Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

Two years ago, as I began graduate school, I finally caved and began watching a television show that two of my friends had been recommending to me all summer. The show was Friday Night Lights. Obviously if you're reading this you know enough about me to realize that two things I absolutely adore and obsess about are sports and TV. So you're probably wondering why I was so hesitant to start watching this show, and I can explain it pretty easily: I read H.G. Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights in high school, and saw the film in theaters in 2004. I figured why watch the TV show? I already knew the plot line, and didn't think a TV series was necessary.

I don't know how to adequately explain how terribly wrong I was. NBC's Friday Night Lights is the best family drama I've ever watched. It is a show that is able to exhibit passion, consequences and grace in the most breathtaking displays against the backdrop of a little town that loves football, Jesus and Texas with an unwavering affection. The characters are real in the sense that they are not ashamed to be who they are, and they screw up often, and in big ways.

It's nearly impossible to describe each character on the show and do them justice, but know that should you choose to watch Friday Night Lights you will encounter mothers, fathers, grandmothers, brothers, sisters, politicians, car salesmen, booster club fantatics, QBs, Dairy Freeze employees, Applebees' waitresses, and church goers who are fiercely loyal to their town and its Dillon Panthers despite themselves. They can't help it, and their efforts to fight it are always fascinating. While Dillon appears as an inescapable football town with nothing to do and no where to go, I consistenly find myself wishing I lived in a place that had one thing that unified the town and community (for better or worse) like football does for these folks.

Kyle Chandler plays the head football coach on the show, and he consistently delivers advice on and off the field to his players and their families, and this one particular quote hammers home everything that "Coach Taylor" and Friday Night Lights represents:

Coach Taylor: "Every man at some point in his life is going to lose a battle. He is going to fight and he is going to lose. But what makes him a man is if at the midst of that battle he does not lose himself. This game is not over, this battle is not over."

The title of this blog is "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose", which is and continues to be the mantra of the show, usually yelled by football players in the locker room. I urge you all to watch this show and be amazed and inspired in the ways that I have been. And then when you become as infatuated with the show as I am you will realize why I had no choice but to start another blog with Amy. I hope that you'll all watch, and follow us over at FridayNightLightsFan.com

You can all thank me later.