re: Remember the Titans

I loved the movie when it first came out due to its message but after doing research on the historical events the film portrays, I can't help but feel robbed by Hollywood.

For one...Virginia had been integrated since the mid-60s and most of the players who went on to form that 1971 T.C. Williams Titans football team had already played on integrated teams before the area schools merged into one. There may have been some racial tensions among them, but most of the tension involved competition for starting spots. Also...the real Coach Boone was absolutely DESPISED by his players and was nothing like the Boone we saw portrayed by Denzel Washington. The man was a brutal task master and there was even a mutiny among the assistant coaches, led by none other than Coach Yost, several years after the 1971 championship season due to his cruelty toward players.

And as has already been stated, Petey never had a fumbling problem, Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell were not best friends, and Bertier didn't have his car accident until after the season had concluded. Also...Yost's daughter was not the die hard football fan she was portrayed in the film.

In summary, the story about the 1971 T.C. Williams football team was heavily embellished. Almost none of it was true. It really makes you feel like you'd been had when you actually read up on what the real team was like.