Mike Teacher
09-25-2004, 02:55 AM
No Spoilers Here; I'm talking about the Book, soon to be a movie [shudder].
One of the first 'extended' calls I had with Ron + Fez was during a segment about something like how crazy parents get with HS teams, or little leauge...
I called in about this book, and about how 20,000 people were showing up for these West Texas High School Football games, with The Permian High School Panthers. Beyond fans, beyond Fanatics.
Whats so Special About these Guys [NO SPOLIERS, this is about the school, from a teachers point]
The town of Odessa Texas, home of the Panthers is Truly the Armpit Town Defined. A Money Magazine poll in 1987 ranked Odessa, TX the 5th worst city to live in, out of a list of 300. Psychology Today did a ranking of most stressful cities using rates of alcoholism, crime, suicide, and divorce: Odeass placed 7th out of the tops 286 Metropolitan Areas.
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And in this climate they made a team [Again, these are past Real Stats, No spoliers] that from 1964 to 1990 [when the book was published]
-Won four State Championships
-Went to the state finals a record Eight times
-Made the Playoffs 15 times.
Are you ready for this winning percentage?
.825
They won 82.5% of their games, the WORST season during that time was 7-2, and I quote from the book, the .825 is "by far the best of any team in the entire state in the modern era of the game dating back to 1951."
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So the big Q the author asks is, How do they do it? Coz, again from the book,
"All of this wasnt accomplished with kids who weighed 250 pounds, but with kids who often weighed 160 or 170 or even less. They weren't especially fast or strong. But they were fearless and relentlessly coached and from the time they were able to walk they had only one certain goal in their lives in Odessa, Texas. Whatever it took, they would play for Permian."
Written in 1990, you can see where some, if not Most of "Varsity Blues" [the one with Jon Voight] came from.
You should RUN to get this book. I pray the movie doesnt suck. And when you Run, go out five steps and then hook left, and i'll get you the ball.
IMDB Link (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390022/)
Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0306809907/102-7338827-2612926?v=glance)
From the Amazon Link:
In 1970, having won district and bi-district championships, my high school football team played the Odessa Permian Panthers for the regional crown -- and they creamed us. Most frightening was the crowd that came to Abilene from Odessa to watch the game. They wore solid black (Panther colors) and they were FANATICS. When the Panther band spelled "MOJO" on the field (I'd never encountered that term before) they went absolutely NUTS.
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 9-25-04 @ 7:01 AM
One of the first 'extended' calls I had with Ron + Fez was during a segment about something like how crazy parents get with HS teams, or little leauge...
I called in about this book, and about how 20,000 people were showing up for these West Texas High School Football games, with The Permian High School Panthers. Beyond fans, beyond Fanatics.
Whats so Special About these Guys [NO SPOLIERS, this is about the school, from a teachers point]
The town of Odessa Texas, home of the Panthers is Truly the Armpit Town Defined. A Money Magazine poll in 1987 ranked Odessa, TX the 5th worst city to live in, out of a list of 300. Psychology Today did a ranking of most stressful cities using rates of alcoholism, crime, suicide, and divorce: Odeass placed 7th out of the tops 286 Metropolitan Areas.
=
And in this climate they made a team [Again, these are past Real Stats, No spoliers] that from 1964 to 1990 [when the book was published]
-Won four State Championships
-Went to the state finals a record Eight times
-Made the Playoffs 15 times.
Are you ready for this winning percentage?
.825
They won 82.5% of their games, the WORST season during that time was 7-2, and I quote from the book, the .825 is "by far the best of any team in the entire state in the modern era of the game dating back to 1951."
=
So the big Q the author asks is, How do they do it? Coz, again from the book,
"All of this wasnt accomplished with kids who weighed 250 pounds, but with kids who often weighed 160 or 170 or even less. They weren't especially fast or strong. But they were fearless and relentlessly coached and from the time they were able to walk they had only one certain goal in their lives in Odessa, Texas. Whatever it took, they would play for Permian."
Written in 1990, you can see where some, if not Most of "Varsity Blues" [the one with Jon Voight] came from.
You should RUN to get this book. I pray the movie doesnt suck. And when you Run, go out five steps and then hook left, and i'll get you the ball.
IMDB Link (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390022/)
Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0306809907/102-7338827-2612926?v=glance)
From the Amazon Link:
In 1970, having won district and bi-district championships, my high school football team played the Odessa Permian Panthers for the regional crown -- and they creamed us. Most frightening was the crowd that came to Abilene from Odessa to watch the game. They wore solid black (Panther colors) and they were FANATICS. When the Panther band spelled "MOJO" on the field (I'd never encountered that term before) they went absolutely NUTS.
<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/anisig4">
This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 9-25-04 @ 7:01 AM