SPORTS
Friday Night Lights lost me with the “Mud Bowl” episode
The “Friday Night Lights” television show is now remembered as one of the most beloved series from the mid 2000s.
An extension from the 2004 movie that was adapted from the 1990 book written by Buzz Bissinger, it dramatized the various storylines of people in the fictional Texas town of Dillon centered on the high school football team.
Head Coach Erick Taylor and his wife Tami led his Panthers players both on the field and off through their various life problems during five seasons.
Despite struggling with ratings while it was airing, it was one of those shows that everyone who did watch did not just like but love, including critics as it was nominated for every award show in existence.
As the 2010s saw streaming services revolutionize the way people watch television, many have now seen the show through one of these services years after its last season aired in 2011.
With the series centering around not just high school football, but specifically Texas high school football, I figured it was my obligation to give it a shot in high school since I had never heard a bad thing said about it.
I admit the first season wrapped me up in the ride of the Dillon Panthers and the various storylines, but some second season storylines had me rolling my eyes and put a stop to me wanting to continue to watch the series.
Only when thinking back at some of the earlier plot points in season one did I realize the show was just too dumbly unrealistic the whole time and I just never noticed.
I realize every great television show is full of unrealistic things people look past all the time. Only on television can a character go from one major plot line to the next and not have a mental breakdown.
While some real people live hard or eventful lives, go look up your favorite television character’s biography and wonder how they are so relatable after going through all that.
I can suspend my disbelief most of the time, but when it comes to sports I know too much to just turn off my brain sometimes.
The Dillon team needs to win one more game to make it to the state title game.
In real life, athletic directors at both schools negotiate the site of each playoff game. Usually both want the game be as equal a distance drive for each school as possible, but also taking into affect what school district stadiums will be open to hosting the game and how much they will cost.
“It is all about negotiation,” Bowie Athletic Director Cory Mandrell said. “Some coaches are real laid back about it and some are a pain in the butt about certain things.”
The only home field advantage is one that is agreed upon, but usually does not happen and certainly not in the state semifinals.
In the show, Coach Eric Taylor is determined to keep his home field advantage. A wrench is thrown into that at the beginning of the episode 20 called, “The Mud Bowl.” A train not only derails but explodes near the school. Get this, the train was carrying vaguely dangerous chemicals.
School officials say the school grounds will have to be empty for at least a week, which means the Panthers will not be able to play in their home stadium. No mention on how the kids will continue to have lessons that week though. That’s not important.
Playing the Brant Vikings, the fictional Brant must not be too far from Dillon because the coaches meet in person at a proposed stadium. While it is not Brant’s stadium, Coach Taylor accuses the other coach of having ties to the stadium that might give him an advantage somehow.
In desperation, he sees a plot of farm land with someone’s cows on it is available for lease in Dillon and gets to work with his team making it a football field. When Brant’s coach objects, Taylor gets officials to sign off by reading vague rules that it meets field expectations and goads him into agreeing by saying the field conditions will not matter.
I argue it apparently does if you went to the trouble of going through the logistical nightmare of constructing a makeshift field, stands and lights on a cow pasture.
The field factors in another way because all of a sudden it starts raining hard and does not let up until the end of the game. The grass field becomes a mudpit.
I think the whole reason for this episode was the camera crew really wanted to film one of these types of games in all of its glory. It delivers as the players uniforms turn brown and the players slip and slide all around.
The final score is predictably low as the Panthers win on the final play of the game as quarterback Saracen dives into the end zone to make it 14-8.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits beat down City View on the road on Monday by run-rule to pick up a district win.
The Jackrabbits won 15-0 after five innings due to run-rule as they dominated against the Mustangs.
Bowie was coming off a close loss at Holliday in a game it nearly came back to win, so took out its frustration on a struggling City View team.
The Jackrabbits got going early as Troy Kesey hit a solo home run with two outs to get a rally going for the team. Two batters later Edmond De Leon hit a two-run home run.
Rayder Mann hit a ground ball to third base that resulted in an error that drove in a run. Cy Egenbacher then hit an RBI single to put Bowie up 5-0 before the Mustangs had even hit.
After a scoreless second inning, the Jackrabbits got back going in the third. Boston Farris and Seth Mann both hit a two RBI doubles.
Kesey and Hayden Rodriguez followed with RBI singles to make it 11-0 for Bowie.
The Jackrabbits kept the pressure in the fourth inning. Farris hit a three-run home run and Kesey later drove in another run with a double to make it 15-0 for Bowie.
The game continued into the fifth inning and City View needed to score at least six runs to keep the game going. The Mustangs broke up Kesey’s no-hitter on the mound with three straight singles to load the bases up with no outs.
Kesey finished strong, striking out the next two batters before inducing a fly ball to center field for the final out.
The Jackrabbits won 15-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians got some revenge by beating Perrin-Whitt on Thursday at home.
The Indians won 5-3 to hopefully make up for losing the previous game in the final inning against the Pirates.
Nocona had lost two days earlier to Perrin-Whitt 3-2 after leading for the entire game until the final inning.
The second game it was the Pirates that led for the majority of the game, leading 2-1 after the first inning. The Indians tied the score 2-2 after the third inning, but Perrin-Whitt got the lead back in the fourth inning with one run to make it 4-3.
Nocona took control in the sixth inning when Wesley Murpehy drove in two runs with a double. Brody Langford followed him with an RBI single to double the Indians score and put them up 6-4.
This time around, Nocona’s defense held on in the final inning, allowing only one base runner before closing the game with little trouble.
Missing scores
Scores from Saint Jo and Bellevue are not updated due to games being delayed due to weather late last week.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Lady Rabbits came up just short of winning their final game at City View on Friday.
The Lady Mustangs held off a furious Lady Rabbits rally in the seventh inning to scrape out a win 11-10.
Bowie was entering the game knowing it was the last game of the season no matter what so it came out loose and ready.
The Lady Rabbits took control early. Chloe Kinney scored due to an error trying to pick her off. Sage Gossett hit a single that drove in one run and an error on the throw allowed another run to score.
Several batters later, Beau Combs and Victoria Cox both hit RBI singles to make it 5-0 for Bowie.
The Lady Mustangs scored two runs to make cut the lead to 5-2 after the first inning.
Bowie scored one run in the second inning when Serenity Klump was able to score from third base due to an error by the catcher. City View equaled that run in the same inning with an RBI double.
After the teams exchanged scoreless innings in the third and fourth, things picked up in the fifth inning.
Kaylie Kinney hit an RBI double with two outs to extend Bowie’s lead to 7-3.
The Lady Mustangs answered with a huge inning to get back in the game. Three singles and two errors allowed City View to score four runs and tie the score up at 7-7.
After the Lady Rabbits offense could not get anything going in the sixth inning, the Lady Mustangs picked up where they left off.
Five straight singles, one walk and a passed ball allowed City View to score four more runs to take the lead 11-7 heading into the final inning.
With Bowie down to its last three outs of the season, the team buckled up to get something going.
Cox hit a one out double. Chloe Kinney followed with a single that drove her in. After a strikeout and Kinney advancing to second base after a passed ball, Klump drove her in with a double.
After a walk, Gossett came through and hit a single that drove in one more run to cut City View’s lead to one run.
With the tying run in scoring position, Bowie was in good condition but was also down to its last out.
Unfortunately, the next batter struck out looking to end the game and the Lady Rabbits season.
City View won 11-10.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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