As Bissinger describes the drive into town from the outskirts to downtown, what sort of details does he mention? What do these details tell the reader about the kind of town Odessa has become?

Odessa is colloquially described as the “arm pit of Texas,” having the atmosphere of “a place rooted in the sweet nostalgia of the fifties” (48). However, whatever Odessa lacks in wealth or positivity, it compensates for with a firm affection for high school football. Although the town itself is old and deteriorating, a victim of countless boom and bust times, there is a state of the art multi-million-dollar football stadium. The stadium is a testament to the value that Odessa places on teenage boys' football as opposed to bettering their own lives.