Why+do+you+think+people+in+Odessa+revolve+their+life+around+Permian+High+School+Football?

6. The citizens of Odessa revolove their lives around Permain Football for many reasons. The most important reason Odessa citizens revolve their lives around Permian Football to find a connection with the people around them. Due to their money situation and all the racism, there are only negative connections. They want a //positive// connection and the only way to find that is through football. Citizens have alot in common in Odessa such as low income, harsh realities, and miles of nothing; all negatives. One citizen says, "At times Odessa had the feel of lingering sadness that many isolated places have, a sense of the world orbiting around it at dizzying speed while it stood stuck in time" (Bissinger 33). Sadness is accepted in Odessa because that's the way it has always been. When football comes into the picture all negative thoughts are lost and all focus is on football. Through football, citizens are able to fall out of reality and slip away to a place they only wish were true.

- Randi Gardner

6. The people in Odessa revolve their life around Permian High School football because it is the one thing the town has, the one thing that can make the people in the town come together. One night can make them forget all the troubles their town has and all they troubles they have and just focus on one thing; football. When discussing the possibility of meshing Odessa High and Permian High, Lucius D. Bunton states, "That would have destroyed the football program, that's why we didn't do it" (Bissinger 83). The people of Odessa cherish the strong hold that football has on their town and they never let anything come in the way of that strong feeling of accomplishment. Permian football is not only a way to bring people together every friday night, it is also a fight against racism in their town. It is for the black players anyway, whose only sense of accomplishment, pride and respect comes from Permian football. On that one night they are just as good as the white kids, on that one night all the racist tension in the town seems to go away, on that one night they are not niggers anymore. The escape from the realities of racism, hatred and disappointment in their town is what ultimately brings the town of Odessa together every friday night. They revolve their lives around Permian High School football because it is the only good thing they have to revolve their lives around.

- Kara Grubb

At Permian High School in Odessa, Texas people revolve their life around football. According to Bissinger, “there is nothing to replace it. It’s an integral part of what made the community strong. You take it away and it’s almost like you strip the identity of the people”(43). Football is how the community supports itself economically. At Permian High School when the football players make it to state the community knows that everything will be fixed. Texas in Odessa there is racism and the horrible ways of the life’s of the football players went thru before going to Permian High School and playing football. The community goes all out when the football season begins to make sure that their community can be economically stable. Football is the way the state stays together; without football Odessa would crumble. If football was not available the community would not be stable and the people would not be able to make a living. - Mesha Goodheart

6. The citizens of Odessa have a fascination with football that is similar to all of Texas, yet differs in certain ways. According to Friday night Lights, But basically it became a transient town, a place to come to and make money when the boom was on and then get as far away from as possible with the inevitable setting in of the bust" (Bissinger 39). Odessa is a town that has a main economy surrounding oil. When the oil is found and is gathered, people travel to Odessa to strike rich, making the economy prosper as they do. Yet, people leave in droves from the town when the oil dries up for a time. The economy falls as a result and threatens to decimate the town. During this time, the only thing that keeps the town from falling apart is the Permian Panthers. Football keeps them together and is a life line when disaster strikes. Without football and having such a passion for it, the town would have been deserted many years ago. -Caelan Hartnett