Friday Night Lights Page #7

I was supposed to

make a man outta you.

Sh*t.

You know what that is?

Do you know what that is?

That's a state championship.

- I won a state championship.

- Just calm down, Dad.

Can you touch that?

Can you... touch... that?

Can you... touch... that!

Hell with it.

What the hell are you doing?

You drunk bastard!

You ever feel cursed, Coach?

Like, no matter what, inside your

heart you feel that you're gonna lose.

Like something's

hanging over you,

following you like a witch...

- ... or a demon that just...

- What is wrong with you?

- Why you gotta be so messed up?

- You can't win.

I feel like that all the time.

Even when things

are going good.

When we're winnin',

it's there.

And when we're losin',

it's there.

What is wrong with you?

It took me a long time

to realize that, uh,

there ain't much difference

between winnin' and losin',

except for how

the outside world treats you.

But inside you,

it's about all the same.

It really is.

Fact of the matter is,

I believe that, uh,

our only curses are the ones

that are self-imposed.

You know what I'm sayin'?

We, all of us,

dig our own holes.

God, Dad.

Breaks somebody's back

What is wrong with you?

What's wrong with you?

Ladies and gentlemen,

this is truly unbelievable.

A three-way tie for first place.

So, in less than an hour,

this truck stop,

which we're not allowed

to reveal the identity of,

will serve as host for a coin toss...

that will send two of these teams

to the state play-offs...

and one of them home

empty-handed.

Okay, Skip. We're on

in three, two, one.

Folks, we're here with

the three winning coaches.

Now, we've all agreed on the rules.

Two out of three here, odd man out.

If you got one tails, they're out.

If you got one heads, they're out.

It's a tough way after a

great season for these coaches,

but this is the way it's gonna be.

When I give the word,

we're gonna toss our coins.

And then the district's gonna

have its two representatives.

Let's see the coins, guys.

All right, uh, Coach Doug McCutcheon

from Abilene Cooper's got...

What is it, Coach?

A 1922 silver dollar.

'22 silver dollar, all right.

Coach Gary Gaines

from Permian, you got a...

'69 nickel.

'69 nickel.

And from Midland Lee,

Coach Earl Miller's got a...

Well, that's just your basic U.S. quarter.

Okay. Coaches ready?

- One.

- Ain't no curses.

Two.

Three. Toss 'em.

Coins are down.

This one looks like it's heads.

Okay, that's heads

for Abilene Cooper.

That's mine.

It's heads.

Okay. Midland Lee is also heads.

Hey, we got a third one over here, Skip.

Coach, that's you.

- Come on, Gaines.

- Come on.

Don't touch that.

Just leave it alone.

- Well, that's heads.

- Yup. That's heads too.

Permian is also heads. Man.

- Yeah.

- Well, that figures.

The way you guys' teams

played each other this year,

it'd take more than one toss, so...

Hang on a second.

You know, this coin's pretty worn.

Does this look like heads

to you, Doug?

I can't tell the difference.

It might be tails.

Folks, there might be some controversy

here regarding Cooper's coin.

It's tails.

So, the good news is that life continues for

both Midland Lee and Permian high schools.

At least for another

couple of weeks.

That's the good news.

The not-so-good news is...

that it looks like all roads are

eventually leading to Dallas Carter.

And what a monster of a team

Dallas Carter is.

This Dallas Carter team appears

to be completely unstoppable.

I mean, the rumor is they've

got nine players...

that have already signed

Division 1 letters of intent.

Damn, them boys big.

They are a very, very good

football team, people.

I'll get that car fixed today.

Yeah.

I don't want this to sound

like an apology, but, uh,

- I didn't mean half the things I said la...

- I know.

You just...

You ain't gettin' it.

You don't understand.

This is the only thing

you're ever gonna have.

Forever,

it carries you forever.

It's an ugly fact of life.

Donnie, hell.

It's the only fact of life.

You got one year, one stinkin' year to

make yourself some memories, son.

That's all.

It's gone after that.

And I'll be damned

if you're not gonna miss it.

No guts.

What's up, Water Bug?

What's up, Boobie?

Water Bug!

- Play-offs belong to you, baby.

- I'll make you proud.

What you all lookin' at?

Play your ass off!

Win state.

Be perfect, all that sh*t.

This is a gift for you.

It's gonna be worth a lot of money.

I bet it will.

You be perfect, Preacher Man.

What's up?

Now what we gonna do?

I can't do nothin' else but play football.

Hey, hey.

Don't worry about that.

Don't worry about it?

I can't be doin' nothin' else.

You'll be all right, son.

I can't do nothin' else

but play football.

- Why? We practiced and we practiced.

- It'll be okay.

You told me we were

gonna go to the pros.

What the hell am I gonna do

without my knee?

You'll find somebody else.

Don't worry about it, son.

No! I wanted to buy you a house!

They won't let me play, though.

It's play-off time in Texas.

And who cares if Permian

snuck in on a coin toss?

You know there's been a lot of

expectations for this Permian football team.

And you gotta love

this play-off atmosphere.

They call this the thinning of the herd,

the survival of the fittest.

Win, you go home.

Lose, you play basketball.

Quarterback Mike Winchell.

Runs back, pulls right, throws long.

- Caught. Touchdown.

- Whoo!

The Panthers defeated Dallas Jesuit

to advance to round 16.

They're goin' to the 20,

to the ten, to the five.

It's Comer, folks, into the end zone

for another Permian touchdown.

Chris Comer with another

sensational performance.

Permian cruises past San Angelo

and into the quarter...

Permian was afraid of that.

Dallas Carter...

- Brian Chavez, touchdown.

- A great reading player...

Permian defeats Nimitz

48-7.

Moving into the semi-finals

of the Texas 5-A play-offs.

Advancing to the state finals.

Mike Winchell drops back,

throws a 50-yard bomb.

It's gonna be caught by Parker.

It's going out of bounds.

What a good team...

And that's it. Permian's

gonna battle Dallas Carter...

for the Texas Class 5-A

State Championship.

What would it take for you

to come up to Texas Stadium?

How about if y'all come out here?

- Where? Yeah.

- Over at Ratliff Stadium?

I still think there'd be a problem

with our fans sittin' with your fans.

I don't see any problems.

We can bring in extra police to handle

the crowd-control issues.

Mr. McClary, perhaps you're not aware,

but we have an all-black community.

And frankly, between our

communities, there are some issues.

Wait a minute. What issues

are we talkin' about?

You know, I'm not gonna

get into it at this table.

It's just different.

How about if we went

with a neutral site?

Say College Station,

or San Anton;

Somewhere like that?

Or, you know

what we could do,

is the Astrodome.

Astrodome.

- I got no problem with that.

- Good.

Let's discuss officials.

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