This wasn't as depressing or infuriating as I thought it would be. You may have surmised by now, gentle readers, that your beloved movie goddess is not what you would call a "sports" person. I must admit, the concept of "team" has always eluded me. I understand intellectually, of course, but I never felt cohesion and team spirit in my entire life. Bill Courtney is a volunteer coach for the Manassas High School in East Memphis, Tennessee. It is an inner city school with no budget for athletics and all the inherent dilemmas of at-risk students. These kids are halfway fallen through the cracks of society, which are more like a yawning abyss of endless poverty and lost opportunities. Over six years, Courtney has brought the pitiful football team up to competitive levels by believing in these boys and showing them they can believe in themselves.
I have serious issues with the influence of professional sports. I think they're pointless parades of vanity and greed that perpetuate violent mentalities on and off the various fields because they are ultimately all about money. Players are excused all sorts of excesses because they are commercially viable. They are commodities. And the moment they have exceeded their usefulness, they are cast aside.
However.
I also understand that only a select few athletes have the ability to participate at these upper levels and competition is extremely fierce. For some kids, this is their only opportunity to get out of the life they had and move to something better. I'm not going to hate on anyone for that.
This got really off-topic and I apologize.
If you liked The Blind Side and wanted to see a similar documentary, this is on Netflix streaming.
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