SMU Movie
I'm pretty excited about the movie tomorrow. What I'm really curious about is how C. James is portrayed. You would assume if anyone was getting paid on SMU it was Erik Dickerson and him. This should be good. Has anyone noticed if he has commented on the Cam Newton situation?
December 10th, 2010 at 10:42 PM ^
ESPN is producing the movie and James works for ESPN. Even the Freep thinks this is a conflict of interest and is questioning their journalistic objectivity.
December 10th, 2010 at 10:42 PM ^
I have it noted in my Blackberry calendar so I don't miss it.
I haven't seen any of the 30/30s but I want to see this one.
By the way, I dig the soundtrack they've been playing during the promos. Does anyone know who it is or the title of the song?
December 10th, 2010 at 11:07 PM ^
The song is called "Gods Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash.
Here it is:
December 11th, 2010 at 12:56 AM ^
Little known fact: J. Cash was the QB who handed the ball of to C. James. Fact.
And, if it is not fact, then he must have written that song after hanging out with the actual qb that handed the ball off to C. James
Either way... fact
December 11th, 2010 at 12:05 PM ^
and I'm gonna see it on opening day, December 25th, also known as Christmas Day.
Can't wait.
If it does well, I'm hoping they re-make Big Jake next.
God.....do I miss John Wayne.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:27 PM ^
30/30's are generally really well put together, check some more out when you get a chance.
December 11th, 2010 at 12:46 AM ^
I'd recommend "The U" and "The Best That Never Was", as a college football fan, I enjoyed those both immensely.
December 11th, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
the story of Vlade and Petrovic has been the best so far. They have done a really good job with this series.
December 10th, 2010 at 10:52 PM ^
very excited for this. the whole 30 for 30 series has been very well done, IMO.
December 10th, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^
were on Outside the Lines this afternoon, both claimed all of this stuff happened after they left. Possible, but not very believable.
OU should have received the death penalty a few years later, but the SMU experience made the NCAA gunshy.
December 11th, 2010 at 9:52 AM ^
Yeah, they're wrong.
Their statements directly contravene the findings of the SMU faculty itself, whose investigation found that the payments dated back to the 1970s. They may not have known (which I find hard to believe) or have been receiving $ themselves but players were definitely being paid while James and Dickerson were there.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:04 PM ^
Sorry, but since I have yet to earn enough browny points I can not yet start a diary. Thought it would be of interest to report on tonights Dr.Phillips game against Seminole.
In the 6A state semi game DP won 37-13. Dee Hart started off the game with a 78 yard run to tie the state single season TD record at 49. He would later in the 2nd half run in a short one for his record breaking 50th TD. Dee ended the game with 159 yards on 17 carries. I don't have the final numbers on receptions, but this kid has great hands. He can do it all !!!! The AD at DP said he is the hardest working player on the team.
Shawn Moffet their kicker had his string of PAT's snapped at 130, four short of the national record. After a second penalty had set them back 20 yards he was upset and shaking his head. The negative body language followed through to his attempt and he missed it a bit right. He did make his only FG attempt at about 30 yds which had at least 25 yards to spare. We could use this kid.
Next week DP plays in the Citrus Bowl for their first State Championship. They are 14-0 and have only given up 6 points this season in the 3rd Q. This was only the 4th team to score over 10 points on them and it came in the last minute of play. Seminole, the 2008 State Champ, tried for the 2 point conversion which was INT. Someone must have been getting 23 points on their staff.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:13 PM ^
I know I'm not the only one who is really, really hoping that Dee decides to bring his talents to AA.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:05 PM ^
.....finding it extremely funny that this shows immediately following the 2010 Heisman ceremony? I'm thinking they couldn't have planned this better if they had tried.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^
December 10th, 2010 at 11:26 PM ^
Is being very well done by ESPN. My favorite one, for biased reasons, has been "Once Brothers." I too have been looking forward to the Pony Excess episode and in the clips it shows Craig James and Dickerson so I'd imagine they will be discussed. Maybe soon they'll come out with one about Auburn (couldn't resist taking a shot at them).
December 11th, 2010 at 12:56 AM ^
but I agree with you. The Vlade story was amazing. He comes across as a very special person. I also forgot how effin good Petrovic was at basketball. Dude was ballin on Jordan. I think he would have been bigger than Dirk had he finished his career.
December 12th, 2010 at 1:22 AM ^
Ya he was a great player and was doing very well with the Nets when he finally got his shot. It says a lot that they have his jersey hanging in the rafters. As far as Divac goes, he was caught in a shit storm of ethnic battles. What he did with the Croatian flag I believe was with good intentions. I don't think people understand the magnitude of hate that was going on at that time so of course the media used it as a rallying cry (both serb and croats). I also believe had Yugoslavia stayed together, we would have given the Dream Team a run for their money because our team was pretty damn good as well.
December 11th, 2010 at 1:46 AM ^
"in the clips it shows Craig James and Dickerson so I'd imagine they will be discussed..."
uh, yeah I'm pretty sure you would have to include these two guys in a discussion regarding that team
December 12th, 2010 at 1:24 AM ^
I mentioned them being included is because James and Dickerson aren't usually included with the group that took money. James is also an employee of ESPN so I was interested in how they would go about portraying him. It was definitely a great piece though, I didn't like the former players from the cheating teams taking shots at the ones who were doing it right but weren't as talented.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
As much as Craig James rubbed people the wrong way by being the vocal head for kicking Mike Leach out, getting some informatoin from Wikipedia (which may not be the most reliable source) it does not sound like Mr. James was involved in SMU's shenanigans. He probably knew about it though.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
Looking forward to this movie tomorrow after the Heisman presentation
December 10th, 2010 at 11:36 PM ^
December 10th, 2010 at 11:57 PM ^
December 11th, 2010 at 12:40 AM ^
The only 30 for 30 I have watched is The U and it was pretty good but this one I'm looking forward to.
