buckeyemike Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Out December 22, the same day as Rocky Balboa. Many of you probably know the story of the Marshall University plane crash on November 14, 1970. The entire football team, along with coaches and boosters, were among the 75 killed on final approach to the Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia. My mother is from West Virginia and knows the story well. It is because of her that I know the story of MU and Huntington. The city of Huntington (population 49,000 and the home of MU) has been through a lot of suffering. This movie will tell the story of the 1971 Thundering Herd football team, which had a record of 2-9. It was nothing short of a miracle that the Herd won those two games. In fact, the Herd didn't even have a winning season until 1986. In 1987, the Herd went to the 1-AA title game and lost by one point. In 1991 through 1993, MU played Youngstown State three consecutive years in the 1-AA title game. MU lost in 1991 and 1993, but in 1992, on their home field in Huntington, the Herd won the national title 31-28 on a last second FG. The Herd went 15-0 in 1996, the most wins ever in a college season, in their last year in 1-AA. They have been 1-A ever since. ESPN2 will do a feature on the movie during halftime of tonight's Central Florida - Marshall game. Knowing the story as I do, I got chills up my spine watching the trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 I, too, got chills during the trailer last night on ESPN2... I am very anxious to see the movie.. My dau, a MU student, might be in a crowd seen that was filmed in Huntington. That would be cool... The sense of 'community' is very high in Huntington and Marshall U. and I hope the movie guys 'get' this in the film... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted October 5, 2006 Author Share Posted October 5, 2006 I, too, got chills during the trailer last night on ESPN2...I am very anxious to see the movie.. My dau, a MU student, might be in a crowd seen that was filmed in Huntington. That would be cool... The sense of 'community' is very high in Huntington and Marshall U. and I hope the movie guys 'get' this in the film... 796245[/snapback] Let me know if you see your daughter when you watch the film. As far as the sense of community is concerned, the MU head coach said his team has already seen a sneak preview of the movie...apparently, the film pretty much nails it. According to the director, it was very important that they got the sense of how much it affected the town and the university correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikie2times Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 Wow chills. My girlfriend bitches about so many football movies. She better not give me crap about this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 I never knew of that story until I saw the trailer the other night and then read a brief article about what happened....I'm looking forward to seeing that film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Matthew McConaughey read this script and said "I HAVE to do this movie." He plays the coach who leads the team the next season...He has commented on the sense of 'community' he has experienced in Huntington..... Go see this movie..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Rich Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 In fact, the Herd didn't even have a winning season until 1986. In 1987, the Herd went to the 1-AA title game and lost by one point. 795545[/snapback] I was there on a recruiting trip my senior year of high school (86-87). I heard all about the crash in '71; heartbreaking story. I never would've thought that they'd go on to win a national title in 1AA and then move up to 1A and be a competitive team in the MAC. Good for the Herd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted October 6, 2006 Author Share Posted October 6, 2006 One article recently stated that the Focus Group Testing scores for "We Are...Marshall" were the highest of any Warner Brothers film in the last twenty years. Today, Marshall is off to a slow start in Conference USA play (1-4 overall, 0-1 conference) with their last second loss to Central Florida on Wednesday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikie2times Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Today, Marshall is off to a slow start in Conference USA play (1-4 overall, 0-1 conference) with their last second loss to Central Florida on Wednesday night. 797003[/snapback] Marshall is also the only team from the MAC to be invited to a bigger conference. I heard a lot about the story back in 2000 when W.Michigan brought a top 30 team into Huntington. It was the 30 year anniversary of the crash that year. Western won the first match up, then lost in the MAC championship on the same field. To this day Huntington is still one of the most difficult small college stadiums to play in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catholic Guilt Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Thanks for the trailer posting. This should be a great film and I'm looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cripes Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 ESPN Classic had a very good retrospective on the tragedy a few years ago. Expect to to see it replayed before the movie's out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted October 31, 2006 Author Share Posted October 31, 2006 The chill factor is off the charts here. This movie has the potential to be football's answer to "Field of Dreams". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted November 9, 2006 Author Share Posted November 9, 2006 Two new commercials for "We Are Marshall" (Click on 11-7 blog entry). The first one I have already seen on Fox Sports Net. BTW, the film is rated PG. I also have heard that the trailer is being shown prior to "Borat", so a lot of people are seeing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
udonkey Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 Dell has a partnership with Warner Brothers, so this trailer, along with 4-5 others (including Happy Feet), is played on a continuous loop at all Dell Direct Stores on 50", 42", 37", and 26" HD-tvs. Lucky me, I get to see it about 20 times a day. Having said that, I do intend to go watch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted November 10, 2006 Author Share Posted November 10, 2006 This has got to be one of the eeriest things ever... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted November 10, 2006 Share Posted November 10, 2006 I heard about this on ESPN radio.. Too eeerie..... Let's Go Herd.....Beat ECU !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 This has got to be one of the eeriest things ever... 831991[/snapback] Not for nothin', but my cousin is on the Marshall coaching staff. That was really strange. I'll email him Monday to get the scoop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 In today's Register Herald newspaper it was reported that the flight was delayed 2 hours. There was smoke coming from an engine. It was repaired and the trip to Greenville NC was completed... Today is Senior Day at ECU and the Pirates and Herd are in a dog fight for first place in the Eastern conference of C-USA... Go HERD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted November 15, 2006 Author Share Posted November 15, 2006 The movie is really starting to get promoted. I saw commercials for it on ESPN/ESPN2 three times last night. Yesterday (November 14) was the 36 year anniversary of the tragedy that still affects Huntington to this day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodBye Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 Matthew McConaughey read this script and said "I HAVE to do this movie." He plays the coach who leads the team the next season...He has commented on the sense of 'community' he has experienced in Huntington..... Go see this movie..... 796897[/snapback] Oh, well, if Matthew McConaughey is in this movie I'm going to see it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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