This isn’t a great movie–in fact, it’s pretty formulaic and manipulative in spots. But I still like it. It’s a treat to see Denzel Washington act in his role, and several of the supporting players also do a fine job.<\/p>\n
But the real reason I finally bought this film (Blu-ray version, on sale at Amazon) was that the story it tells is part of my personal history. From 1970-1975 I was in the Pride of Salem, the championship marching band at Andrew Lewis High School in Salem, Virginia. When the T. C. Williams’ Titans won the State AAA Football championship in 1971, they defeated Andrew Lewis for that title. The game was played at Victory Stadium in Roanoke on a bitterly cold day in December. I was there that day, playing in the band down on the sidelines. \u00a0Our prize quarterback, Eddie Joyce, Jr., was running a fever with what we were told was strep throat. He had done a superb job all season, including a thrilling comeback victory over E. C. Glass High School, but this day was not his: he never could find his rhythm, and his tremendous arm had very little precision, in part because the defense started blitzing and our offensive line just couldn’t hold them.<\/p>\n
The game was never close. T. C. Williams won 27-7 [EDIT: it was actually 27-0, as the ALHS touchdown, the first of the game, was disallowed–see comments below] after putting in their second string to avoid running the score up. I had never seen such large, fast, strong players. Over and over our quarterback was sacked, our receivers were smothered, and their offense ran over us. We gave it our best shot. We were completely outgunned. I think their second string could have beaten us that day. So it goes.<\/p>\n
Now, many years later, I don’t mind so much that we were drubbed by the number two team in the nation, though it was very painful to witness. What I do mind is that Remember The Titans<\/em> changed the name of my high school to “Marshall” and wrote it out of the drama. I don’t mind that they changed the game from an afternoon game to a night game, or even that they made it sound like a close game with a last-minute trick play pulling out the miracle win. But I sure wish they’d left the name unchanged. The “Marshall” coach they cast is a lookalike for Eddie Joyce, the head coach for us that year. The “Marshall” quarterback was number 12, as was ours. So why change the name? I can’t find a definitive answer to that question. I wish they’d left us in there.<\/p>\n That’s my Friday night story, and I’m sticking to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This isn’t a great movie–in fact, it’s pretty formulaic and manipulative in spots. But I still like it. It’s a treat to see Denzel Washington act in his role, and several of the supporting players also do a fine job. … Continue reading