"The Sessions": B. Whenever I've attended a movie during the past few years, I've kept the thought in the back of my mind that, within the next day or two, I was going to write about it. The difference this time around was that, when I went to the theater to watch The Sessions with Momma Cuandito on Tuesday, the thought of writing was foremost in my mind. How do you go about reviewing a movie which is mostly about the relationship between a paralyzed thirty-eight year old man and his female sex surrogate? The mature answer would be to approach the task no differently from the way one would if the movie were, say, a western or a detective story. But, I never claimed to be that mature, notwithstanding my having qualified for Medicare several months ago. Writing this review is a tougher-than-normal challenge.
In accordance with my long-held practice, I only read ahead of time the opening paragraphs of a couple of different reviews, just enough to get a general sense of what the movie is about and whether the critics deem it worthy. I had not planned to see this film until the Oscar nominations announced earlier this month included Helen Hunt for Best Supporting Actress. Going into the theater, my two main preliminary questions concerning sex therapy via surrogates were (i) what is it, and (ii) if it's what I think it is, how is that different from prostitution. I was confident The Sessions would provide the answers.
The time is 1988. Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) is a writer and a poet who has been paralyzed since childhood when he contracted polio. He can move his head but does not have functionality of his extremities. He can verbally communicate quite well, and writes by banging a keyboard with a pencil-like instrument which he holds in his mouth. He is confined to an iron lung which he can't leave for more than four hours at a time, as he needs it to help him breath. He employs nursing assistants who are with him from morning to midnight. When he wants to leave his Berkley, California house from time to time, they push him down the sidewalk on a gurney. Despite these circumstances, Mark has a great sense of humor which he shares with us, the viewers, both through his narration and his dialogue with other characters.
The first nursing assistant we see is an unpleasant unattractive middle aged woman, Joan. Mark asks the local priest, long haired Father Brendan (William H. Macy, like you've never seen him before), if it would be a sin to fire Joan without cause. The two men hit it off, and when the priest gives Mark the answer he was hoping for -- "no" -- their relationship is cemented. Throughout the movie, Mark consults with, and confesses to, Father Brendan. Since Mark is confined to the gurney, these conferences take place out in the open, in front of or right behind the pews usually within earshot of a congregant or two. When the topic turns to sex -- not an infrequent occurrence -- the humor dial registers "high." Macy is terrific as his character obviously is concerned for Mark's spiritual well-being, plus, as a priest who is presumably celibate, he is curious.
The second time Mark meets with Father Brendan, the stakes are higher. After giving it a lot of thought and making some initial inquiries, Mark has decided that his life will remained unfulfilled until he has consummated lovemaking with a woman. His preferred course of action, given his physical impediments, is to use a sex surrogate. Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt), a pretty married mother of a teenager, happens to be in the business and is recommended by the local clinic. As a surrogate, she is hired to be the sex partner of the incapacitated patient/client, with a limit of six "meetings." Before committing to this arrangement, Mark explains the sitch with his priest pal. It sounds like this ought to be a violation of the sixth commandment, but Brendan is a deep thinker who ends up telling Mark, "I think God will give you a free pass on this one."
The bedroom scenes leave very little to the imagination, a surprise for me given the fact that Helen Hunt is an established film actress. Cheryl is a professional, but can she remain so detached that there is no impact on her personal life? The film delves into that issue, although we don't find out much about what has transpired in Cheryl's career before she took on Mark as a client. The film would have us believe that Mark is different from her other clients. I see that as a reach, although he is charmingly and self-depricatingly humorous.
The scenes in the movie which I enjoyed the most (honest!) were the ones showing Mark's relationships with the three other women who come into his life at different times. Amanda (Annika Marks) and Vera (Moon Bloodgood, of Maxim Magazine fame) are successors to the deposed Jane. They are everything Jane was not, a fact which does not go unnoticed by Mark. Hospital volunteer Susan (Robin Weigert) shows up later, and like most of the other side characters in the movie, makes a connection with Mark.
