MovieChat Forums > Varsity Blues (1999) Discussion > as a current highschool football player....

as a current highschool football player..


i can honestly say this is the WORST portrayal of an actual high school football team ive ever seen. if the players on my team did half the stuff they do in the movie they would be kicked off the team. not to mention the portrayal of their practices, games, and coach involvement ruined this movie for me because they were so out of whack. not to mention...on my team there are 5 or 6 coaches on the sidelines plus 2 or 3 that stand in the press box with headphones on...this is typical of any highschool team yet in the movie we NEVER see anyone besides jon voight. if a single person tried to coach any football team it wouldnt be possible. also..he didnt even coach!! if you notice..he gets mad at "mox" for not calling enough run plays. in what highschool football game does the quarterback have as much play calling power during gametime as peyton manning does? AND he consistantly (mainly in the last game) changes the play calls of the coach when he does actually send them in...this would absolutely get a kid benched...these are small problems but i cant overlook them as a football player and fan.

if they wanted to make a drama movie they should have taken it off the football field or at LEAST had some minimal consultation from people who know what the hell goes on within a highschool football team. this movie is ruined completely for me.

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yoru football team sucks

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You've obviously never seen the small town America football teams. I live in New York, but there ARE high school programs (not just football, sometimes basketball or baseball or even girl's cheerleading) that are run like this because this is all the people have. In the Midwest, the South and Texas especially. If a sports program is generating most of the school's revenue, then people will turn a blind eye.

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You should love this movie, like I love Hackers, a totally silly, unrealistic, and just plain wrong portrayal of computer geeks, but one that manages to keep one entertained by its naive quaintness.

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you got it right, skiop! as a big time movie buff, i get a massive kick out of Entourage but I know that's nothing like the real deal. ;/

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I was just wondering what state your from and how big your school was? 2A, 3A, 4A, etc.?

I'm from a small 2A school in Alabama and although it was a little overly dramatic, it was pretty much spot on. Southern towns take their football super serious.

At the end of my Junior year, me and three friends (all of us played football) were riding around one night and decided to mess with one of our teachers. We loaded up a huge ROAD CLOSED sign at the end of the road she lived on and pushed it out so that it was blocking her driveway. Then, one of the guys, for some stupid reason, pulled his hunting rifle out of the backseat and shot out her street light.
When she found out who it was, she call the District Attorney. It was looking pretty bad for us. Then, the head coach called us all into his office individually and told us he'd been on the phone with the D.A. all morning trying to "fix" this. He said if we gave up the one that shot the gun, he could help us out. We declined. Luckily, our teacher understood that while really stupid and immature, we didn't mean any harm and she didn't go through with charges.

This is just one of many instances where being a football player has lead to some crazy stuff being swept under the rug. I mean the coach was talking to the D.A. to get us out trouble involving a gun.

I do agree about the coaches, but most of the game stuff is merely a montage so, even to the most techinal, analytical movie watcher like myself, it's nothing to get up in arms about.

I closing, I think maybe you need to accept that just because you PLAY football, doesn't make you the fore most authority on the subject. Especially, when it comes to places like 'West Canaan, Texas' where they LIVE football.

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[deleted]

to much time on your hands?

Power To The Saw

www.facebook.com/people/Peter-Monsivais/765147462

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This is a movie. Not real life. It's not supposed to portray real life high school football. It's supposed to make money in the movies and entertain.

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A good cliche movie: mean coach, town/parents/kids who know nothing except football, but you're right. Much of what occured would have meant a coach or player dismissal. But in small-town America, especially the southwest (film location) football is pretty much king and good players are treated that way. Just look at current Texas Tech--Harrell and Crabtree are both treated more like rock stars than students. But on and off field antics (shouting at the coach and such)...bench for sure.

BUT....several points of contention--

1. A high school coach who has 23 district titles must not have much competition. They are a "running team?" You can't have 23 years of good offensive line and talented running backs, so...to gain that many titles there has to be a passing attack.

