We have another upset in our tournament, and it came by the slimmest of margins. After 250 votes had been cast in our match-up between The Blind Side and The Longest Yard, it turns out that Sandra Bullock just couldn't overcome Paul Crewe and company, as The Longest Yard moves into the "Other" bracket finals by a margin of 127-123. So, The Longest Yard will take on the winner of today's match-up.
Let's examine this after the jump, shall we?
Remember The Titans
Remember The Titans is the story of Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), who is a black man hired as the head football coach at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. The football team at the school is a mixture of black and white players, and there is a great deal of racial tension both in the locker room and in the classroom. Boone takes over the head coaching position from the legendary Bill Yoast (Will Patton). Boone offers Yoast an assistant coaching spot with the team, and Yoast refuses at first, but then accepts after the team's white players threaten to boycott the season if he doesn't accept it.
The white and black players on the team still continue to clash in racially motivated conflicts at their football camp, but Boone is eventually able to get them to work together. After returning from the football camp, Boone is told by a member of the school board that if the team loses so much as one game, Boone will be fired. The team triumphs despite having to deal with biased officiating and other major obstacles.
Varsity Blues
Varsity Blues is also set in the world of Texas high school football. It's the story of Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek), the backup quarterback for West Canaan High School, who doesn't like his life. He also doesn't like football very much, but he's pushed into playing by his father, and doesn't want to play for his team's legendary coach, Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight). Voight is a control freak who wants to win at all costs and, eventually, one of those "costs" is West Canaan's star quarterback getting injured, which pushes Moxon into duty.
Kilmer angers Mox to the point where Mox starts calling his own plays on the field. This angers Kilmer to the point where he tells Mox that if he doesn't fall in line, the coach will have Mox's high school transcripts altered so that he doesn't get a scholarship to Brown University, which has been one of Mox's life goals all along. After another of Mox's friends gets injured and is faced with being given a cortisone shot (so that he can play, even in the face of possible permanent injury), Mox informs Kilmer that the team isn't re-taking the field with him as their coach. Kilmer loses control and attacks Mox, which all by spells the end of his coaching career.
So, have at it, folks!