Back to my two preliminary questions. I believe the first question is answered in the fifth paragraph of this post. The answer to the second question is volunteered by Cheryl within minutes of meeting Mark for the first time. She tells him, "The difference between what I do and prostitution is that a prostitute wants your repeat business, but I don't." Really? As Peggy Lee once sang, "Is that all there is?" That seems like hair-splitting to me.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Movie Review: "Zero Dark Thirty"
"Zero Dark Thirty": B+. Zero Dark Thirty is probably the most anticipated movie to have been released in 2012. In this day and age when movie projects sometimes take years to consummate, it seems astonishing that the time line between Osama Bin Laden's demise on May 2, 2012 and the film's December release date is so short. As luck would have it, Director Kathryn Bigelow and script writer Mark Boal were already in the process of putting together a film about the unfruitful US hunt for Bin Laden in the lawless mountains overlapping the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, when the Navy Seals pulled off the coup d'etat in Abbottabad. The film makers were all too happy to change their plans, fast-tracking the movie for a holiday season premier.
The majority of this film is about the persistence and diligence of a CIA operative, Maya (Jessica Chastain), who dedicates her life to finding the al-Qaeda mastermind. Chastain is a fair-haired actress with a slender physique, not a woman who, by outward appearances, would take on a gritty military mission having little prospect of success. But Maya's looks belie her dedication and resolve to finding the leader of the terrorists responsible for 9/11. Most of the buzz surrounding the film centers on two things: the use of coercion (torture?) by the CIA during its interrogation of suspected terrorists, and the final act, real time military operation of the Seals within the target's secret compound.
The US intelligence gathered in the pursuit of Bin Laden was mostly a result of three tools: the interrogation of prisoners, satellite technology, and on-the-ground undercover agents in various hot spots such as Karachi and Islamabad. The film is controversial because it raises the question of whether "enhanced interrogation," a euphemism for torture, is a means justified by the end. Some of the scenes are hard to watch. The film does not glorify torture nor does it attempt to persuade the viewer that it is an essential ingredient in the field of intelligence gathering. (Whether essential or not, torture is not an uncommon component in that grim endeavor, if we are to believe that Boal's story reflects actuality.) The question of whether the information furnished by the prisoners can be relied upon is left open. It is clear that Maya is uncomfortable being in the same room where her male colleague is conducting the inquisition of a shackled and already wounded prisoner, but she sublimates her feelings for what she sees as the ultimate goal: finding Bin Laden.
Two very effective scenes show how Maya stands her ground when challenged by her superiors. She practically blackmails her station boss, Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler aka Coach Taylor from TV's Friday Night Lights), into keeping her on the OBL trail, pointing out in an in-your-face expletive-laden rant that if he pulls her off the case she'll reveal how he gave up the hunt too early. Later, she tells the head of the CIA (James Gandolfini) that she is "100 per cent certain" that OBL is holed up in the Abbottabad compound, even though none of her agency colleagues is willing to place the odds at greater than about 60%. Mia's gumption impresses the Director. He asks her what she has done for the CIA other than chasing Bin Laden. She replies, "Nothing." She is staking her career on her assessment of the intelligence she has studied.
The final act, even though we know its outcome, is riveting. Bigelow shows the nighttime raid through the same type of night vision lenses worn by the Seals. The Seals are depicted as being nonchalant hours before the mission, as they are listening to music and playing horseshoes at their Afghanistan air base. But once the mission is underway they are all business. When one of the choppers crashes inside the Bin Laden compound, or the noise stirs up the Abbottabad townsfolk, the Seals stick to their plans. Within the space of twenty or twenty-five minutes, the Seals bring a third chopper onto the scene, blast through several reinforced metal entrances, bump off the bad guys, limit the casualty count among the women and children inside the compound, put OBL in a body bag for removal, confiscate computer hard drives and other data, blow up the downed helicopter, and escape through the mountain passes in the dark of night back to Afghanistan, all before the Pakistani air force can make an appearance. If what transpired that night was anything like the movie, it is a miracle that the mission was accomplished without the losing a single Seal.
