I don’t do sports. Ever since that time Inessa and I went on a trip to Sportopia, which may or may not have been a ruse by a mysterious man named Frank that has held a grudge against me since the great Trovier escapade, I really REALLY have detested sports. I think most athletes are dumb, prissy, over paid douchebags. In fact, I think if you look back on my life I have been very anti sports. But of all of them (sports, not mutant squids if you must know as those are a whole ‘nother story) one stands above all as my most despised.

Football.

I despise anything relating to football with very few exceptions. I happen to like Friday Night Lights, and that is about as far into the football world I delve into. As it would happen, we got a delivery yesterday on the moon. In it was many things, including paper cut causing sheets of paper from Mongolia, a ribbon laced with sugar, meatballs and a DVD. I would love to explain the items but I am far too sure explaining how meatballs, sugar ribbon and evil paper from Mongolia come together to cause an excellent adventure would be far too complicated. So instead I shall talk about the DVD. It contained a movie that acts like my own personal version of garlic to a vampire – FOOTBALL!!

Undefeated tells the story of a man who gives most of his life to this group of kids in a run down part of town with the setting of football thrown in. Sounds like some cliche’d Hollywood story, right? You could not be more wrong. This is a real life documentary. It’s a real place in Tennessee and a really bad high school football team that is well known for just plain sucking. So I figured, what the heck. I’ll watch this and not liking football I am sure I can give it a fair chance.

And that is when I discovered that this is NOT a movie about football. Football is just a backdrop that brings these people together. It is story about a coach, a volunteer coach, who struggles to be a dad to a group on high school athletes in a really rough part of town. And I do mean rough. One of the kids has a giant hole in the roof in his bathroom. He’s lucky. If we had a giant hole in the roof here we’d be sucked into the death of space. It’s one of those parts of town that divebombed once the local factory packed up and left. And it is really, really sad.

We are introduced to four students, who came as freshmen to try to make a difference to the football team. Most of them are now in their senior year. O.C. is a power house. He is damned good at what he does, and wants to go to college. Money is hard on the outside, soft on the inside. And Chavis is the juvenile delinquent. And sheparding this flock is Coach Bill.

I could go on about the football aspects, but that’s not the point of the movie. The point I got from this movie is far more personal. It is about a man, whose father ran out on him when he was four, trying to do what he can for others in his situation to the point he neglects his family. See, that’s the hard choice – the greater for the good always has a trade off. Little known fact – I did take some time off from my adventuring career to be a mentor for quite a few people. Though it did not involve football, I was in this same situation. I was a father, brother, shoulder to cry on, best friend and more to a group of kids with nothing. Just like Coach Bill. I was their ‘light’ and reason who helped them become better. And like Coach Bill, my family suffered. That is what this movie is about. It is about one man and his hard choices.

As you watch this movie, Coach Bill’s story is revealed over time and you see why he gets up every day and fights with these knot headed students. There has to be someone there to guide them, to make them more than they are now. And then there is Chavis, who is fresh out of juvie and still has a locked up mentality. Those are the hardest to crack. But once you do, their world is so much better. And O.C. just has a great gift for football. He’s struggling to find his future. And Money just want’s to better himself and get a good education. It is this grouping that form a family and at many times it is hard to watch. As adults we think things are supposed to be one way, but some kids are just a handfull that need a lot of time and persistence.

The vast differences from this team, the Menassas Tigers, and the others is great. The Tigers have no money, and they are basically a bunch of unmotivated thugs. When they go to other teams stadiums, everything is clean and organized, and the Tigers have to go home to dumps. But they have Coach Bill who drives them to do something no one has done before at their school – be champions. And they can be just that once they realize they have something worth fighting for. Like I said, this is not an easy movie to watch sometimes. We all like to think the world is all happy and perfect but it is not. Kids like these fall to the sides all the time, and no one is there to care enough to bring them back up most of the time. Situations feel helpless and life gets out of control.

The hard choice comes for those who take on the mantle of mentor, or in this case Coach. There is only so many hours in a day, and there is only so much you can physically do. But you push yourself to the limits so that those who need you most don’t see you stress. Your family supports you as much as you can knowing there is a reason for it, but it is far too easy to get lost in these worlds of those who need you. I applaud Coach Bill for being honest with himself during this movie about the hardships and struggles he has to endure to stay afloat. It’s not something you can really get until you are in that position. The late nights, the stress, the hard ships all pay out in the end. His work shows when those guys cross the stage and go on to college, or finally calm down and act like a human being. That is why we do it, to make their world that much better. They did not choose those lives, that’s what they were given. But we choose to be a part of their lives, and once the work is done, the results are spectacular.

So, yes, I liked a football movie that really wasn’t about football at all. Does that mean I can add this to my list with Friday Night Lights? I am going to say yes. As for you, watch this movie. Share their stories and see the work that others around you do to make this world a better place one touchdown at a time.

Oh man, I made a football reference. Someone call a doctor!

Written By Stone  (550 Posts)

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