Texas Fridays: San Antonio

Moussavi, Sam. Texas Fridays: San Antonio. 2017. 206p. ISBN 978-1-68076-496-3. Available at FIC MOU on the library shelves.

James Baker’s passion is football. He lives and dreams football, but up to his high school senior year he was more of a bench warmer than a player. He spent most of the summer getting ready for football season, disrupting his routine of taking a foreign trip with his professor father, who lives in California. Baker, as he likes to be known, worked out, exercised, and drilled constantly, much to the chagrin of his single mother, also a professor currently teaching at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

The hard work has paid off, and Baker is ready to join the team as a starter. His coaches notice his no-nonsense attitude and his work ethics, and during the last intra-squad scrimmage of the training season he is assigned the starting receiver position. During one of the plays, Baker effortlessly catches the ball but loses sight of the defending player and the two of them collide, helmet to helmet. Baker sees stars, his ears are ringing, and he feels nauseous. The medical staff determines that he does not have a concussion, but he is pulled from the game nonetheless. The next morning, Baker experiences symptoms of dizziness and nausea, but he goes back to bed, and it passes. Informed by the medical staff on the team that he needs to advocate for himself if he is hurt, he decides not to report his symptoms so as to not lose his starter position.

Spending Sunday on campus with his mother, Baker meets Tiffany, a freshman at UT-SA and a former all-star high school basketball player. Tiffany explains to him that she got injured one too many times and abandoned basketball because her body simply could not keep up. To her, education is more important than playing a sport she most likely will never make a living at. Baker invites him to his Friday lights debut, and she eagerly accepts to join him.

With everything on the line, Baker is determined to remain a starter. Untreated concussions, however, can be dangerously lethal. What is more important for Baker, being a starting receiver for his high school team, or his health and potentially his life?

Baker is a strong character with conflicted views on his own health. His identity is completely wrapped up in being a football player, but Tiffany’s support shows him there is another way. The game itself is well described and the reader feels in the middle of the action. And unlike other sports books, Texas Fridays: San Antonio does not cover the entire season, but focuses on three specific games and the consequences of Baker’s decisions. Fans of Gutless will like this book. Consider checking out Dairy Queen and Playing with the Boys if you enjoy football stories.