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Now a feature length movie, I feel it is a must see for parents and aspiring athletes. Yes it is dramatized, and it is a bit of a caricature of itself, but it painfully explodes that great American Myth; The myth that athletic prowess is a guarantee of fame, glory and riches. I must be getting old. The truth is, as youngsters, there is great motivation to compete and pine for that larger than life payoff on some level. I don’t doubt that athletes play because there is a love of the game, but the payoff looms. Getting your name in the news, the cheering of the crowd, the scholarship, or the multi-year contract; You name it, it’s very real. The Bling-Bling is a major turn-on. And the payoff always manages to show up, eventually. It may however not be packaged the way you want it to be, or delivered in a timely fashion according to your own master plan. Therein lies the lesson. By all accounts, the Odessa Permian Panthers and their dedicated fans (20,000 every game!) believed it was their birthright to win the State Championship, and launch many NFL careers. Neither happened. How they dealt with it makes for great theatre, but it goes deeper than that. This was no Hollywood fairy tale, these are about real people whose lives continue as we speak. Some 1,200 miles north, Novi’s own Wildcats were just inches away from a State Championship of their own. Was their quest any less significant? No, but the stories are similar. Novi’s however was certainly less traumatic if not just as heartbreaking. For me the payoff has been simple. I am blessed with a tremendous rolodex of people from around the nation that I’ve connected with through the world of sport in the last 30 years, including my good friend Doug Saunders, who coached against Odessa Permian in 1988. He provided me with great insight into that team, and he is now a successful businessman in New Orleans. I’ve been fortunate to meet by accident many members of the 1988 Novi Wildcat football team that came oh so close. One particular email was from Ken Hendrian, a player for Coach “O” that season. His words were articulate and heartfelt about what that season and what that final game meant to him. Clearly he benefited from that experience, rather than lament about it. So once again, life imitates art. Even you though you may already know the outcome of “Friday Night Lights” you can still enjoy the story by understanding the journey. Sports teach us you can plan everything in life but the outcome. The game can break your heart if you let it, or it can make you stronger, there are no guarantees. As far as the payoff, that’s up to you.
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