The majority of this film is about the persistence and diligence of a CIA operative, Maya (Jessica Chastain), who dedicates her life to finding the al-Qaeda mastermind. Chastain is a fair-haired actress with a slender physique, not a woman who, by outward appearances, would take on a gritty military mission having little prospect of success. But Maya's looks belie her dedication and resolve to finding the leader of the terrorists responsible for 9/11. Most of the buzz surrounding the film centers on two things: the use of coercion (torture?) by the CIA during its interrogation of suspected terrorists, and the final act, real time military operation of the Seals within the target's secret compound.
The US intelligence gathered in the pursuit of Bin Laden was mostly a result of three tools: the interrogation of prisoners, satellite technology, and on-the-ground undercover agents in various hot spots such as Karachi and Islamabad. The film is controversial because it raises the question of whether "enhanced interrogation," a euphemism for torture, is a means justified by the end. Some of the scenes are hard to watch. The film does not glorify torture nor does it attempt to persuade the viewer that it is an essential ingredient in the field of intelligence gathering. (Whether essential or not, torture is not an uncommon component in that grim endeavor, if we are to believe that Boal's story reflects actuality.) The question of whether the information furnished by the prisoners can be relied upon is left open. It is clear that Maya is uncomfortable being in the same room where her male colleague is conducting the inquisition of a shackled and already wounded prisoner, but she sublimates her feelings for what she sees as the ultimate goal: finding Bin Laden.
Two very effective scenes show how Maya stands her ground when challenged by her superiors. She practically blackmails her station boss, Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler aka Coach Taylor from TV's Friday Night Lights), into keeping her on the OBL trail, pointing out in an in-your-face expletive-laden rant that if he pulls her off the case she'll reveal how he gave up the hunt too early. Later, she tells the head of the CIA (James Gandolfini) that she is "100 per cent certain" that OBL is holed up in the Abbottabad compound, even though none of her agency colleagues is willing to place the odds at greater than about 60%. Mia's gumption impresses the Director. He asks her what she has done for the CIA other than chasing Bin Laden. She replies, "Nothing." She is staking her career on her assessment of the intelligence she has studied.
The final act, even though we know its outcome, is riveting. Bigelow shows the nighttime raid through the same type of night vision lenses worn by the Seals. The Seals are depicted as being nonchalant hours before the mission, as they are listening to music and playing horseshoes at their Afghanistan air base. But once the mission is underway they are all business. When one of the choppers crashes inside the Bin Laden compound, or the noise stirs up the Abbottabad townsfolk, the Seals stick to their plans. Within the space of twenty or twenty-five minutes, the Seals bring a third chopper onto the scene, blast through several reinforced metal entrances, bump off the bad guys, limit the casualty count among the women and children inside the compound, put OBL in a body bag for removal, confiscate computer hard drives and other data, blow up the downed helicopter, and escape through the mountain passes in the dark of night back to Afghanistan, all before the Pakistani air force can make an appearance. If what transpired that night was anything like the movie, it is a miracle that the mission was accomplished without the losing a single Seal.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Movie Review: "Django Unchained"
"Django Unchained": B. Here we go again, another Quentin Tarantino ketchup fest. This is the goriest buddy movie I have ever seen, maybe the goriest regardless of genre. Every shot by a good guy finds its target, which is more often than not a kneecap, the groin or the face. Bull whipping, sledge hammering and (threatened) castration with a Bowie knife are added to the repertoire, I guess for variety sake. The mayhem only seems comical when a woman is shot from relatively long range as she stands under an archway separating two rooms. The force of the bullet propells her backwards off her feet, like a mannequin being yanked in reverse by a puppet string tied around her waist. That one was so over-the-top that I could not help but laugh. As for the rest of the violence, I'm sure QT would state that it was core to his presentation of the story.
Christoph Waltz is one of my favorite actors, and he does not disappoint here. He plays Doctor King Schultz, a bounty hunter traveling in a horse drawn wagon through scruffy Texas, posing as a dentist and taking on the air of a charlatan. Schultz is looking for Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave whom the bounty hunter needs to identify the Brittle Brothers, who are "wanted dead or alive." Schultz particularly relishes the "dead" part; it is much easier to bring back the corpse of a convict to collect the bounty than it is to be inconvenienced with a live one. The first act of the movie details how Schultz encounters Django and turns him into a free man. Schultz promises Django that he will help the freed slave rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) in return for Django's assistance in bagging wanted prey.
