Review of "42"

I recently had the opportunity to watch "42", the new biopic centered around the opening moments of Jackie Robinson's Major League career. Despite the fact that it was a rather enjoyable and somewhat historically accurate, I found the movie to be somewhat underwhelming because it could have been so much better than it was.

Going into the movie, I was very well acquainted with the historical account and overall cultural significance of Jackie Robinson's ascent into the major leagues. This was because I had read a book entitled Jackie Robinson: Baseball's Great Experiement. The book, written by Jules Tygiel, basically recounts in painstaking detail the rather complex and detailed process that took jackie Robinson from barnstorming in the Negro Leagues to Major League baseball playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is considered by many to be the most complete historical account of his transition.

I will first speak on what I did not like about the film.

Though the film did have strong performances (I will speak on that later), I found the movie to be underwhelming for a few reasons. Though it meant well, I found the film overreaching, overdramatized and sentimentally directed. I felt like so many moments in the film were specifically crafted to evoke some sort of sentimental compassion from the viewer. Almost every single scene in which Robinson participates is needlessly amplified and over-directed. His every action in this film is weighed down by this overbearing sense of historical gravitas. Very little in the movie feels completely organic and unforced.

I also didn't like the direction the film took in portraying Robinson. Brian Helgeland, the film's director, was so concerned in making a squeaky clean and inspirational movie that he decided to portray the man as some sort of mythological saint-like being, void of any flaws or shortcomings. I found that portrayal to be somewhat disingenuous and it did the film a disservice. I believe that in better hands the movie would have taken a more multi-layered in depth look at Robinson. Instead of making an honest and truly remarkable movie, Helgeland chose to make a simplistic, accessible and easy digestible one.

My last gripe about the film is its historical accuracy. Though the film did the majority of its facts straight, it omitted very large portions of Robinson's narrative and told a very watered down version of his story. The movie spent no time examining Robinson's back story or the social impact of his ascension. It's narrow focus strips Robinson's tale of some much needed perspective and made me leave the theater wanting much more.

The one thing I did enjoy about the movie were the performances of Chadwick Boseman and Harrsion Ford, who played Jackie robinson and Branch Rickey respectively. Boseman, who bears a striking resemblance to Robinson, was excellent in his portrayal of the man. He played the part well both on and off the field.  On the field he was extremely believable, and looked the part of a baseball player with great ease. As for Harrison Ford, his portrayal portrayal of Rickey seemed very awkward and stiff at first, but as the movie progressed I feel he settled into the role quite nicely. I would have liked to see them flesh out his character a little more than they did since he is indeed a fascinating character, but I was mostly pleased with Ford's portrayal of him.

Overall, "42" was a solid, although unremarkable film. Even though I think it's absolutely great to finally have a biopic of Robinson's life, his legacy could have been done better justice on film. Although it doesn't come across that way in my review, I did somewhat enjoy the film and I would probably recommend it to someone else. It's just that knowing what I knew about the man and his story, I came into the theater expecting more than what the film delivered.

A visit form Howard Bryant

In what was yet another highly intriguing encounter, Howard Bryant spoke to our class on April 4^th. 

He was born and raised in Boston, eventually graduating from Temple University. Interestingly enough, he started out his journalism career in at the Oakland Tribune, where he covered technology. During that time, he spoke about interviewing the likes of Bill Gates, even going as far to credit the experience for him not being starstruck when covering high-profile athletes.

After covering technology, he eventually moved over to sports, covering the Oakland Athletics during the “Moneyball” era. I found that pretty fascinating. Knowing how much movies can distort the truth, it was interesting to hear what he had to say on the matter since he witnessed it first hand. After stops at the Bergen Post, the Boston Herald and the Washington Post he eventually found himself at ESPN, where’s he’s been since 2007.

He spoke on many things, including how the landscape of journalism has radically evolved over the course of his career. He stated that when he was first starting out in the profession, journalists would be able to focus on one specific area of the craft and work from there. However, he admitted that in this day and age it is next to impossible to succeed in this business without being able to a variety of things. Today's journalist has to be so much more versatile than they would have been ten or fifteen years ago.

