Texas has been a state since 1845. Why not call it slave country? I mean, the label of Bush Country is meant to highlight Texas as the state of the ignorant, uneducated, and downtrodden. You want to show the worst. Call us Hick Country.

The Bush Country label is Blue State pandering. What are we calling California? Reagan Country? Nixon Country? Given the holier than thou attitude of late how about Asshole Country. It seems a fair turn to label an entire population based on the words of one man.

Texas is much more than a state that George bush governed for several years. Ignoring everything that came before (bad and good) is a disservice to the state, and an untruth. If we were to base the label on time governed then all of America is as much Bush Country as Texas.

The internet here relies heavily on the pony express, and it was shear luck I managed to rope all the bits necessary to read this article. You almost got it by me.

Are you saying that Texas has no hot, boring, ultra-conservative, suspicious, small towns where high school football is an obsession -- or do you think that such places swung heavily towards Kerry?

I take issue with the connotation of the label 'Bush Country'. It panders to people who want to believe it is us and them, red state vs blue state. It is not that easy, and using a broad brush, brings an idiotic political argument into a review of a hokey half-assed TV show, and is unnecessary, no matter the leanings of your web-site.

Judging people from afar is a terrible way to think about the people you share a nation with. Some damn fine people voted for Bush, as did some scum. I can say the same for Kerry. Don't label people based on their vote.

To be fair, "Two-A-Days" chronicles the few weeks of the year when the football team plays football. If that isn't the time for them to be obsessed by football, when is? And if the show expanded to include non-football stories, like the chess team or the track squad, then it wouldn't be a show about football, would it? This is not to say it is a good program, only that it sticks very closely to its subject. It's kind of like wondering why "Laguna Beach" doesn't chronicle the lives of Orange County's poor and disadvantaged.

Like Mr. Barra, I'm also from Birmingham, and I'm not sure that I would classify Hoover as an affluent suburb. Sure, it's probably above average nationwide and nicer in general than the dusty plains of South Texas but there are many, many apartment complexes and many newly arrived immigrants in these apartments, not to mention a lot of mixed housing and suburban sprawl. I think that is an aspect of the community the show is leaving out; where are those kids? Now Mountain Brook, where Mr. Barra went to school, on the other hand, is the affluent suburb in Birmingham. Everyone, and I mean everyone, that goes to Mountain Brook is wealthy and many, if not most, are from the old money families in Birmingham.

Not to nitpick, but the Springsteen lyric is "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true? Or is it something worse?"

The misquote in the article doesn't make any sense.

'a few weeks a year' ? ? ?

what planetoid do you live on, jay-boyee ? ? ?

1. there are OFF-SEASON summer workouts and football camps; supposedly 'voluntary', but try telling coach you won't attend, and see how far down the depth chart you drop... (unless you are a mini-superstar, then you can rape the coach's wife, saunter into practice drinking a beer, kick the mascot, and *still* start...)

2. there are OFF-SEASON spring workouts, scrimmages, and 'exhibitions' against other schools...

3. there are countless team players who are given multiple 'do-nothing'/gym/other 'classes' (especially during football season), who are working out, or goofing off...

4. there are numerous 'school activities' of pep rallies, bake sales for the band, cheerleaders cheering, pompoms, um, pomming, and boosters boosting...

5. there are before/after school workouts and weightlifting sessions...

6. of course, many times the mini-superstars in football, are also standout athletes in basketball, baseball, track, etc; so they are working out/competing year round... (not to mention participating in boys club/babe ruth type leagues...)

etc, etc, etc...

you are nuts, *many* schools (*not* just the upper tier) are absolutely obsessed and driven by the football (and/or basketball) team and the ancillary activities ...

its not that i am against high-level, high school athletic competition, i just think it is w-a-a-a-y overaccentuated, and lionizes a few elite athletes at the expense of the participation and enjoyment of EVERY student getting into sports activities...

art guerrilla

aka ann archy

eof

Football, more or less, drives the whole fall semester for a large percentage of kids at Texas public high schools.

Even being in marching band (required at my school if you wanted to be in concert band, which in turn was required if you wanted to play a wind instrument in the orchestra) was a huge time suck. Couldn't have any decent wind players who didn't give a crap about football NOT be in the effort to win at every aspect of The Game (can't lose the Halftime...)

Marching band practices started three weeks before the semester, and we opted to do it from 7am-11am each day instead of waiting till 8am and having to go till noon. Oh, and it wasn't an option, if you wanted to be in the top concert band (and therefore, the orchestra).

During the season, marching practice started at 7am every day (so you had to be there by 6:45am to get onto the parking lot in time) and there was practice Monday nights and sometimes Saturdays. On home game days, merely Friday afternoon and evening were obliterated. However, this being Texas, out of town games could sometimes be a 4 or 5 hour bus ride away. I remember several occasions where I missed most of the school day to go to an away game.

Football season could easily go into December if your school's team made it into the playoffs.

******

I read "Friday Night Lights" when I was in early high school and consider it to be essential reading for anyone who wants to fully appreciate Texas high school football and Texas high school culture in general.

I'm going to buy a copy when I'm back in Texas for Christmas to pass around to my friends here in Bavaria. They totally do not comprehend competitive school sports teams, much less the collective madness that is Texas high school football.