Their pursuits take them from Texas northeastward to Tennessee and finally to Mississippi. The Brittle Brothers aren't the only fugitives from justice that Schultz has on his agenda. He and Django's first stop in Daughtrey, Texas brings plenty of action and surprises. Ditto for their time in Tennessee. Wherever Schultz and Django go, blood and guts will ensue. It is ironic that one of the funniest scenes I have ever witnessed on the silver screen occurs in such a violent movie. During a raid of white hooded horsemen who are hoping to spring a nighttime surprise attack on Schultz and Django's campsite, the conversation turns to the comfort and fit of their homemade Klans-like hoods. Jonah Hill, totally out of place as a racist cowboy, participates in these verbal exchanges as one of the raiders. That scene ranks right up there on the humor scale with the flatulent campfire scene in Blazing Saddles.
The final third of the story takes place at Candyland, the fourth largest plantation in the state of Mississippi. The third generation estate owner is Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a baby faced but extremely cruel slave master. Tarantino's staging of life on the plantation is gruesome and depressing. One has to wonder if the portrayal accurately reflects what life was like for the slaves in the South. The "house slaves" have it better than the "field slaves," but even the former group is looked upon as chattel, an attitude supported by state law. It is not giving away too much to reveal that Broomhilda is, indeed, one of the slaves on Candyland. Schultz concocts a devious plan to acquire Broomhilda, but will he be able to outmaneuver Candie in negotiations to get what he's after? How will the black Django, even though ostensibly a free man, relate to the whites and blacks on the estate? Samuel L. Jackson, whom I did not at first recognize (I had forgotten he was in the cast), plays the suspicious Stephen, Candie's right hand man, an Uncle Tom who manages the house slaves.
When I posted my review of Goon on April 6, I wrote that I felt a level of shame for enjoying a movie with such low standards. Memories of that guilt came back to me as I watched Django Unchained. The violence and cold blooded, casual killing is so outlandish that there is entertainment for the viewer. Is it wrong for us to feel entertained, especially in today's gun-happy society? Tarantino has directed enough movies employing that style in the course of his career that an immunity develops among his viewers. What would you expect, in the present case, from a spaghetti western which QT wrote and directed?
Christoph Waltz is one of my favorite actors, and he does not disappoint here. He plays Doctor King Schultz, a bounty hunter traveling in a horse drawn wagon through scruffy Texas, posing as a dentist and taking on the air of a charlatan. Schultz is looking for Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave whom the bounty hunter needs to identify the Brittle Brothers, who are "wanted dead or alive." Schultz particularly relishes the "dead" part; it is much easier to bring back the corpse of a convict to collect the bounty than it is to be inconvenienced with a live one. The first act of the movie details how Schultz encounters Django and turns him into a free man. Schultz promises Django that he will help the freed slave rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) in return for Django's assistance in bagging wanted prey.
Their pursuits take them from Texas northeastward to Tennessee and finally to Mississippi. The Brittle Brothers aren't the only fugitives from justice that Schultz has on his agenda. He and Django's first stop in Daughtrey, Texas brings plenty of action and surprises. Ditto for their time in Tennessee. Wherever Schultz and Django go, blood and guts will ensue. It is ironic that one of the funniest scenes I have ever witnessed on the silver screen occurs in such a violent movie. During a raid of white hooded horsemen who are hoping to spring a nighttime surprise attack on Schultz and Django's campsite, the conversation turns to the comfort and fit of their homemade Klans-like hoods. Jonah Hill, totally out of place as a racist cowboy, participates in these verbal exchanges as one of the raiders. That scene ranks right up there on the humor scale with the flatulent campfire scene in Blazing Saddles.
