Cool Pose and "The U"

After the Heisman Presentation on Saturday I watch the ESPN movie "The U" directed by Billy Corben. The movie was about the rise of the University of Miami's football program through the 80s. The interesting thing about the movie that I can relate to what we studied in class were the examples of the "cool pose".

Before the 1980s the Miami program was seen as a joke around college football. The team never won many games and attendance at games was abysmal. They even started giving away tickets at Burger King to get people to come to their games. It all turned around when they hired Coach Howard Shnellenberger. Coach Shnellenberger committed himself to recruiting all of the talent around great Miami where other coaches were reluctant to go because of the bad neighborhoods. He recruited these underprivileged athletes around Miami and they a lot of them decided to come to their hometown school to build the program. That they did. Through the 80s and with three different coaches the Miami program grew to be one of the best in the nation.

The examples of the "cool pose" I saw was in the swagger of these inner city players during game day. They would have elaborate celebrations and became very visible in the college football world. This "cool pose" was an expressive lifestyle behavior that was a response to the limitations they faced growing up in underprivileged households. They were out to show people that although they may have been suppressed growing up they can still play and put together a winning program. The program talked about how the players high visibility and stellar play led to them being somewhat "superstars" in the Miami community. They even garnered support from local rappers and celebrities.

I think this movie was a perfect example of the "cool pose" because it showed and talked about the celebrations and the different things the players did to draw attention to themselves and the program. They were out to gain respect from other programs and the country. They wanted to show people that they were confident and ready to play. I think the University of Miami in the 80s was the start of the "cool pose" and celebrations in college football.