2. The last scenes just woud not have happened. No other coaches? NONE? NOT A ONE? The school administration would not have let that happen and AN ADULT would have had to step in and run the team. But first, the coach wouldn't have walked away like that. One minute he is a King and the next he walks away in shame? Sorry hard to buy. Besides, who was Lance talking to on a headset? His mom?

3. The play where Lance was hurt would have been stopped long before the player got to him. Billy Bob fell forward and passed out before the ball was snapped....motion. You think the refs are quick in college with a motion flag? All you have to do in high school is "blink" and the flags come out. Done to prevent just what happened in the film.

4. Hook and Ladder won't work with a lineman, unless the ball is fumbled. He is ineligible to go past the scrimmage line until the ball is thrown, and then it is too far to run to make the play work.

But all this aside, could we see Miss Davis again? PLEASE!?

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don't forget this movie is just about 10 years old....as a current high school student you were a mere boy in elementary school. lots of things change in ten years :)

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I totally agree with the person who first posted this (i too am a high school football player). Anybody who thinks this is actually what a small town football team is like is crazy. This movie is sooooooooooooooo unrealistic i don't even know where to start. But despite this, i still enjoyed this movie because it was entertaining. That's why they made this movie; to entertain, not to portray a realistic high school football team. If you want to watch a movie like that watch friday night lights.

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the only problem i have with this movie is the hilariously bad sideline represintation of football. so god damn *beep* awful.

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We only had two coaches total at my 1A high school. When I was in eleventh grade the head coach had a baby (well, his wife did) that had complications. He missed at least four games. So for half of our season we only had one coach at the games. We sucked terribly, by the way. My eighth grade year the team went 3-7. Their record was pretty much the same until my Senior year when they finally turned it around and went 7-3. Then... everyone graduated and they went back to sucking. I don't think they've had a winning season in the last thirteen years.

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As a former high school football and baseball player in a small town (3A) in FL, I can say that it was close to accurate. But I will say that since private schools have begun to emerge as powerhouses thanks to recruiting small town players aren't able to get away with as much since they are not as successful.

My team was pretty successful. Half of my senior year I parked in the principals parking spot because I didn't want to pay for a parking pass. The other half he drove me out to the student parking lot with his golf cart where I parked after he gave me a free parking pass in one of the closest spots.

We drank just as much if not more. House parties, bonfires, tailgates, river parties, etc. I miss every minute.

Our TE's girlfriend had some guy hitting on her. After he tried to go after him in a hall, our principal just happened to be standing there and grabbed him. He calmed him down and told him not to worry about it. After the next day we never saw the kid again. I still to this day really don't know what happened to him. If you can't tell our principal was a huge football fan.

The deputies treat you different. The sheriff personally sees you get taken care of.

We'd have a convoy of fans following the buses following a police escort to away games.

The town would literally shut down on Friday nights. Not as much when I played as when I was a kid watching the hometeam, but that was because we had more people moving out from the city living in our town.

We didn't have any strip clubs, but we'd go to the nearest big city and go.

We didn't do anything too bad on purpose. Our big rival had a guy (their star RB) that would literally run from school when they brought dogs to sniff out drugs. He was put in jail for something and not allowed to practice, but they would literally let him out on Friday afternoons just to play football, I'm not exaggerating.

I won't even start on the girls...

Oh the stories I could tell...

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Actually steviekaps9013 You must not play football in a texas High School it is like this in most schools in texas. In Texas football is a religion even read the book Friday Night Lights about the Real Permian High Panthers. This movie is not that far fetched if you take off your blinders go play for a highschool in texas then come talk to me and i would know this cause i played high school football in the state of texas.

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you are right I live in Connecticut, not Texas.

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Well, that pretty much explains it. You live in the richest per capita state in the country. LOL.

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Dude, it's a movie................

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the original poster must live in a cloud...........some small towns all over the US are exactly like this.

IM RUNNIN THIS MONKEY FARM NOW FRANKENSTEIN! AND I WANNA KNOW WHAT THE F&$K UR DOIN WITH MY TIME!

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