Closed-up movie theaters. Empty store fronts. For-sale signs everywhere. This is Odessa, Texas. But although it has seen better days, Odessa still has a dream. 
 
That dream comes to life once a week every fall,  when the Panthers of Permian High School take the footbal field under the Firday night lights! Mo-Jo! Mo-Jo! The haunting cheer rocks the  stadium filled with 20,000 fans, who are there not only to toot for their belioved team, but to live out their own dreams and aspirations.
 
In this remarkable book, Pulitzer Prize-winning juornalist H.G. Bissinger Chronicles a  season in the life of Odessa: the  coaches, the mothers and fathers, the teachers, the ministers, the politicians- and most of the players, who carry an entire city's image of  itself on their young shoulders. From the prayer that opens the Watermelon Feed before  the first game, through the heart stopping season and its dramatic ending, Bissinger paints an unforgettable scene-the stale, sweltering air, the painful collision of players on the field, the thrilling wins and punishing, sometimes tragic, losses.