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.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up dominant wins against Chico in their series against the Dragons last week.
The Indians won both games 11-0 by run-rule after five innings to get their first district wins of the season.
Nocona was coming off losing both games against Lindsay the previous week in its first district series and bounced back in a big way.
In the first game at home last week, the Indians scored six runs in the first inning and five in the third inning which proved to be all the offense they needed.
Kutter Cabrera led the team with three RBIs while Miller Jentry was second with two RBIs. The team finished with nine hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched a shut out while striking out seven and allowing three hits. Defensively, the team committed one fielding error.
The second game saw Nocona score all of its runs in the first three innings, highlighted by scoring six runs in the second inning.
Murphey hit a three-run home run to lead the team while Brody Langford and Landon Fatheree each had two RBIs.
On the mound RJ Walker had a big day, throwing a perfect four innings which means he did not allow a hit or walk anyone. He also struck out eight batters, which put him over 100 career strikeouts in high school. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their series against Bryson last week.
The first game was a close 3-0 loss, but the second game was 11-0, done after four and half innings due to run-rule.
The Panthers were coming off close losses to Perrin-Whitt from the previous week. They were hoping they could turn their fortune around playing another 1A program.
Unfortunately in the first game, the Cowboys got off to a good start, scoring three runs in the first inning, with two coming with two outs due to an error and a dropped third strike.
Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up after that to not allow another run in the final six innings. Unfortunately, the Panthers had only two hits and four base runners all game as they lost the close game 3-0.
Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrest had the only two hits for Saint Jo in the game as the team struck out 18 times. Trent Gaston ended the game allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well several days later in game two. Bryson scored three runs in both the first and second innings before scoring five runs in the third inning. Saint Jo was not able to get a hit and drew two walks in the game.
The Panther defense committed six fielding errors which led to only three of the 11 runs given up were earned by the pitching staff who gave up five hits, walked six and hit four batters.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played Perrin-Whitt last week in a series.
The Pirates won the first game 11-1 by run-rule and the second game score was not updated on Game Changer.
The Eagles were coming off one-sided losses to Bryson the previous week in their first district series and was hoping to play better.
Bellevue did get out to an early lead in the first inning. River Trail hit an RBI single in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0, which proved to be the highlight of the game.
Perrin-Whitt scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and five in the fifth inning to win 11-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers picked up a high-scoring win against Perrin-Whitt on Thursday to get their second straight district win and some revenge.
The Lady Panthers won 35-20 against the Lady Pirates, nearly equaling the total when both programs played on the gridiron during the fall.
Saint Jo was coming off a big win the previous week against Bryson, but had lost the last time it played Perrin-Whitt by 10 runs in another high-scoring game.
The Lady Panthers did not start the game off well, allowing 11 runs in the top of the first inning before they had even gotten a chance to bat yet.
Most teams would crumble, but Saint Jo fought back slowly at first before picking things up.
The Lady Panthers scored three runs in the first inning to cut the lead to 11-3.
Perrin-Whitt added four more runs in the second inning to go up 15-3, which in most games is insurmountable.
Saint Jo answered with eight runs in the bottom of the second inning, cutting the lead to 15-11.
The Lady Pirates scored five runs in the third inning and went up by nine runs 20-11. Then the Lady Panthers had a monster offensive inning that went on for awhile.
Saint Jo scored 18 runs in the third inning, not only getting its first lead, but going up by nearly double-digits 29-20.
The Lady Panthers had the momentum and it showed on defense in the fourth inning, allowing no runs for the first time all game by either team.
Saint Jo then went for the kill, scoring six runs to end the game early due to run-rule with the final score being 35-20.
Mercedes Diaz led the team with seven RBIs as she hit one of the two home runs for the Lady Panthers, with the other going to Lily Cook. Maxey Johnson was right behind with six RBIs and Kamron Skidmore had four.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians started the second round of district with a dominant win against Era on Monday.
The Lady Indians won 16-0 after four innings, winning by run-rule against the Lady Hornets.
Nocona went 3-2 in the first round of district, only losing to big dogs Lindsay and Muenster. The first time the Lady Indians had played Era, it had been a close 5-2 win for Nocona so the team knew it had to come to play.
The Lady Indians started off well, scoring five runs in the first inning to take the early lead. Nocona added three runs during the next two innings to go up 8-0 as the Lady Indian defense shut down the Lady Hornets.
Nocona then went for the kill, scoring eight runs in the fourth inning to end the game early, winning 16-0.
Reagan Phipps and Tinley Cable each had home runs. Phipps had a team high three RBIs while Cable, Heidi Atteberry and Gwyndelyn Forsyth each finished with two RBIs.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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