In Texas, football isn't simply a sport; it is a way of life. Entire towns come together each week to watch high school football teams do battle everyon Friday nights. The identity a town comes down to the success of their football teams. How, and if, a group of 40 young men can defeat their opposing team each week is the talk of the town, the only thing that truly matters. When successful, Texas high school football teams are forces to be reckoned with. The players are kings walking among mere mortals of their town, handed anything and everything they can imagine and praised for years after they leave school.

Yet, after four years of attention, praise and admiration, where do the players go? For four of the most impressionable years of their young lives, these young men are handed anything and everything. Money, clothes, women, even grades are at their beck and call. Their lives may never get better than they are while in high school. This is the greatest time of their lives.

Yet it is also their demise.

In the fictional television series Friday Night Lights, the never before seen lives of Texas high school football players is brought to light. You see the challenges, the triumphs and all the drama that comes with being in the spotlight of an entire town while still finding yourself as a person.

The internal struggle of players is no more apparent than with star running back Brian "Smash" Williams. "The Smash" is a Division 1 prospect playing for the Dillon Panthers and undeniably the best player in Dillon. Smash's story is unique, but not unheard of. Coming from a poor, inner city family, Smash sees his football talent as the key to getting his family out of the ghetto and himself into stardom.

The stardom, the success, the pressure. All of these make up Smash Williams, and all of these are what cause him to crumble. The self-imposed pressure, coupled with the pressure from the town mount, and when Smash can't respond and perform, he crumbles; turning to illegal steroids as his only form of reconciliation.

Living in a town that values winning a state championship over anything else, the Dillon Panthers live constantly under a microscope and are scrutinized for their every action. What does this pressure lead to? A young man with a bright future, willing to throw it all away just to remain relevant in a world of never ending pressure; Texas football.

Most players leaving the Dillon Panther football system struggle with the transition from stardom to mediocrity in their everyday lives. The Panther system fails it's members, giving them four years of being celebrities and rock stars, only to leave them yearning for more and unable to recapture their glory days once they leave.

The players know that their reign as a Dillon Panther has to end at some time. Even still, giving up the fame and fortune upon graduation is not easy for most. Living in Dillon means that once a Dillon Panther, always a Dillon Panther. For some, this means that they will never be able to give up the chase to recapture their time as a Dillon Panther and reenter a system that values Panther football over anything else. For most, this means continuing to wear your Dillon Panther championship ring to display to the world that at one time, you were relevant.

Every young football player in Dillon, Texas dreams of the day they hoist a state championship trophy. They dream of the day they get to slide the championship ring on their finger and wear it proudly for all to admire. They want to be champions and go down in history as winners. For the rest of their lives, state champions for the Dillon Panthers wear their rings to symbolize what they have achieved.

Dillon Panther state championship rings reflect a desire to return to a world of praise and stardom, a time in the players' lives that will never be recaptured.

A prime example of a character trying to recapture his youth through Dillon Panther football is Buddy Garrity. Seemingly the man with every answer, the mover and shaker of Dillon, Garrity represents every past Dillon Panther player; desperate to recapture his youth. Garrity remains heavily involved with the Dillon Panthers, despite having graduated years prior.

Garrity's attempt to remain involved in any way is a desperate attempt to recapture his youth and relive his glory days, and is a representation of the entire town of Dillon. Ex-players walk around proudly displaying their state championship rings, showing the world that they once were important, that they once were on top of the world and that their lives will never be as good as when they were a Dillon Panther.

Where do you go when the glory and fame are all gone?

Where do the players go when the pressure, fandom and stardom are simply memories in the review mirror of life? How will a player like Smash Williams handle life outside of Dillon Panther football? For some players, NCAA football, and the NFL call their names. For others, the road is not so easy.

Highlighting the severe drop from stardom to mediocrity is former Dillon Panther superstar quarterback Lucas Mize. In the town of Dillon, Mize is a star. A state championship winning quarterback, Mize returns to Dillon's homecoming ceremony and is honored for his performance, receiving praise and admiration from current and former players, among many other town members. The story seems simple and prophetic; beloved golden boy returns home to a shower of praise. The reality is quite different.

Mize's story is not as ideal as it would seem. To the town, he went on to play college football and carried on the glory that he achieved as a Dillon Panther. He creates a fictional tale of his successful insurance agency in Dallas, leading everyone to feel proud that their golden boy has gone on to find success. What most of Dillon does not know is that he stopped playing college football in his second year, dropped out of school, and remains in and out of unemployment with a child that he rarely sees. To Dillon, Lucas Mize is a star. To anyone else, he is a disgruntled ex-athlete with no dreams, aspirations, or hope to return to the glory he received as a high school football star.

Mize, like many former Panthers and Texas high school football players, fell victim to the way of life in Texas. Once a superstar, on top of the world and living the high life in Dillon, now a disgruntled, out of work ex-athlete; Mize embodies everything that can go wrong when you leave the four years of stardom and nonstop praise and exit the Dillon Panther fandom.