods. I need some kind of brain in there. Anyway, I do understand how jocks are idolized, believe me. Let's not even go to the Kobe thing.
In this movie, there were some real pressures on these boys. Boobie was a cocky illiterate who came an ACL tear away from Hammer-like success, but ended up " a dad". I might be heartbroken for the guy but he was too cocky to learn and paid the price. Sorry your lottery ticket didn't pay out but that's what it's like in the world of high entertainment, it's all or nothing.
Others had to live up to Daddy's image. One guy had a dad who did win a state championship and wanted to relive it through his son. For lots of these HS jocks, their senior year in HS is as good as it gets, life is pretty much downhill from there. They were working class and worked hard to escape Odessa the one way they could. They ended up learning some hard lessons.
It reminds me of this story my friend told me about a conversation she had with a colleague, who had climbed pretty high, at least during boom years, and wanted to again and he goes, "Laura, there's only one way out for a guy." and then he draws a big dollar sign. In other words, girls can use their baby pass, but guys can't. They need a big cash payout.
It's true in a way. I took my pass. I enjoyed it. I still do. Just don't tell me there's no trade-offs, ok? First of all, it was the most stressful job I ever had in my life. Second, cash is cash. It's the only way out for anybody. The "pass" is just some cheap pay for a tough, thankless job. Around here, money is equity; land or stock. Those are the only real passes.
And I guess you guys do fuck with each other a bit too, I've seen it. The testosterone is fresh to me now but I can see where it might be a drag when you reach a point in your life where you want to be more than just a drone. In some ways I think being a woman is a fuller experience of life, it's like having less shock absorbers. That can be good and bad, and sometimes I do envy mens' little corpus callosums. Other times I feel sorry for y'all. Do you even know how fun life can be? I've cried lots of tears but I've also felt incredible joy & I wouldn't give up the latter, even if it meant avoiding the former.
In the end, the men are just as trapped into their roles as the women. In my own life I've met cool and full people, who go much deeper than stereotypes, of both sexes, but, they're very, very rare. Most would rather go watch their young men knock heads while girls cheer them on.
This film was about the Permian HS football team's '88 season as they ran for a sixth state championship in a row, and the importance of HS ball in West Texas where the friday night lights shine on 20k fans. I can relate in some ways. I went to Massapequa HS on LI, where boys football & basketball drew thousands who all paid admission and bought snacks sold by 9th grade "JV Chiefettes". Sport was not quite the way out the way it is working class towns. Massapequans were willing to fork over 1/10 the value of their homes every year in property tax to pay for the lily white schools & sent lots of kids to the Ivies, but, they loved their jocks, that's for sure.
I was a cheerleader for three years, very competitive, girls cried their eyes out, it was announced over the PA in some big fucking deal every year. There were only twelve spots (unlike the dozens on the football team), anyone else who wanted jock stature had to try out for Chiefette, one of a very long yet, very good kickline (like the Rockettes, only better). We got our own singing cheerleader bus to every away game, and there were many. Our teams usually made playoffs, sometimes state.
I even wrote a column in the town paper about the HS jock scene. It was the party scene, huge jock parties of 500 kids every non-school night. It was pretty fucking wild. After high school I never saw a live football or basketball game again. The attraction eludes me for some reason, maybe because I was a jockette. I know it turns a lot of women on, maybe it's just the bods. I need some kind of brain in there. Anyway, I do understand how jocks are idolized, believe me. Let's not even go to the Kobe thing.
In this movie, there were some real pressures on these boys. Boobie was a cocky illiterate who came an ACL tear away from Hammer-like success, but ended up " a dad". I might be heartbroken for the guy but he was too cocky to learn and paid the price. Sorry your lottery ticket didn't pay out but that's what it's like in the world of high entertainment, it's all or nothing.
Others had to live up to Daddy's image. One guy had a dad who did win a state championship and wanted to relive it through his son. For lots of these HS jocks, their senior year in HS is as good as it gets, life is pretty much downhill from there. They were working class and worked hard to escape Odessa the one way they could. They ended up learning some hard lessons.
It reminds me of this story my friend told me about a conversation she had with a colleague, who had climbed pretty high, at least during boom years, and wanted to again and he goes, "Laura, there's only one way out for a guy." and then he draws a big dollar sign. In other words, girls can use their baby pass, but guys can't. They need a big cash payout.
It's true in a way. I took my pass. I enjoyed it. I still do. Just don't tell me there's no trade-offs, ok? First of all, it was the most stressful job I ever had in my life. Second, cash is cash. It's the only way out for anybody. The "pass" is just some cheap pay for a tough, thankless job. Around here, money is equity; land or stock. Those are the only real passes.
And I guess you guys do fuck with each other a bit too, I've seen it. The testosterone is fresh to me now but I can see where it might be a drag when you reach a point in your life where you want to be more than just a drone. In some ways I think being a woman is a fuller experience of life, it's like having less shock absorbers. That can be good and bad, and sometimes I do envy mens' little corpus callosums. Other times I feel sorry for y'all. Do you even know how fun life can be? I've cried lots of tears but I've also felt incredible joy & I wouldn't give up the latter, even if it meant avoiding the former.
In the end, the men are just as trapped into their roles as the women. In my own life I've met cool and full people, who go much deeper than stereotypes, of both sexes, but, they're very, very rare. Most would rather go watch their young men knock heads while girls cheer them on.
posted by Intervision at 2:20 PM
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