Go Tigers!

Go Tigers! is a look how high school football rules a small midwest town. The people of Masillon live, eat, drink and breath High School football, and this movie looks at the team, people of the town, the coaches whose everyday lives are affected by the high school team. The people of Masillon go beyond the term of fans. They are fanatics. It also shows some of the darksides of high school sports. A possible "drafting" of an in-eligible player is one highlight. The "mischeif" between two high schools before the big game. It even goes into how a succesfull season affects the school levy. I found this all very interesting, if not somewhat disturbing. All in all it made for some riveting watching.

This is one of the most engaging documentaries I have ever seen (and I have watched hundreds). One reason I enjoyed it so much is the absence of narration. Carlson assembled interviews, footage, and newsreels in a manner that clearly explains the issues and events. Thus, it was just like watching a feature film, only with actual characters and events.

I also recommend the DVD for the bonus features. The interview with former Massilon star Chris Spielman was informative. The segment about the Wheaties campaign was cut out of the film but definitely worth watching. Plus for entertainment value those who can still appreciate teenage antics will enjoy the extra pep rally footage and my personal favorite, Big Cunn and the Village Idiots.

I'm a little taken aback by how many of these other reviewers didn't "get it".

"A good documentary, but it left me a little sad." "Great depiction of my town's enthusiastic pride." "Great for sports fans." etc. etc.

Come on, people, this was a vicious, vicious documentary about an inane town with priorities completely out of whack! Or am I too much of a big-city east coast cynic?

Presenting everything as it happened, warts and all, is a strength of the movie. Reviewers who comment that "I could have done without the party seen [sic]" are totally and completely missing the point. These kids are treated like Gods on earth and it's a Bad Thing. GET IT?!?!

I wish the film spent less time showing football games and more time exploring some of the other aspects of the subject - like, what are cheerleader tryouts like? Let's interview 12 year old girls and find out about their aspirations. Let's get some time with Coach Paterno and find out if he's really serious at all about recruiting any of these kids. The interviews with kids not on the football team were far too brief; I wanted to see what they were doing during game time. (Playing Dungeons and Dragons? Reading? Homework?)

Watching with my "elitist snob" hat on, I enjoyed how the movie still made it hard to look down on the entire high school football institution - clearly it's keeping kids on track and out of jail, keeping local economies pumping, etc. Despite what I said above, this is not a vicious one-sided depiction at all. It just feels that way for long passages. At times it feels like a Christopher Guest movie, except the characters are very real.

Highly recommended for elitist snobs and football fans alike.

Middle America is crazy about football. There is nothing quite so American as a small town turning out on Friday night to support its high school football team. Each year the faces change although the names are recycled as brothers and sons and cousins fill jerseys that their relatives wore in earlier years. To some degree this is normal for mid-America but Masslin Ohio takes it to another level entirely.

Go Tigers! is a documentary about this town and its overpowering passion for high school football. The portraits are honest and accurate and as one who grew up in a small midwestern town, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing these folks, so much like the folks in the town where I grew up.

The film gives you a brief historical perspective and an introduction to a few of the town's more colorful characters before introducing you to this year's three co-captains and then traces one season from the practices before the opening game to the game with the archrivals across the county. Thrown into the mix of football and high school personalities is a budgetary problem and the very doubtful passage of the next school budget levy.

After watching this film, it just didn't sit right with me. I admire the passion that Massillon displays for their football team, but it just seems the school and the town have their priorities in the wrong place.

Just one look at their stadium and it's no wonder the school is bankrupt, 15,000+ seating, a huge electronic scoreboard, a real live tiger roaming the sidelines, fireworks after the team scores. And yet, the school is threatening to make cut-backs if a tax levy does not pass. Where will the cut-backs come from? Why, not the precious football program of course. I'm sure teachers will lose their jobs before the tiger handler does.

Massillon has a convicted rapist on the team, deals with allegations of recruiting violations, has players "red-shirted"--held back in school a year so they'll be more mature for football--and yet the school administrators claim that education is the school's priority. Yeah right. The players are the kings of the town because they can pass a football, but yet can barely pass their ACTs. This is not what high school should be like.

This is a really well done documentary, but just made me sad.