What impressed me the most was Bryant's candor. He pulled no punches, instead speaking his mind freely. I know that it's a journalist's job to be opinionated, but certain things he said caught me off guard such as his position on collegiate sports. I was intrigued by his position on the state of NCAA Division I basketball in regards to athletes being financially compensated for what they do and his criticism for the monopoly of power held by college coaches. He made a lot of very valid points that made me think.

The part of his message that really hit home to me was when he encouraged the class to “bet on yourself” at least once in your life. I found that to be particularly profound. He said this while explaining the career changing risk he took when he stepped outside of his usual comfort zone and decided to write a book about the history of African-American players within the Boston Red Sox organization. It said it was the biggest risk of his career but ultimately the most rewarding, since it helped get him to wear his today.

Overall, I found Bryant to be a highly intelligent and very well-spoken individual and I am very grateful that he took the time out of what is probably a busy schedule to speak to us. Besides that, this class has honestly been one of the most gratifying experiences I have ever had as a student. The opportunity to meet, interact with and ultimately learn from some of the greatest minds sports journalism has to offer, has been an extremely rewarding experience that I’ve truly appreciated and will never forget.

Race and the NCAA Tournament

As I have done semi-religiously over the past half-decade, I made my usually terrible NCAA Tournament bracket and attentively followed NCAA tournament. 

However, unlike the previous times I had watched the tournament, I was actually carefully listening the to the sports broadcasters to see if anything that could be deemed racially charged would have slipped form their mouths. 

Sadly, this wasn't case. 

I watched both Final Four games as well as the Championship game and came away with absolutely nothing. In the end, the main story of the Final Four was the gruesome injury suffered by Kevin Ware and the Cardinals' desire and commitment to winning a national title for their fallen teammate. The focus of the CBS broadcast was fixed on the emotional story Kevin Ware's injury and the basketball being played on the court. 

The only racially charged (if you can call it that) incident of the entire coverage of the tournament that I even remotely remember was Doug Gottlieb's very awkward "white man's perspective" joke that fell flat on its face on live on national television. Though it was cringeworthy and in obvious poor taste, I doubt too many people were surprised or even upset by it since Gottlieb's mouth has gotten him in trouble before. If you're at all curious, feel free to watch the video here. 

Aside from that I did not notice and racially charged language in any of the three games I watched and therefore, I sadly have nothing to report.

A visit from TJ Quinn & Bonnie Ford...

A few days ago, ESPN journalists Bonnie Ford and TJ Quinn were kind enough to take a few hours out of their busy schedules and make the trip out to Amherst and visit with our class here at UMass. I for one am very happy they did.

I learned a great deal from their visit. The amount of information and insight they shared with us was absolutely remarkable. Aside from speaking about the everyday rigors and challenges of their current jobs, they shared the process it took for them to arrive where they did. I believe that helped us understand the grind and sacrifice required to make a real career out of being a sports journalists

In what was probably the most enjoyable part of their lecture, they took the the time to share some their personal anecdotes. The both shared some very interesting stories about their various interactions and run-ins with some very prominent athletes. Some of them were alarming, while other were downright hilarious. Given the nature of their occupations, they often have the chance to rub shoulders with these athletes and the anecdotes they shares gave the class somewhat of an insider's look at what goes on behind the scenes when the cameras aren't rolling. it was really cool to have them share the information with our class.

Given that both Ford and Quinn specialize in investigative sports journalism, specifically in the area of PED use and doping, we spoke at length about the issue of cheating in sports. It was incredible to see how informed and knowledgable about their field of work and how well-veresed thy were with all of the scientific jargon and terminologies as well. They were on top their stuff and clarified several issues that i was unsure of or previously had doubts or reservations about. Having two experts of their caliber who have invested that much time an effort into doing what do.

Another thing that impressed a lot was how well they answered our questions, which came from a plethora of directions. They answered every question asked in detail and often added some interesting piece of information or insight while offering plenty of practical advice.

On top of everything, they were also incredibly engaging as well. Both Ford and Quinn are exceptional storytellers and really captivated the class' attention for the entire time they spoke, which was a little over three hours. In fact, the lecture went about 20 minutes over the allotted class time and not one person seemed to mind at all because we were all intrigued by what these two journalists had to say.

Overall, their visit was an extremely positive one. Both Ford and Quinn shared a wealth of knowledge with our lass and enriched our experience as a result.  It was a real learning experience that I truly appreciate.

