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Miami Herald’s Dan Le Batard – Miami Hurricanes Succeed Where Others Are Failing:
Before Allen Iverson and Ron Artest, before Terrell Owens and OchoCinco, before Trick Daddy and Lil Wayne — before America was quite ready, in other words — there was championship University of Miami football. It was fun, violent, florescent, reckless and wonderful, but the street getting so close to the library was also pretty new then, and that particular kind of new can scare people the way black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson scared them by dating white women once upon a time.
Notre Dame’s Tim Brown admits now, all these years later, that the only time he was ever terrified playing football was against Miami — not because of the Orange Bowl noise or even the Hurricane talent but because of what he feared Miami’s players might do to him in the parking lot after the game. South Florida loved the so-very-Miami aura around those teams. America hated it.
ESPN is doing a two-hour documentary on UM’s renegade years this week. It is done by UM alums and will mostly embrace that fascinating time, but the current administration didn’t want anything to do with the film and even advised former players not to participate. UM has a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder about its past, understandably. You might, too, if the nation’s largest magazine in your field called for your eradication because it had, in its grandfatherly senility, confused you being edgy with you being evil.
But here’s the thing: This UM hasn’t been that UM in a really long time.
Palm Beach Post:
I’ve seen only clips of the UM documentary, but I’m very familiar with Corben’s prior work – “Cocaine Cowboys” is a classic and “Raw Deal: A Question of Consent” is a lesser-known but equally brilliant piece of work.
Corben is an unrepentant fan of the Hurricanes, particularly those ‘80s teams that were gangsta before there were gangstas. Who else would allow Luther Campbell to record the theme song to his documentary?
The Oklahoman:
ESPN Films’ “The U” documentary will bring back painful memories for OU football fans, as well as fans of other Big 12 powerhouses, including Nebraska and Texas.
Corben said he wishes he could have talked to defensive tackle Jerome Brown, who, while a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, died in an automobile accident in 1992.
“If Miami was the team of the ’80s then Jerome Brown was the player of the ’80s,” he said.
Who can forget Brown leading his Miami teammates, all wearing military battle dress, off the plane after arriving to play Penn State in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl?
As Shockey says in the film, “It’s a ‘Cane thing.”
Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin – Screen Gems:
The U (9 p.m. Saturday, ESPN) — This documentary on University of Miami football in the 1980s contains enough ugly spots — the pay-for-play allegations, the NCAA violations, the arrogance and hot-doggery of the players — that the university tried to kill it. But it’s also got the on-the-field performances that led to four national championships during the decade.
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