L'esprit d'une équipe

My family and I saw We Are Marshall Christmas night. I grew up in a Marshall family (Mom & Dad, M.U. grads; my oldest sister was in school at M.U. at the time of the plane crash, as well as her future husband). Dad worked in the newspaper business at the time; and my mom's father passed away the night of the crash (while we were glued to radio and T.V. reports from Huntington.)

A year later, I was fortunate enough to see the Xavier game portrayed in the film at Fairfield Stadium in person. It is still the single most heart-stirring moment in sports I've ever been around.

Attending Marshall myself just a few short years after the tragedy, we cheered for first downs by the Thundering Herd and agonized through fighting to be just competitive. Not all were mindful of the journey.

The film seems to capture the shock of the crash on the school and the community and the hopelessness both experienced in the times immediately following the crash. Due to time restrictions and to keep the story moving, the struggle to come up with representative football players was kind of oversimplified in the film, but the men who did play in those years are just as important as the heroes of the winning era at Marshall decades later. Not sure if the real Jack Lengyel was as tongue in cheek as portrayed in the movie, but it seems to work.

I think the movie will grow on people across the country not familiar with the story or who had no ties to Marshall/Huntington, in the vein of Hoosiers or Remember The Titans. My wife and sons have heard about it for years...that's why we wanted to experience the movie together.

The most incredible sports story I'll ever witness. I thought about the 75 when Marshall played in Detroit in the Motor City Bowl in 1999 and finished in the top 10 in the country. I think about them every time I visit the Marshall Student Center and see the 1970 team picture on the wall. I knew their names from the newspaper stories and the radio coverage of the era. It is quite a personal memory for me, and one I know I share with thousands, and now, many, many more.

As sick as I am of football flicks this year I must admit I rather enjoyed this film. Mainly because of the great performance of its lead. He does a great job as the weird coach that is so offbeat and positive that this town that is healing from the biggest tragedy it has ever known,just does not know have to take him. Mcg also proves he can direct something that is not flashy and slick. It will be a great film for families to see together and it does a good job pulling on the old heartstrings. Matthew Fox also does great as the assistant coach who lived through it all and has many demons to face. WE ARE MARSHELL is the best film of its kind since Remember the Titans.

I hate football, but I loved this movie! I went to see it because Nate Ruffin was my Supervisor for several years and was the most supportive, understanding human being I've ever known. He often told anyone who would listen how his life took a downward spiral after the crash because he felt so guilty for surviving. But he got his life together and decided the best way he could honor his former teammates was to be an inspiration to others, and he was more than that! Anthony Mackie portrayed Nate wonderfully and caught his spirit of leadership and caring! Nate knew from experience what hardship could do to a person's life and used his story to help many of us through major upheavals in our lives.

The movie matched much of what Nate told us throughout the years, and I think he would be ecstatic that the story was finally told and told this well!

Three words: Take some tissue. The story of the tragedy of the Marshall team plane crash is sad enough, but it's more of the emotions related to the events after the crash that can stir you up. I saw this with my parents (both Marshall alum) and they said it was very well done and accurate to the story. Indeed, in reviewing the Marshall web site and comments found there, few things were dramatized or changed to make the film.

Since this is a true story, the history is available on the web. You will be drawn in to the closeness of the Marshall family, and people of Huntington, WV. If you have the chance to visit, do so. You'll find reason to root for the Thundering Herd. Enjoy!

The year of 2006 had three football movies..."The Gridiron Gang", "Invinsible", and "We are Marshall". Having seen the first two earlier in the year, I was not that excited for We are Marshall. I went in expecting a decent but cliché football movie.

I was wrong. We are Marshall is not another cliché football movie...it is so much more than that. The movie is definitely sad, as well it should be...throughout the movie, regardless of all the positive things that are occurring, you are often reminded that the plane crash is still in the characters' minds, and no matter what happens with their rebuilding the football team, that will haunt them forever. This isn't one of those movies where something bad happens and then it is healed.

Go see We are Marshall...will you be depressed? I was not...I left the theater calmly in deep thought. Will you be touched? I would say so.