The book's release during the 1990 season coincided with the investigation of the team for holding illegal off-season practices, which resulted in the team being declared ineligible for the playoffs and thus not participating in the post season for only the second time since 1980. Permian's absence from the playoffs allowed San Angelo Central into the playoffs for only the 3rd time since 1966. The negative reaction to the playoff situation was exacerbated by the book, and many residents of Odessa received the book with responses ranging from mild indignation to threats of physical violence aimed at the book's author.[3]
In response to the negative reaction in Odessa, a local bookstore cancelled a book signing by the author, and T-shirts possessed by locals bore the words, "Buzz off, Bissinger".[4][5]
However, over time, the accuracy of the story has held up. The book has been reprinted frequently, including a 2000 reprint with a new afterword by the author detailing the team's accomplishments in the early part of the 1990s followed by the demise of the program in the latter part of the decade.
In 2002, Sports Illustrated named Friday Night Lights the fourth-greatest book ever written about sports, and its fourth place position made it the highest rated book focusing on football.[6] In 2015, the book was reissued as a 25th anniversary edition and included a new afterword by Bissinger in which he provided an update on players from Odessa's 1988 team.[7][8][9]
Censorship
Friday Night Lights has been a frequent target of censors; the book appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000–2009 at number 89.[10]
