Boobie's Backup's Backup: The Chris Comer Underdog Story

“I’m actually Boobie’s backup’s backup…I’m third string right now.”

“Don’t you ‘baby Boobie’ me! I wanna be with a ball carrier. Give me one touchdown."

“CHRIS! YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE HELMET IS? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?”

“You wanna know why you ain’t got a girl yet Water Bug? You got the wrong shoes on man! You got on white Adidas!”

Throughout the 1988 Permian High School football season, third string running back Chris Comer was the butt of everyone’s joke. He couldn’t even get credit as the guy who would’ve started if Boobie wasn’t around. To put it bluntly, Comer was a nobody. 

Comer’s irrelevance, combined with his desire to be relevant, brought us one of the most depressing sights in film history, as he sat in the locker room before the first practice coloring his white adidas with a black sharpie.

Come to think of it, Comer potentially brought two of the most depressing scenes in cinema, depending on where you stand on Boobie Miles. Let’s not forget that the star running back’s season-ending injury came when Comer “lost” his helmet on the sideline, forcing Boobie back in the game. We’ll never know where that helmet went on that Friday evening, and we’ll never know for sure if that was some pre-conceived, long-term ploy from the Water Bug in order to increase his chances at getting on the field. I’m surprised Alex Jones hasn’t gone back to the tapes and featured this on info wars.

Connecting HelmetGate and some of Comer’s first words of the movie, who in God’s name was Boobie’s backup? We never get his name, although he had to be clearly pretty damn good if he was ahead of Permian’s dark horse on the depth chart. But regardless of skill, it looks like he went the Boobie “Only thing I’ve gotta do is show up” route regarding the weight room, seeing as the dude got injured almost immediately after Boobie went down.

And that’s exactly when things started looking up for our protagonist; the moment that the greatest underdog story in sports came to life. Comer’s first touchdown left the coaches (and himself) in disbelief. Hell, even head coach Gary Gaines had to ask an assistant who just scored. “Our Comer?!?!” And with Water Bug’s first rushing touchdown came the demise of any and all negative quotes at/about him for the rest of the film.

If the Permian Panthers completed their comeback against the juggernaut Dallas Carter in the Astro Dome that day, the Chris Comer story would be almost identical to what Cardale Jones did for Ohio State in the first ever College Football Playoff. But sadly for Water Bug, the boys from Odessa just couldn’t get it done, and his comeback story had a disappointing end.

Just kidding.

The most overlooked part of the greatest movie of all time occurs in the ending scene, where nothing but text on the screen informs us that in the 1989 season Chris Comer and Gary Gaines led the Permian Panthers to an undefeated, State Championship season. How is that worth only like 10 seconds of screen time?

After ’88, the Panthers lost their QB Mike Winchell, monster defensive end/locker room preacher Ivory Christian, cornerback/intellect Brian Chavez, AND Don Billingsley aka the Johnny Manziel prequel. Seems like a pretty significant collective loss, because these guys were always seen as the team’s stars.

It’s about damn time that Chris Comer, THE runnin’ back, gets the credit he deserves. A true warrior who overcame emotional abuse from his teammates, coaches, and (probably now ex) girlfriend. 

After feeling the agony of defeat when Winchell failed to cross the goal line, I think we all deserve a pick-me-up sequel of Chris Comer tearing it up in an undefeated season while Boobie Miles and the rest of the class of ’88 watches, wondering to themselves how they ever let the GOAT be merely Boobie’s backup’s backup. So next time you bring up Water Bug, put some respect on the man's name.

As a little bonus, I stumbled upon this incredible tribute video to the '89 Panthers State Championship season. Phenomenal choice of music, a few mullets featured, and great football. This video has it all.