P3+Discuss+the+H.G.+Bissinger's+portrayal+of++Boobie+Miles.

5. H.G Bissinger portrays Boobie Miles as many things, as a star running back, as a boy with a lot of heart, someone who had a tough childhood, and someone who struggles with school. Most of all, Bissinger portrays him as a football star who has fallen from grace. At the end of chapter three when Boobie gets his x-rays back Bissinger shows how the people of Odessa start to question Boobies future in football, "It's not an impossibility that Boobie can come back. Can he mentally overcome the injury to come back? Can he be full speed? Can you really come back from it?" (68). Before his injury Boobie was one of the best players on the team. Bissinger explained how colleges were throwing themselves at him and how he had something special that no one else had. Boobie knew he was the best and thats what helped him accomplish so much, but after his injury his confidence dwindled. Boobie sat on the bench at the first game and after that people started to forget who he was. Bissinger shows Boobie at his best and also at his worst. - Danielle Rouviere

5.) H.G. Bissinger’s portrayal of Boobie Miles is different throughout the first parts of the book. Bissinger told us about how his parents left him, and he was forced to live in a child home for the beginning of his life. According to H.G. Bissinger Boobie “Thought he was the best” (54). Everybody knew that Boobie had the athleticism and explosiveness to be the best player at Permian, but everyone else knew he had the heart and determination. Bissinger portrays that Boobie is kind of a punk, and is very loud spoken. He also implies that he is no the sharpest tool in the shed in regards to school. Up until high school, Boobie had a learning disability that he took easy classes for, but if he wished to make it to college to play sports, he would have to drop the extra help and just take easy classes. All of his teachers were pretty lenient when giving him work, and when they graded him. They knew he was the focal point for the team to make it to state. So he was kind of the superstar of the town and the school. The guy who adopted Boobie pushed him extremely hard to be a success in football, or whatever he wants to do, but mainly football. So Bissinger portrayed him as a good athlete, but not as good of a person off the field. But he had what it takes mentally to be successful at the next level.

-David Waller

5. The way H.G. Bissinger describes Boobie Miles in //Friday Night Lights// is very interesting. At first, Bissinger describes Boobie as a strong and powerful kid. But as the novel continues, he describes him as a bit immature, almost like a young child. For example, in the chapter devoted to Boobie, Bissinger states, “It was something else, more than just strength or speed, a kind of invincible fire that burned within him, an unquenchable feeling that no one on that field, //no one//, was as good as he was” (54). Bissinger describes him as a gladiator, a champion of the Permian football team. But later, on the same page, Bissinger states, “…after he had come off the field with tears in his eyes because one of the opposing players had called him a nigger” (54). Boobie is portrayed as a very emotional person here, and Bissinger says later that Miles uses this emotion to his advantage. That is, he uses that anger against the opposing team. Boobie Miles is an interesting character, and it will be fascinating to see how he develops throughout the novel. - Jake Korinko

5. In the Prologue of the book Friday //Night Lights// Bissinger describes Boobie Miles as somewhat of a big shot, the kids that the recruiters always flocked to. Bissinger describes Boobie as a cocky player. “No one was as good as he was. Miles had the attitude” (Bissinger 54). Boobie was also portrayed as a tough kid. Jerrod McDougal stated, “He’s strong as snot” (Bissinger 55). Boobie had great strength and speed and contained an invisible fire within him. Throughout the rest of Chapter three the tone of Boobie being a great cocky player faded away. The coaches took notice when Boobie was called a nigger from the other team. Boobie left the field with tears in his eyes. Boobie got so worked up that Gaines had to calm him down so he wouldn’t be kicked out of the game. Bissinger portrays Boobie as cocky, tough, and emotional in //Friday Night Lights.// -Terra Smith

5. Bissingers portrays Boobie Miles as a star. It is a fact that Boobie Miles is one of the main players on the team. I do believe that they put too much pressure on him to make sure the Panthers win. In the book it states, “ There’s nineteen thousand fans in the stands and they can’t do what you’re doing, they’re all cheering for one thing, they’re cheering for you” (Bissinger 7). This quote describes how there is so much pressure on Boobie to perform well in the games. Boobie Miles is the main focus of the book and Bissinger portrays him as the focal point. The fans of the Panthers all believe that Boobie is the star of the team as well; everyone comes to the games to watch him. It seems that the whole team revolves around him.

