FORGET 'HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL': WHAT ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL?

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

Is there a word that means "having nostalgia for something you never experienced in the first place"?

If so, that's exactly the feeling I get every fall for high school football.

I went to a small school that focused more on physics than pigskin, so I never had what I'd consider the quintessential high school football experience -- one with pep rallies, malt shops, cheerleaders and a coach who puts everything on the line for One ... Big ... Win.

Even though the only football I saw was completely rinky-dink, there's still something about the cold weather, the spicy fall air, and the sudden flash of stadium lights popping on that makes my heart race.

This is the time of year I find myself craving a good football movie, and preferably one set in high school. My kids are such huge fans of "High School Musical" that they seem ready to see a different perspective on a high school that exists mostly in the minds of Hollywood directors.

This does limit the field somewhat.

"Air Bud: Golden Receiver" is set in middle school, and "The Longest Yard" is set in prison. Even though both make me cry a little bit at the end, they're not going to meet the current need. (Come on: You know you can't resist a golden retriever in a jersey.)

I have yet to see a high school football movie I like better than "Remember the Titans," but that's probably because I have yet to see an actor I like much better than Denzel Washington. He even makes a stupid story like "The Pelican Brief" interesting.

"Titans" is based on a true story, like a lot of football movies, including "Radio" and "Knute Rockne: All American," starring Ronald "The Gipper" Reagan. It's loosely based in fact, if online debates about the movie even seven years after its release are to be believed. Some people are apparently peeved they didn't cast a fat jerk in the role of heroic coach. (Sorry, folks: Russell Crowe is white.)

"Titans" takes place in Virginia in the early 1970s, during the early days of integrated schooling there. A popular, white football coach loses his job to a black coach from out of town, and black and white players struggle to learn how to play together. It's a simple metaphor, but one that's engaging to watch. It's the sort of movie that makes racism and injustice tangible to kids, who for the most part are too young to know some of the uglier chapters in our country's history books.

But you don't have to dwell on the serious parts alone; you can also point out some familiar faces. The movie is practically a farm team for some of today's favorite TV shows.

Hayden Panettiere from "Heroes" plays the football-crazed daughter of Coach Yoast (Will Patton), the white man who lost his job to Washington's Coach Boone. Even as a little girl, she was memorable on the big screen.

Ethan Suplee, who plays Randy on "My Name Is Earl," and Donald Faison, who plays Turk on "Scrubs," also have roles. Kate Bosworth from "Blue Crush" and Ryan Gosling from "Nothing Your Kids Should Be Watching Except Goosebumps" also play small parts, which shows that the casting director of the movie had a really good eye for talent.

This is another thing worth talking about with kids: Even big stars often start with small roles. Making something of little opportunities is what gives you the big ones.

Speaking of big talent in small football movies ... A 1983 made-for-TV movie called "Quarterback Princess" stars a young Helen Hunt as Tami Maida, a girl who just wants to play football. Tim Robbins also has a role. How many other made-for-TV movies have two future Academy Award winners in them?

And yes, despite its improbable and icky title, "Quarterback Princess" was also based on a true story. Aside from the aforementioned "Air Bud" and "Longest Yard," and of course "Jerry Maguire," are there any football movies that aren't based on real events? I'm guessing no. The plots tend to be so sappy that Hollywood assumes we wouldn't believe them if we don't see the still-photo epilogue at the end that tells what all the characters are doing with their lives 30 years later.

The true-story trend continues with "Radio," starring Ed Harris and Cuba Gooding Jr., who plays a totally different role than in "Jerry Maguire." It's about a South Carolina coach who lets a developmentally disabled boy become a mascot of sorts for a high school team after some athletes treat him badly. Coach Jones (Harris) tries to make amends by giving Radio a place with the team, and everyone in town eventually learns that people are greater than their limitations.

For kids, what's nice about this 2003 movie is that it's extremely well made, without any cynicism. The screenplay is by Mike Rich, who wrote the excellent "Finding Forrester" -- a perfect movie for the budding writer or teacher to watch, by the way.

Likewise, the acting is top-notch. Harris, who has deserved to win at least one of the four Academy Awards for which he's been nominated, is utterly believable. And even though Gooding hasn't quite matched his Oscar-winning turn as a football star in "Jerry Maguire," he's charming and sweet in this role, and he serves as a reminder to kids that everyone has something to offer.

Gooding's "Jerry Maguire" co-star, Tom Cruise, also has another football movie under his belt. Around the time "Risky Business" came out, he starred in a classic called "All the Right Moves."

This football tale is about Stefen Djordjevic, who dreams of using football as his ticket out of a dying Pennsylvania steel town. (This definitely beats his "Risky Business" strategy of using prostitutes as a ticket into Princeton, but I digress.) Djordjevic's coach (Craig T. Nelson), meanwhile, has his eye on a college-level job, and their two dreams are on a collision course.

The movie, which came out before I was in high school, might be the reason I have those feelings of fake nostalgia. Like the 10-year-olds thinking high school is like "High School Musical," this is what I thought high school football games would be like. They'd feel important. Winning would take on epic urgency. As depicted in "All the Right Moves," the game was about more than just a final score -- people's futures hung in the balance. This makes for a great feeling.

And it's a feeling that so often fades to nothingness by the time you get to be a grown-up. You know that life doesn't revolve around touchdowns, and can't be perfected in mere moments.

This is called perspective. Sometimes, having it means you've lost a bit of the romantic outlook of childhood. It's a pleasure to regain a bit of that dizzying joy, even for just a couple of hours, on a cozy couch with your kids.

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Martha Brockenbrough is author of "It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond." She's also founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes a fun-with-kids column for Cranium.com, as well as an educational humor column for Encarta. Check out her Web site.

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