The final third of the story takes place at Candyland, the fourth largest plantation in the state of Mississippi. The third generation estate owner is Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a baby faced but extremely cruel slave master. Tarantino's staging of life on the plantation is gruesome and depressing. One has to wonder if the portrayal accurately reflects what life was like for the slaves in the South. The "house slaves" have it better than the "field slaves," but even the former group is looked upon as chattel, an attitude supported by state law. It is not giving away too much to reveal that Broomhilda is, indeed, one of the slaves on Candyland. Schultz concocts a devious plan to acquire Broomhilda, but will he be able to outmaneuver Candie in negotiations to get what he's after? How will the black Django, even though ostensibly a free man, relate to the whites and blacks on the estate? Samuel L. Jackson, whom I did not at first recognize (I had forgotten he was in the cast), plays the suspicious Stephen, Candie's right hand man, an Uncle Tom who manages the house slaves.
When I posted my review of Goon on April 6, I wrote that I felt a level of shame for enjoying a movie with such low standards. Memories of that guilt came back to me as I watched Django Unchained. The violence and cold blooded, casual killing is so outlandish that there is entertainment for the viewer. Is it wrong for us to feel entertained, especially in today's gun-happy society? Tarantino has directed enough movies employing that style in the course of his career that an immunity develops among his viewers. What would you expect, in the present case, from a spaghetti western which QT wrote and directed?
Monday, January 7, 2013
Take The Ten, Bet On Green
You didn't really think I was going to pick the Crimson Tide in tonight's BCS National Championship Game, did you? The wise guys in Vegas have the Irish as nine and a-half point underdogs, and usually those oddsmakers are very accurate. Should the Irish even bother to show up tonight?
Is the Pope Catholic?
I have read a lot of the pre-game analysis and listened to the talking heads. In general there are a half-dozen main reasons why Bama is such a heavy favorite. I have listed them below, along with the degree to which I buy into the prevailing theory plus the Irish answer to the problem.
Reason # 1. Give Alabama head coach Nick Saban several weeks to prepare for a game and he will out-coach the opponent. I rate this pearl of wisdom at about 75%. Saban has already won the national title three times (once at LSU and twice at Alabama). There is a reason he is the highest paid coach in college football. However, ND head coach Brian Kelly is a formidable offensive strategist himself, and ND boasts a defensive coordinator, Bobby Diaco, who won the Broyles Award as the best assistant coach in the college ranks. ND's biggest wins this year were built upon the team's defensive performances. As the saying goes, offense puts fans in the seats, but defense wins championships. Saban is not the only coach who's been scheming over the past several weeks.
Reason # 2. Alabama's offensive line is possibly the best unit in the history of college football. My "truth rating" here is 90%. It is pretty hard to argue against the merits of a line that features two first team All Americans (LG # 65 Chance Warmack and C # 75 Barrett Jones) and a second team All American RT, # 76 DJ Fluker. All five of the Tide's offensive linemen are road graders. The Irish antidote is simply this: Notre Dame has the best front seven in the country, and therefore will be the stoutest opposition the Bama behemoths will have faced this season. The three ND players who are most important here are first team All American ILB # 5 Manti Teo, second team All American DE # 7 Stephon Tuitt, and NG # 9 Louis Nix. One of the key mano-a-mano battles will be Nix against Jones. If Jones needs help from his guards to keep Nix at bay, the Irish linebackers will be spending a lot of time in the Bama backfield. I put the over/under on Teo tackles at 11. He will be a whirling dervish all over the field tonight.
Reason # 3. ND's secondary will not be able to keep up with Alabama's super freshman WR # 9 Amari Cooper. This statement rates a veracity score of 60%. I agree with the football gurus that Cooper will be the best wide receiver on the field tonight, but is he better than Southern Cal's two speed burners, Robert Wood and Marqise Lee? ND's defensive backs were able to hang with those two Trojans. One of ND's cornerbacks, # 26 KeiVarae Russell, is a true freshman who last year was a high school quarterback. I expect Alabama to attempt to pick on Russell. Hopefully Russell can keep up with Cooper. If not, one of the Irish safeties will have to help out with a double-team. That will open up the running game for Bama. If the Irish can force Alabama quarterback # 10 AJ McCarron to get rid of the ball within three seconds, that will negate Cooper's speed to a certain extent. Look for lots of blitzes ordered up by Coach Diaco out of ND's 3-4 alignment.
