Titans: Greater then the Gods

High school football and the youth of America, these are two of the biggest things in some places.  They eat sleep and breathe high school football.  It was the same way in Alexandria, VA in 1971 at TC Williams High School in the movie 'Remember the Titans' where they integrated the black football team with the white one.  This caused a racial uproar.  Another thing happened here also, a man by the name of Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington, took over as new head coach to TC Williams for equality reasons.  Coach Bill Yoast, whom was equally talented was planning to seek other places, until his players said they would not play if he didn't stay, so he stayed.  

This movie is all about equality, and when they go to camp as black and white, they come back all the same color, friends not foes, teammates, family, brothers.  The trip to camp perhaps really set the stage for the struggle. There was a lot of racial tension when they first arrived here, but perhaps, what i think was one of the most moving parts of the movie was when coach Boone took the guys on a run to Gettysburg. This is were he pretty much instilled that people have already died to dull the racial issue, and there was proof right here, there was already a war and enough blood had been shed and that they needed to come together.  After this the team really started coming together, even Julius and Garry whom had hated each other became best friends after this.  They became a team, leaving as individuals and coming back as a whole.

You could really see the bond that had formed here between black and white on this football team, there was no more color. The Titans went on to win the Semi finals when the captain of the team Gerry Bertier was hit by a drunk driver and paralyzed from the waist down.  This really emotionally hurt the whole team and especially Julius. The team took all that emotional distress tho and turned it into energy they needed to win the championship. They went out there and were down at half time, they pulled it together and came back to win it, with some players even giving up their positions to other players for the better of the team. Which I think really showed how far they had come.  This whole team helped to change the outlook of a whole town and a whole student body which was quite moving to say the least.

This movie, a Disney Movie based on a true story really showed from the start a struggle of race and culture and the struggle between black and white in Alexandria, VA.  It showed that a even a game, such as Highschool football has the power to bring a whole community together and see more clearly and not let racism get in the way. It taught them to look at a person for who they are, not what color their skin may be or what they look like.

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em

The movie Rocky I is your classic david versus goliath kind of movie.  Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone is the main character in this movie.  A young man born and raised in the streets of rough Philadelphia takes up boxing at the age of 15 and is an old washed out coulda, shoulda, woulda been by the age of 30. Now Rocky's not all there in the head and it doesn't take any kind of brain surgeon to figure that one out from the moment you meet Rocky. But the guys got heart and determination.  Rocky boxes to make some extra cash while working for a 2 bit loan shark collecting debts for him.  This isn't the ideal lifestyle, especially in Philly at this time unless you weren't planning on living a long, prosperous life for yourself.
      Rocky meets this girl Adrian and they kinda help each other out, she's extremely socially awkward, and Rockys just kinda awkward in general. Apollo Creed, the heavyweight champion of the world at that time was coming to Philly to fight the number one contender. The contender was injured, so Apollo had this bright idea to offer the fight to a local boxer, figured he could put on a nice show then mop the floor with them when he decided too.  He picked Rocky, off of one thing, his nickname, "the italian stallion". Now Rocky gave himself this nickname, and Apollo shoulda known, you cant trust a man who gives himself his own nickname, its just common sense. Apollo was in for a ride that he had no idea about. He had no idea the amount of heart that consumed Rocky, Rocky was one of a kind. He fights to his opponents levels though and thats why he never made the big time, but he could take a punch like no other. He was excellent at taking a beating, it just so happened he was pretty good at giving them too. Apollo found out soon enough when a fight that was suppose to last 3 rounds tops went the distance and ended with a split decision in Apollos favor. Both fighters looked pretty bad at the end, both battered and bruised.
     This right here is why you dont judge a book by its cover i think, because Apollo made that mistake of judging Rocky and not taking him seriously. He thought Rocky was a low class bum who was going to be an easy opponent.  Well he was wrong and i think if you have a little heart and you wade out the storm and suck up the inconveniences and obstacles, you can accomplish anything.

Pressure, Drugs and Basketball

Chris Herren was a talented star.  Growing up in a tough city outside of Boston called Fall River he was a prodigy to most.  Chris however was into the boozing and the fighting also, he was under a lot of pressure and a lot of stress.  Following in the shadow of his older brother Mike who led his high school to forty plus consecutive wins, he was expected to live up and surpass those talents.  Chris attended Boston College after high school were he first discovered hard drugs in his freshmen year of college in his dorm room, peer pressured into doing lines of cocaine.  He explained this experience as "opening doors he could not close for 15 years." During one of the games he had broken his wrist and failed 3 drug tests that led to him being kicked out of school.  He then went to Fresno State along with his lingering drug problems and proceeded to have one hell of a basketball career before being kicked out of there also.  He was talented enough though that he was drafted into the NBA and bounced around and ended up in Denver where teammates took him under their wing and watched over him until he was traded to the Boston Celtics which was one of the worst things that could have happened to him.  Here in Boston he found a new drug of choice in Oxycontin.  This led to other drugs such as Heroin.  While in Boston he suffered a season ending injury that put him over the edge.  He was found one day passed out in the front seat of his car with a needle hanging from his arm.  After this through extensive rehabilitation Chris has been Alcohol and Drug free since 2008.  He trains basketball prospects and is a motivational speaker and tells them about the harms of drugs and alcohol abuse and how it can destroy your life in such a short time and it only takes one time to get hooked.