Tears For The Pigskin

Off the top of my head, these two; Any Given Sunday and Little Giants; are the only football films I can think of that I did not shed a tear for. Don't ask me why. My list of teary-eyed football watching stretches from Rudy (the true story of one man's dream to play football at Notre Dame) to Gus (the fake story of a mule who becomes the place kicker for the California Atoms) and everything in between. That includes Friday Night Lights, Remember the Titans, and The Waterboy. I have yet to see Necessary Roughness, The Wildcats, The Replacements, either of The Longest Yards, and have only seen part of The Program and just thinking about the possibilites in these six films makes me a little misty.

So, it should come as no surprise that when I woke up early on Saturday morning I spent my time lying on the couch and watching back to back episodes of ESPN's Sportscentury featuring the legendary running backs Walter Payton and Barry Sanders-and cried at the end of both. Now, Walter Payton was an amazing humanitarian and athlete who passed away too early. So, tears are understandable. But, on the other hand, Barry Sanders was a phenomenal running back, but was missing those tear jerking moments. And I realized it was quite simple. I just missed Barry Sanders. I missed seeing Barry Sanders run. So, I cried. I cried because I missed seeing a guy run. Ah, football.

It's just one those games filled with hard hits, miraculous runs and leaps, and high fives and ass pats. A game that if played right and/or scripted well and given to talented and believable actors and/or mules brings me to tears.