'Friday Night Tykes': A Savage Journey Through Football Dreams

What's This?

'Friday Night Tykes' takes an intense look inside the extreme fringe of Texas youth football.

Image: Walter Iooss/courtesy of the Esquire Network

By Sam Laird2014-03-04 04:00:49 UTC

Texas is the state where one town used $60 million of taxpayer money to build a football stadium.

A high school football stadium.

A high school football stadium that 18 months later was closed indefinitely because of "extensive cracking" in its $60 million concrete.

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Nowhere does the cliche that "everything's bigger in Texas" apply more than the state's outsized obsession with high school football. This has been well chronicled, most notably in Friday Night Lights the book, Friday Night Lights the movie and Friday Night Lights the TV show, seasons one through five.

Now, just when you thought it wasn't possible, a TV show called Friday Night Tykes comes along and further dials down the age of the players it focuses on. The show follows teams of eight and nine-year-old boys, along with their coaches and families, in the Texas Youth Football Association, an organization that can make the NFL seem tame by comparison.

Friday Night Tykes airs the seventh of its 10 weekly episodes this Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on the Esquire Network. Since premiering on Jan. 14, the show has touched off a bit of debate — to say the least.

Two youth coaches have already been suspended because of footage that aired on the show. The Birmingham News of Alabama — itself a state that's no stranger to over-the-top football dedication — called it "child abuse masquerad[ing] as football." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wants the show yanked off the air.

'True believers who think we aren't tough enough'

While many feel the way parents and coaches treat young kids in Friday Night Lights exceeds the boundaries of human decency, the show's executive producer, Matt Marantz, says the adults are aware of the criticism.

It's just that most of them feel such treatment is necessary to build better kids, better adults — even a better America.

"These parents and coaches are true believers who think we aren't tough enough on our kids and that produces weaker adults and, by extension, a weaker country," Maranz tells Mashable. "They believe what they're doing is a step to remedy that problem. They have a self-awareness about what they're doing, but they also have a clear belief that what they're doing is right."

And just what are they doing?

In one episode, a Marine-turned-coach named Charles Chavarria tells his team of eight and nine-year-olds to hit opponents with their helmets, a move that's illegal in the NFL. “If that kid comes across, I want you to put it in his helmet," Chavarria says. "Do you understand? I don’t care if he don’t get up. Let’s go!”

In another episode, a trainer puts two young boys through a workout so intense one of the kids begins vomiting violently. "That mean you puttin' in work!" the coach cheers as the boy pukes miserably.

Criticism of the show is understandable, but a magnetic visceral pull is just what Marantz and co-executive producer Jason Sciavicco wanted to capture.

"This has resonated with so many people because, at least to me, it's not a story about football," Marantz, himself a father to a sports-obsessed 12-year-old son, tells Mashable. "It's really about parenting.

"Everyone wants what's best for their kids and we built this world of youth sports to help accomplish that goal. But is what we created truly doing what we wanted it to, or is it having more adverse effects?"

Parents' reaction to the backlash

Image: Walter Iooss/courtesy of the Esquire Network

Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News called Friday Night Tykes a "profoundly disturbing series" in his Feb. 19 review, writing that "what the cameras document could be considered child abuse anywhere else other than a football field."

Since the show began airing, that type of sudden notoriety and significant backlash have been "difficult to grasp" for the dozen or so kids and parents who carry the bulk of the series, Marantz says. Between them, Marantz and Solomon remain in touch with at least one of the show's primary subjects every day.

"There's a definite element of 'I'm not an actor playing a role, and when you criticize me, you criticize me as a human being,'" Marantz says.

Not all of the show's subjects have rejected the criticism. Marantz says there's a range of reactions: some get indignant; some simply don't get it; others have pledged to modify their behavior after seeing themselves on camera. Two coaches have been suspended for actions shown on the series.

Chavarria — the one who told his players "I don't care if he don't get up" — and another coach were suspended by the Texas Youth Football Association last month. Chavarria will miss the entire 2014 season, while the second suspended coach will miss six games (the show filmed the league's July-December 2013 season).

Chavarria took to Twitter after the suspension was announced to apologize:

It's ugly, but it's real

Friday Night Tykes' remaining episodes follow its young players through their final regular season game and into the league playoffs. The series hasn't softened its edges in response to criticism, yet Marantz is quick to mention that it also shows "the wonderful, poignant moments where you see an adult create a memory that a kid will cherish forever."

The kids' play is another noteworthy element of the show. The talent, dedication and passion for football shown by some of the young boys is nothing short of astounding, if a bit hard to understand.

The show's true star is its adults' ugly behavior — there's no way around that. Are their antics off-putting? No doubt. Do they deserve criticism? Absolutely.

But they're also real. And in a world increasingly ruled by image and acting, that makes them something well-worth paying attention to — even if doing so makes us uncomfortable.

Image: Walter Iooss/courtesy of the Esquire Network

Topics: Entertainment, Sports, Television, youth sports