How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life. -- Kirk

Friday Night Lights has got the best ending of any sports movie I've ever seen. ...

[Spoiler alert!]


... Instead of the typical 50-yard touchdown pass (or field goal kick) to win it all, the film actually goes deeper into the psychology of competition -- dealing with loss.

Since most people's sports endeavors revolve around loss, it seems only natural that losing, and responding to loss, would be explored in a great sports movie. In reality, I had never seen that sort of thing until I viewed Friday Night Lights.

There's a lesson there. Life -- and sports -- isn't always about winning. I want to tell my boys that they're not always going to be able to be the hero. They won't always sink a three-pointer at the buzzer. Sometimes it goes in and out; or, even worse, sometimes you toss up an air ball.

The film's also awash with lessons on camaraderie, teamwork, honesty, and the reality of limitations. It handles the lessons of life, and the lessons of loss, magnificently. The film shows us that dealing with loss is the other side of the competitive coin, the side that usually gets glossed over in cinema.

To put it another way: How we deal with losing is at least as important as how we deal with winning.