Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream

The chapter title refers to how quickly coaches write off Boobie after his knee injury. Bissinger explains how sub players wear white while active players wear black. After Boobie’s injury, he is relegated to the sub-group, a major disappointment. While Boobie is desperate to play again, his coaches know it would be unwise to test his healing knee and have already filled his position with newcomer Chris. As a sub, Boobie plays only occasionally, and his performance on the field, while gutsy, is not consistent.

L. V. feels ambivalent about Boobie playing on an injured knee and consistently supports Boobie, trying to keep him motivated despite his depressive episodes around game time. While L. V. hopes that college recruiters will remain interested in extending offers to Boobie, the coaching staff knows that it is only possible if Boobie fully recovers and plays with the same skill as before. Most Permian coaches do not sympathize with the psychological aspect of his injury and healing process and instead consider it selfish that he is depressed about losing his position and the attention. L. V. and Boobie, however, know that to get to the “promised land” of college football, Boobie needs to regain his prominent position on the team.