Reason # 4. Alabama's first team All American cornerback # 28 Dee Milner is a shut down corner and will take away half the field from ND's passing routes. My buy-in: 40%. Although Milner is a great DB, he can only cover one guy at a time, and I do not believe he will be able to prevent ND's second team All American TE # 80 Tyler Eifert from catching the ball. Although Eifert is a tight end, ND frequently uses him more like a wide receiver, splitting him out to the far hash mark and sending him on deep routes. Eifert, at six feet six, has a five inch height advantage over Milner. ND also likes to use RB # 6 Theo Riddick as a pass catcher out of the backfield. When ND has the ball in the red zone, look for ND quarterback # 5 Everett Golson to try at least one alley-oop to Eifert, even if Milner is manned up against him.
Reason # 5. Alabama's quarterback # 10 AJ McCarron is a wiley veteran who won't make the mistakes that have plagued ND QB Golson. My merit rating for that observation is about 75%. McCarron is a pro-style passer who is not asked to carry the team on his back. He is good at making pre-snap reads of the defense, and usually benefits from several seconds of protection which his stellar offensive line affords him. Golson, by comparison, has been more mistake-prone, although he has improved immensely during the last third of the season. Unlike McCarron, who is not a threat to run by design, Golson is a very mobile quarterback who must be accounted for by the Alabama defense. Golson is the kind of quarterback that Bama has had its problems with recently, e.g., Johnny Manziel from Texas A & M (the only team to defeat the Tide this season) and Jordan Jefferson from LSU last season. If ND falls behind early, I think Kelly will be willing to take more risks with vertical pass patterns, and hope that Golson has brought his A game to Miami.
Reason # 6. Alabama is from the SEC, and has therefore faced better opposition than ND. I have a hard time giving this theory a credibility rating of more than, say, 20%. Anybody who thinks the SEC is not the best of the BCS conferences is not thinking clearly. The national champion has come from the SEC for the last six years in a row. But consider the fact that this season was not one of the usual great ones for that conference. The biggest upset of the bowl season was Louisville, a two-touchdown underdog, clobbering Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Most football writers considered Florida to be at least the third best team in the SEC. Georgia, which almost beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, looked a little shaky for awhile against a ho-hum Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. Three of Alabama's wins this year were against non-conference foes Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and Western Carolina, all patsies compared to the teams ND faced in 2012. (Well, okay, Wake Forest was pretty weak.) ND had to beat Oklahoma and Southern Cal on the road, and took care of business in overtime against a very formidable Stanford team under a South Bend monsoon. The Irish will not be in awe of playing a team from the SEC, nor will the bright prime time lights give them the jitters. More than half of ND's games were in prime time, and all were nationally televised.
My sister Michele and I were at the famous ND-Alabama Sugar Bowl Game in New Orleans on New Year's Eve 1973. No one except the Irish faithful gave them much of a chance to pull an upset against the top-ranked Tide. The hero of the game was a second string tight end, Robin Weber, who caught a desperation pass by Irish QB Tom Clements out of his own end zone, enabling ND to run out the clock for the one point victory. It was only the second pass Weber had caught all year. This year, Notre Dame's second string tight end is a six-seven sophomore from Fullerton, California named Troy Niklas (# 85). His main role is that of a blocker in Notre Dame's goal line/short yardage offensive package. He has played in every game, but has caught only five passes. Wouldn't it be something if history repeats itself tonight?
When you are a Domer you can dream with the best of them. My dream is ND 24, Alabama 23, just like the '73 Sugar Bowl.
Is the Pope Catholic?
I have read a lot of the pre-game analysis and listened to the talking heads. In general there are a half-dozen main reasons why Bama is such a heavy favorite. I have listed them below, along with the degree to which I buy into the prevailing theory plus the Irish answer to the problem.
Reason # 1. Give Alabama head coach Nick Saban several weeks to prepare for a game and he will out-coach the opponent. I rate this pearl of wisdom at about 75%. Saban has already won the national title three times (once at LSU and twice at Alabama). There is a reason he is the highest paid coach in college football. However, ND head coach Brian Kelly is a formidable offensive strategist himself, and ND boasts a defensive coordinator, Bobby Diaco, who won the Broyles Award as the best assistant coach in the college ranks. ND's biggest wins this year were built upon the team's defensive performances. As the saying goes, offense puts fans in the seats, but defense wins championships. Saban is not the only coach who's been scheming over the past several weeks.
