Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights” lecture examines the role of sports in our country, the beauty and potential of it as well as the pitfalls — what he sees as America’s ‘next terrible obsession’ if we don’t start paying more attention.

Bissinger, considered by many to be the finest writer on sports of his generation, detailed in Friday Night Lights how athletics can influence everything from race to educational priorities to gender opportunities to self-identity. Hundreds of educational institutions have used Friday Night Lights as required reading since it was first published in 1990.

Few aspects of our culture are more influential, and less candidly discussed, than sports in America. Sports pervades everything—our educational system from junior high to college; the way parents relate to their sons and daughters; the increasing moral dilemmas raised by the winning at all costs attitude that is now almost tragically common.

As a result of the 4 years he spent living in Odessa, TX writing the book, his continuing relationships with those people who were featured in it, and his other journalistic experiences, Bissinger is well qualified to present this crucial discussion for anybody who cares about their schools, and their communities.

A contributing editor for Vanity Fair, Buzz has written about Pete Rose, Joe DiMaggio, Don Imus, OJ detective Mark Fuhrman, journalist Stephen Glass (made into the film “Shattered Glass”) and St. Louis Cardinals manager, Tony LaRussa (the subject of Buzz’s New York Times bestseller, Three Nights in August, a book about the timeless strategy and humanity of major league baseball), among others.