December 11th, 2010 at 12:42 AM ^
As a current SMU grad student (and UofM undergrad) I coudn't be more excited to see this. Going to the football games this year it's hard to believe a school like SMU that has a total undergraduate population of 6000 could field a team that legitimately competed for a national championship, especially in an era where the big boys were so dominant. It's hard to argue James and Dickerson don't have plausible deniability but equally hard to believe they were completely clean or unaware. I'm interested to see if they highlight the somewhat unique situation SMU is in as a school with located in a large city with a lot of people that might fall into the nouveau riche catagory due to the oil money in the area.
December 11th, 2010 at 9:48 AM ^
As you go around campus, notice everything named "Clements" -- the history department, the institutute for the study of the southwest, I'm sure there's other things -- all the result of money being channeled from football into other institutions at SMU and former governor Clements' attempts to get back in the good graces of the university.
December 11th, 2010 at 1:20 AM ^
Of "Lombardi" on HBO at 8 pm.
<br>Fire up the dvrs.
December 11th, 2010 at 2:09 AM ^
ESPN has a done a pretty good job with the series. I love Miami's "The U". It's amazing to me how the college is still trying to carry on this same mantra from the 80's and 90's. I'm not old enough to realize that ND and the cane's had such a nasty rivalry.
December 11th, 2010 at 8:23 AM ^
December 11th, 2010 at 1:32 PM ^
Catholics vs Convicts
December 11th, 2010 at 8:43 AM ^
Damn kids! Get offa my lawn!
I remember the SMU scandal very well. It was worse than you think. It was so bad, the NCAA broke up the SWC.
December 11th, 2010 at 9:42 AM ^
I was an undergrad at TCU in 85 when Kevin Murray, the A&M Qb got caught driving a new 280Z. So the Dallas TV stations went around asking the local teams if they had anything going on. Jim Wacker, the TCU coach at the time, delivered an adament no. Turns out he had 8 players being paid from the previous regime. He kicked them off, self reported, and crushed our hopes for mediocrity forever. Then Bobby Collins comes along and takes that stuff up to 11, even involving the Governor. Good stuff, my DVR will be set.
December 11th, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
They must have stretched a lot to get the death penalty.
December 11th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
I read an article on ESPN that said everyone was paying players but they weren't going to kill Texas, ND or any real program so they layed the hammer down on the small school to set an example.
Also said Dickerson was driving around a brand new car his freshman year that his Grandmother "wink,wink" bought him and James went there because his girlfriend was already there.
December 11th, 2010 at 9:56 AM ^
This entire series has been appointment viewing. "The Two Escobars" was my personal favorite. What a great story. One of the best things the 4-letter has ever done. Can't wait for the second half next spring.
December 11th, 2010 at 10:26 AM ^
Same for me. I remember just sitting there stunned throughout that whole hour and a half.
December 11th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
I still have it saved on my dvr and watched it a couple of times. I'm not much of a soccer fan in general, but the whole story was great. I didn't know too much about it before watching, so I had the same stunned, head-shaking, mouth-drooped look on my face for most as well. Just great television.
December 11th, 2010 at 1:08 PM ^
I concur. I've watched all of them, and "The Two Escobars" was my favorite because it was so profound. "The U" was outstanding also, especially when watched in tandem with the EDSBS liveblog. And "The Best There Never Was" was also great. I've been pleasantly shocked with how well the 30 for 30's have been.
December 11th, 2010 at 11:39 AM ^
admit that 30 for 30 on the Canes was amazing. I used to think that FSU was the big dogs that is up until I got all the information needed. Them boys were mad crazy and off the chain. Excuse my ebonics session for the day. The way they talked about Deion Sanders was hilarious. It seems like everybody whose everybody played for the Canes in the mid to late 80's. If I recall we played them in like 86 at the Big House. UM(us ) was top five as was Miami(if im not mistaken). Good game from what I remember. Boy do I pine for the old days(winning)and playing great competition[ had to make that abundantly clear].
December 11th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^
I have a cousin who was a walk-on at A&M in the late eighties, early nineties. After SMU got hammered they had a few former Mustanges transfer into the program. All of them were still driving the cars they got at SMU and described a very detailed payment program that was in place (e.g. starters get X, backups a lesser amount, 100 yard game gets Y as a bonus, etc.).
I do not believe anyone around that program who says they didn't know what was going on or that everyone else was taking the money but not them. On the other hand, SMU got slammed merely to set an example. They were just the worst of a bad lot (the conference had been completely crooked for a long time). While the Aggies just had to get rid of Jackie Sherill, SMU had to get rid of football and is just now recovering.
December 11th, 2010 at 12:54 PM ^
"Recovering from death penalty since 1986" - doesn't quite have the same ring to it as, "Returning to Glory since 1991" Ah well...
December 11th, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
How they're practically bragging about how much/how well they were cheating.
December 11th, 2010 at 10:07 PM ^
Yes, they didn't hide it at all
And when it did happen it appears the governor was involved
December 11th, 2010 at 10:59 PM ^
Lmao at the credits just a bunch of news clips about other programs with sanctions. The SMU graduates made a good point in the end of how they might have been singled out (other programs were corrupt too) but SMU kept egging the NCAA on, and something had to be done. It was like SMU didn't give a damn about the rules.
December 11th, 2010 at 10:59 PM ^
During the credits, they replay audio about NCAA investigating Michigan along with the likes of USC, Florida St., and Kentucky. Bullshit.
December 16th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^
I know that was my immediate reaction. Fucking bullshit. And they show Lloyd Carr getting gatorade dumped on him.... Lloyd Carr! Damn it.