Varsity Blues

"Football is a way of life."

—- Jonathon 'Mox' Moxon

Varsity Blues is one of the great Cliché Storms of the 1990s. It is a sports story that centers around high school football in great state of Texas.

---

Tropes used in Varsity Blues include:

• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Averted by Mox, who actually turns down a cheerleader because he prefers his girlfriend.
• Badass Bookworm: Mox, who can make a ref across the field groan in pain from receiving a spiral thrown by him while sitting... As he reads Slaughterhouse-Five.
• Big Man on Campus: Who you are if you're the quarterback at West Caanan High School.
• Big Game
• Billy Elliot Plot
• Blackmail: What you do to ensure your players listen to you.
• The Cheerleader: Darcy Sears
• Conflicting Loyalty: There are multiple examples, however a conversation between Mox and his girlfriend underlines his conflict.

Jules: Then quit!
Mox: I can't.
Jules: Then play.
Mox: You don't understand...

• Cool People Rebel Against Authority
• Date Rape/Black Comedy Rape: Charlie Tweeder talks to Mox about how girls are panty-droppers, after you give them some pain-killers and alcohol. Subverted by Mox who, rather than laughing about it, asks him if he'll like prison.

Mox: Tweeter, do you think you'll enjoy prison?
Tweeter: I don't know...what?

• Dawson Casting: Featuring Dawson himself!
• Dumb Muscle: His name is Billy Bob.
• Down to the Last Play
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Coach Kilmer, as are most football coaches.
• Everytown, America: West Canaan, Texas.
• Fanservice Extra: A few of them.
• Groin Attack: "...And say, 'I'm stupid and I'm about to get hit in the nuts.'"
• Hangover Sensitivity: When the boys leave the strip club following a night of partying. The hangover lasts into the game that night.
• Hot Teacher: Taken to the extreme with Miss Davis, especially considering it's a small town.
• How Many Fingers?: The trainer uses this to help diagnose Billy Bob.

Mox: No-no-no, it's Billy Bob. It's gotta be true or false. Billy Bob! The man is holding up some fingers, true or false?

Billy Bob: ...true?

• I Call Him "Mister Happy": The result of Miss Davis' brilliant exercise in her Sex Education class.
• Interrupted Suicide: Mox tracks Billy Bob at the field, shooting trophies before presumably shooting himself, but is talked down.
• Only Known by Their Nickname
• Our Founder: There is a bronzed statue of coach, for whom the high school stadium is also named.
• Parental Obliviousness: His son just received an acceptance letter to an Ivy League college, but Sam Moxon wants to talk football.
• Parental Substitute: Billy Bob: {{[AC|crying}}] "Man, Coach loved me like a son! Treated me like one, too."
• Put Me in Coach: "Put me in there! We'll block it."
• Practical Voice Over: The radio announcers a few times in the film.
• Losing Is Worse Than Death: Of course it's easier since it's not his well-being, but that of his players at risk. Unfortunately, this is a bit of Truth in Television with many coaches in high school sports.

Coach Kilmer: The only pain that matters is the pain you inflict!

• Miracle Rally
• Naked People Are Funny: The stolen patrol car is full of this trope.
• Rousing Speech
• Save Our Team
• Serious Business: Football in West Caanan, Texas.
• Slow Clap
• Small Town Boredom: The reason Darcy Sears sticks with the star players.
• Sports Story
• STD Immunity: Averted, albeit indirectly, when Tweeder looks down his own pants and asks aloud, "...The fuck is that?!"
• Teenage Wasteland: If you're a Coyote in West Canaan (especially a starter), don't expect the law to apply to you. You are a part of a different society that has its own laws.
• Teen Drama: It was produced by MTV Films.
• Token Minority: Wendell Brown. He is also the only one of the main cast to have been a professional football player.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The town loves the coach because he wins championships, but also because they're not aware of the lengths to which he goes to do it.
• Villainous Breakdown: Almost to tears.
• Wild Teen Party
• You Can Leave Your Hat On: Miss Davis again.