Mojo: Just a Game or a Way of Life?

There is no opposing argument for me. Friday Night Lights is the best sports movie of all time. No movie I have ever watched more accurately depicts the true emotions, passion, and dedication within high school football. And not just high school football, Texas high school football. Shops in the town of Odessa close down on game day, the players are celebrities within their own high schools, and coaches make salaries as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The movie spotlights an array of characters, such as quarterback Mike Winchell, full back Don Billingsley, super star running back James "Boobie" Miles, and defensive end Ivory Christian. As well as head coach Gary Gaines, who feels more pressure than any one else in the entire town. "Mojo" is the rally cry for the entire small town of Odessa. Throught out the town, the constant cheers of "Go Mojo" bring together a poverty stricken community like nothing else could. The Odessa-Permian High School team starts off the season with a devastating injury to division I prospect running back, Boobie Miles. After that, the team is distraught and loses the second game of the season. For a perennial power house in West Texas football, losing a district game brings about much criticism towards head coach Gary Gaines, and the players themselves. Just being 18 years old, and having the pressure of "protecting the town" in which they live is an enormous responsibility. The team ends up over coming the adversity they faced and sneaking into the district playoffs on a coin toss. With emergence of back up running back Chris Comer in the wake of Boobie Miles' injury, Odessa-Permian defeated every team en route to the state championship game, in with they face all-black school Dallas-Carter. Heavily favored Dallas-Carter jumped out to an early game lead, but after an inspiring half time speech by the normally soft spoken Ivory Christian and head coach Gary Gaines, the Panthers mounted a come back, only to have Mike Winchell fall about a yard short from scoring the game winning touchdown. In a small but tight-nit community such as Odessa, the pressure put on these kids is unbelievable.

The saddest scenes to me were the morning after Don Billingsley got into a verbal altercation with his father (played by Tim Mcgraw), the two attempted to talk things out the next morning. Billingsleys's father states that his senior year of football at Odessa-Permian was the only thing he had, and it still gets him through life to that day. To be brought up in a culture when one year, one season of football, and possibly even one play can decide whether or not you are self-fulfilled for the rest of your life is a sad concept to me, however, it is a way of life in Texas. Another heart-breaking scene is when Boobie Miles is sitting on his front porch with his severely injured leg. Boobie had had dreams of playing for a division I college and then going to the pros and being able to support himself and his closest living family member, his beloved uncle L.V. However, because of the injury, Boobie had based his entire life on football, and had nothing to fall back on. Boobie overlooks the street to see a garbage man unloading trash, and realizes instead of playing professional football, his life occupation could be remaining in Odessa with a minimum wage job.

The absolute emotional roller coaster that this movie brings you on is unmatched by any sports movie out there, or possibly any movie. It is impossible not to root for the Permian Panthers in their journey towards a state championship. To this day, when I rematch the ending of the movie, I still think that one time, Mike Winchell can carry the pile of Dallas-Carter players into the end zone, and score the game winning touchdown to win the state championship for Permian. And everyone can live happily ever after. However, that has yet to happen, and the end of this movie still leaves me in disappointment. Not disappointment in the making of the film, but that the Panthers could not win the state championship.