-Hilary Pepper

5. In //Friday Night Lights// H.G. Bissinger has portrayed Boobie Miles a cocky, hard- headed son of a gun. Boobie was the running back for Permian High School. He was known for his attitude and fit the description of nearly any other running back that had played Texas football. Boobie was not just a big intimidating kid; he had more depth to him. A former teammate, Art Wagner said, “ Miles had the //attitude//, he thought he was the //best// ” (Bissinger 54). Boobie’s life was very different. At the age of five he had been placed in foster care after numerous abuse problems occurring at home. His real family was much different than the man Boobie would grow up with. L.V., Boobies guardian after foster care gave Boobie a sense of bonding. L.V. was football coach for the Pop Warner team, the Vikings. That inspired Boobie to become a football player. Because of L.V. Boobie was able to learn to express gratitude. - Alicia Lee

5. Bissinger portrays Boobie Miles as the ultimate football player. Not in the sense that he can run the fastest, score the most touchdowns, or sack the most opposing team members (even though he is portrayed as being very talented in all of those things). He is the ultimate football player in that his entire life is integrated into the sport. Football is what Boobie Miles sleeps, eats, breathes, and lives. Bissinger describes it well as, “It was something else, more than just strength or speed, a kind of invincible fire that burned within him, an unquenchable feeling that no one on that field, no one, was as good as he was” (54). His life was filled with turmoil from his parents divorce and his uncle took his despair and focused him on football and never let him stray from that path. Bissinger illustrates this in //Friday Night Lights//, “He had pushed Boobie in football and prodded him and refused to let him quit” (57). By the time Boobie was playing for Permian, football was all he cared about. He wasn’t going anywhere academically; he had no life outside the sport. Ironically, while Boobie believes he is invincible, he has never been more susceptible to failure. And it is that failure that Boobie fears more than anything in the world, so he blocks it out, he makes failure an impossibility, because if he were to fail at football he would be nothing. Boobie Miles was destined to fail. He was a kid from Odessa Texas who thought he would play with the pros, he thought his whole life would be a breeze because he was so good at football, yet he had no education, no aspirations outside football, and an unrealistic view of the world that was just waiting to tear him apart. -Sean Madsen5.

H.G. Bissinger portrays Boobie Miles as a quitter. In the beging of the book he makes it seem that Boobie Miles quits when he cant do something. “that’s why im going to quit, they can do it without me”(Bissinger 17). Boobie Miles had a season changing injery when he tore his MCL. After he returned to the game and found out it did not fully recover he decided to quit. Bissinger makes you think that when Boobie cant do something he just gives up in it. Boobie is nothing but a football player who cant play the game so he quit. Bissinger makes you not like him at some points in the book. -Brendon Argenziano

5. In the book //Friday Night Lights// one character stands out from the rest. The character Boobie Miles stands out from all the other characters in the book so far because Boobie was the best running back for his team until he sustain an injury. H.G. Bissinger portrays Boobie miles as a star running back whose dreams are crushed when Boobie becomes injured and unable to play. In //Friday Night Lights// H.G. Bissinger portrays Boobie as becoming disappointed when the trainer says, “I sure hope not”(57). The trainer declaring that the trainer was thinking would do that Boobie for the season. H.G. Bissinger continued to describe the disappoint that Boobie Miles experienced while having to watch the football team. As the book continues Boobie Miles seems to watch his dreams disappear with each game that Boobie has to watch from the bench. That’s how Boobie Miles is portrayed in the //Friday Night Lights//. -Jacob Croft

5. Boobie Miles is a basic story of the underpriveledged kid trying to get ahead. Despite his extreme ability to perform in Football, his status of "learning disabled student" (Bissinger 65) is going to cause some serious issues down the road. He's well aware of it, making the reader connect with him in ways that evoke sadness. The big dumb oaf has been a lovable character in loads of works, such as Fezzick in The Princess Bride, and whenever he gets down, the reader goes with him (or her). The rampant racism in the town of Odessa furthers the pressure on Boobie to succeed despite his shortcomings. According to Bissinger, "And some in town, all of them white, gleefully suggested that Boobie Miles, without the ability to carry a football in his hand, might as well get a broom and start preparing for his other destiny in life - leraning how to sweep corners of storerooms" (Bissinger 67). As if that weren't enough, there's the scrimage that badly injured his knee preventing him from playing. However, despite the mental and physical downfalls and opposition from certain townsfolk, Miles trudges on, striving to achieve the best he can in the season. It's almost like a movie. The kid has guts. -Michael Davenport