I was incredibly stoked last night watching the first show in this season 3 of “Friday Night Lights”. I love this show because, although it may feel like football infused, male teenybopperish to the outsider, the writers seem to pack it with inspiration and the achievement of human spirit in times of dismay. And I just love when the underdog wins or the talented warrior rises up even in times of great struggle.
So last night’s episode:
There were two dominant paths that struck me as notable. We find two people, Smash and Tyra, each with different stories, but each facing obstacles.
Smash is last year’s great football talent of a tailback. He was incredible. He smashed records like crazy, hence his nickname. Now already graduated from high school and after what could have been a career ending injury to his knee on last season’s championship game, he is working with his high school football coach to regain his speed and athleticism in order to secure another scholarship and play college ball.
After a visit to the doctor, he learns that his knee has healed completely but he may never be able to have the same speed he did before, Smash quits. He tells the coach that football is over and “the Smash” [he] is no more and he needs to be realistic about his situation.
Near the end of the show, during a game of raquetball, the coach tells Smash rather aggressively that “I can’t want it for you! You have to want it! I don’t know, change your game if you have too!”
Then we have Tyra. A senior in high school with a 2.5 GPA who has ambitions of getting out of Dillon, Texas and attending a reputable college. After meeting with the Vice Principle, she is extremely disheartened to find that the average entry GPA of the schools she wants to apply to is impossible to achieve with her current and past grades. We find her later ditching school and at a club where a dead beat proposes to her stripper sister. Tyra then realizes that she has to stop the cycle in her family and get the heck out of Dillon and on to college somehow. Cut to the next scene where she is telling the Vice Principle that she is going to college and he is not allowed to call her an idiot until later, if she doesn’t get into college.
Two paths, both with others telling them they can’t do whatever. A Doctor said, “You won’t regain your speed”. A Vice Principle said, “You can’t get into these schools”. Both said be realistic. Screw that. If you want, it go after it. Being realistic is one thing, some things we don’t have control over, but why stop until we know for certain it’s not going to work out. Tyra is going to try again and again, while Smash just quit. Don’t let someone else’s words dictate your response. You control your actions, not others. So get going and chase your dreams with reckless ambition and believe in yourself!
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October 29, 2008 at 1:58 pm
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