Five Questions for Bonnie Ford & TJ Quinn

• What are your feelings in regards to the Lance Armstrong interview on Oprah?
• Do you feel that that there is a certain unfair stigma associated with performance-enhancing drugs?
• How would you describe the manner is which PED use has affected the credibility sports as a whole?
• Do you ever evaluate the issue of PED from athlete's perspective?
• Do you believe that the exclusion of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens from the Hall of Fame unfair?

Baseball & PEDs

As I tuned into Sportscenter the other day and saw highlights of MLB spring training, it suddenly hit me: another season of baseball is around the corner.

To be completely honest and forthcoming, I have never really cared for baseball. Though I’ve never minded playing the sport all that much, I’ve always likened watching it on television to sitting down on your front porch and watching the grass grow. It simply wasn’t my thing.

However, I cannot ignore the important place holds not only in sports, but also in American society as a whole. After all, it is America’s pastime.

Unfortunately with every new season of Major League Baseball, comes yet another batch of performance-enhancing rumors and accusations. Aside from cycling, which is slowly recovering from the Lance Armstrong confessional, no other sport has been as tainted by the dark cloud of performance-enhancing drugs as baseball.

The Biogenesis clinic scandal is just one of the many instances over the past decade in which prominent baseball players have been publicly outed for using banned substances. This all comes after the revelations of the Mitchell Report, BALCO trial, as well as multiple congressional hearings involving commissioner Bud Selig and some very prominent players.

This new Biogenesis scandal clearly demonstrates that the issue of PEDs is still a very relevant one as it shows that players could very well still be doping in order to gain an advantage. Players like Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun were two of the names involved in this recent scandal, despite the fact that they were both very recently in hot water over PED use.

Ultimately, PED use and doping in general has been a part of baseball for decades and will still be apart of it for years to come. No other sport has had to endure the amount of public scrutiny like baseball has been over the past decade or so and that apparently hasn’t deterred players from continuing to use banned substances and I don’t think it will anytime soon.

A visit from Mr. Thompson...

Getting the opportunity to meet Wright Thompson and hear him speak was definitely one of the highlights of my stay here at UMass and one of the more interesting experiences I have ever had in an academic setting. I must say that I learned a great deal in the short amount of time he spent with our class and I can honestly say that I won’t forget it anytime soon.

Before he came to speak to our class, I had heard of him in passing but I had never seen him on television or laid eyes on a photograph of the man. When I finally did lay eyes on him, I was initially taken aback by his appearance.

He didn’t look like your typical journalist.

While I am not certain of how a journalist is supposed to look, but the vast majority of those I’ve come across have been clean really clean-cut and “professional” looking. Thompson was anything but that.

He had what could be described as fairly long hair and he looked as if he hadn’t shaved in several weeks. He had a very rugged and somewhat mysterious appearance unlike anything I’d ever before in a journalist.

He came across as somewhat of a rebel and I was pretty intrigued by that.

What fascinated me the most about him was how informal his lecture was. He spoke very naturally and loosely as if we were all in a bar having a drink and not in a classroom somewhere. I found him to be engaging, hilarious, genuine, down to earth, charismatic, reflective, and certainly irreverent.

I was also fascinated by his ability to be brutally honest and candid about his past experiences, such as the time he spent in Miami trying desperately to track down an obscure boxer in his “Shadowboxing” story or the time spent interviewing and just hanging out with Michael Jordan.

Ultimately I was very amazed at how well he was able to connect with people, and ultimately humanize them. To me, that is the real beauty of Mr. Thompson’s work and it is very evident in “Michael Jordan Has Not Left the Building,” his most recent article for ESPN. It was also cool to see the manner in which he went about composing the story. I had never realized how important of a step outlining was until he spoke to our class.

The very next day, I woke up rather early and tuned into ESPN and lo and behold I saw Mr. Thompson discussing the content’s of his Michael Jordan piece on Sportscenter. It was quite surreal to see him on national television in the exact same clothes he wore when he spoke to our class. This might come across as childish, but it felt as if our class had been let in on some sort of secret or that we had been apart of a special moment in time. As I watched the segment, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was apart of that moment. It was a pretty special feeling. I just remembered being grateful that I had the opportunity to meet the man and hear him speak and ultimately learn some very important lessons in the process.