The “Surprise the Cat” Blogathon – Glory Road (2006)

This is my submission for the The “Surprise the Cat” Blogathon being run by J-Dub over at Dubism

Tnx for letting me take part!

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“You’ll play basketball my way. My way is hard.” – Coach Don Haskins

Number of Times Seen – Twice (31 Mar 2008 and 15 Mar 2019)

Brief Synopsis – In the mid-60’s. in order to try and make his small college basketball team more competitive, the new coach decides to recruit 7 Black players to play on the team which is highly frowned upon since they are located in the heart of Texas.

My Take on it – For this blogathon, I chose to go the surprise route and J-Dub gave me something I didn’t expect at all.

I assumed that I would get some kind of feline themed film but instead, being the basketball fan that he is, he chose to give me a film to watch that I had only seen once before over a decade ago about a real life basketball team that cause much commotion because they were the first college team to fully integrate black and whites on the same team during a time in the deep south where such ideas were very much frowned upon.

This is a great film because it helps us feel the inspiration that the coach gives his young team in order for the  to try and excel at what they do best while attempting to ignore the racial slanders and hatred thrown at them along the way from so many different places.

Josh Lucas is quite good in the lead even if he seems a bit too young for the role.

They do a great job showing how the various team members form a bond during their training and then afterwards while they play through the season.

This helps give us a realistic feel for all that they are doing especially since we get to see how these young athletes themselves begin to see how important it is for them to work as a team in order to succeed in the racial atmosphere that they are thrust into.

Knowing that this film is based on a real story also helps make things feel even more poignant because we get to see how they all must work together despite their differences so that they can combat the baseless racial hatred thrown at them the entire way.

Bottom Line – Great inspirational sports film that is able to show what can be done when necessary. Lucas is great in the lead even if he seems a bit young for the part. The way that they show how the team members bond over the course of training and eventually over the course of the season is great because we get a realistic feeling that these young men begin to realize how important it is that they compete as a team.  Knowing that this is based on true events makes it even more poignant to watch because we can see how they must all work together to try and fight baseless hatered while still being the best at what they do the whole way through. Recommeded!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – During the National Championship game against Kentucky, the 3-point shooting rule is not present. This is historically accurate. The first time the NCAA experimented with the shot was 1945. The 3-point shot became popular during the 1967-68 American Basketball Association season. It was not used by the NCAA until 1986. The NBA adopted the shot during the 1979-80 season. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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