The year is 1988, and the setting is Odessa, Texas. No, this is not some terrible dream (who wants to go to west Texas, anyway?). Instead, it is the end of the movie “Friday Night Lights.”
Different characters flash across the scene, and accompanying each of them is a summary of what they did after graduating from Permian High School. Some of their futures are bright, some not so much.
Why do I bring this up? As it turns out, there are many similarities between the end of this movie and our own Oregon Ducks team. Like Billy Bob Thornton’s Permian Panthers, the Ducks also made a championship game (the Rose Bowl) and lost, capping a memorable season with a disappointing ending.
And then … well, you know what happened after that. Oregon’s roster took over the local police blotter, and the team was in the spotlight for all of the wrong reasons.
If Jeremiah Masoli had been a character in “Friday Night Lights,” I imagine his caption at the end would have looked something like this:
“Jeremiah Masoli stole $5,000 worth of items from a fraternity house. He was suspended for the 2010 season, and his future at the University remains to be seen.”
I think it’s safe to say Masoli’s caption would have fallen under the “depressing” category.
But I digress.
“Friday Night Lights” ends on a high note, stating that Permian went on to win the coveted state title during the following season. If all goes well, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ducks are headed down a similar path.
After all, the pieces are all in place. Masoli might not be back, but LaMichael James will only miss one game. I have a distinct feeling the running back learned a valuable lesson from his brush with the law, and that he will approach the 2010 season with a vengeance. To keep the movie analogy going, James will be the same actor playing an entirely different character. The same can be said for the rest of the team (I hope), and most of all Chip Kelly.
You could argue that all of these legal problems have taken the heaviest toll on the first-year head coach. The poor guy went through more in one year than Mike Bellotti (or most other coaches, for that matter) experience in an entire career. Though I didn’t always agree with his decisions, I believe he learned a great deal from this and will only be a better coach going forward.
Suspending Masoli was the right decision. Kelly had been heavily criticized for playing favorites when it came to discipline. People wondered how Jamere Holland could be thrown off the team while James remained unpunished (though that turned out to be untrue: James was secretly suspended shortly after his arrest). I’ll admit that I questioned Kelly, too.
But when the time came, he stepped up and did what was right. Masoli will no doubt be missed, but that kind of conduct (and lying about it) can’t be tolerated from someone who is supposed to be a team leader. I do, however, hope he has learned from this experience and can find some way to salvage his career.
In short, I don’t think too many players are going to cross Kelly in years to come. If they do, they’ll pay the price.
So maybe another Rose Bowl berth seems a bit far-fetched for next year. It will all depend on how Nate Costa/Darron Thomas performs. But with spring practices starting, I feel strangely optimistic about next season.
Life is never like the movies; that much is almost always true. But remember: “Friday Night Lights” is based on a true story. Stranger things have happened.
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