Reason # 2. Alabama's offensive line is possibly the best unit in the history of college football. My "truth rating" here is 90%. It is pretty hard to argue against the merits of a line that features two first team All Americans (LG # 65 Chance Warmack and C # 75 Barrett Jones) and a second team All American RT, # 76 DJ Fluker. All five of the Tide's offensive linemen are road graders. The Irish antidote is simply this: Notre Dame has the best front seven in the country, and therefore will be the stoutest opposition the Bama behemoths will have faced this season. The three ND players who are most important here are first team All American ILB # 5 Manti Teo, second team All American DE # 7 Stephon Tuitt, and NG # 9 Louis Nix. One of the key mano-a-mano battles will be Nix against Jones. If Jones needs help from his guards to keep Nix at bay, the Irish linebackers will be spending a lot of time in the Bama backfield. I put the over/under on Teo tackles at 11. He will be a whirling dervish all over the field tonight.
Reason # 3. ND's secondary will not be able to keep up with Alabama's super freshman WR # 9 Amari Cooper. This statement rates a veracity score of 60%. I agree with the football gurus that Cooper will be the best wide receiver on the field tonight, but is he better than Southern Cal's two speed burners, Robert Wood and Marqise Lee? ND's defensive backs were able to hang with those two Trojans. One of ND's cornerbacks, # 26 KeiVarae Russell, is a true freshman who last year was a high school quarterback. I expect Alabama to attempt to pick on Russell. Hopefully Russell can keep up with Cooper. If not, one of the Irish safeties will have to help out with a double-team. That will open up the running game for Bama. If the Irish can force Alabama quarterback # 10 AJ McCarron to get rid of the ball within three seconds, that will negate Cooper's speed to a certain extent. Look for lots of blitzes ordered up by Coach Diaco out of ND's 3-4 alignment.
Reason # 4. Alabama's first team All American cornerback # 28 Dee Milner is a shut down corner and will take away half the field from ND's passing routes. My buy-in: 40%. Although Milner is a great DB, he can only cover one guy at a time, and I do not believe he will be able to prevent ND's second team All American TE # 80 Tyler Eifert from catching the ball. Although Eifert is a tight end, ND frequently uses him more like a wide receiver, splitting him out to the far hash mark and sending him on deep routes. Eifert, at six feet six, has a five inch height advantage over Milner. ND also likes to use RB # 6 Theo Riddick as a pass catcher out of the backfield. When ND has the ball in the red zone, look for ND quarterback # 5 Everett Golson to try at least one alley-oop to Eifert, even if Milner is manned up against him.
Reason # 5. Alabama's quarterback # 10 AJ McCarron is a wiley veteran who won't make the mistakes that have plagued ND QB Golson. My merit rating for that observation is about 75%. McCarron is a pro-style passer who is not asked to carry the team on his back. He is good at making pre-snap reads of the defense, and usually benefits from several seconds of protection which his stellar offensive line affords him. Golson, by comparison, has been more mistake-prone, although he has improved immensely during the last third of the season. Unlike McCarron, who is not a threat to run by design, Golson is a very mobile quarterback who must be accounted for by the Alabama defense. Golson is the kind of quarterback that Bama has had its problems with recently, e.g., Johnny Manziel from Texas A & M (the only team to defeat the Tide this season) and Jordan Jefferson from LSU last season. If ND falls behind early, I think Kelly will be willing to take more risks with vertical pass patterns, and hope that Golson has brought his A game to Miami.
Reason # 6. Alabama is from the SEC, and has therefore faced better opposition than ND. I have a hard time giving this theory a credibility rating of more than, say, 20%. Anybody who thinks the SEC is not the best of the BCS conferences is not thinking clearly. The national champion has come from the SEC for the last six years in a row. But consider the fact that this season was not one of the usual great ones for that conference. The biggest upset of the bowl season was Louisville, a two-touchdown underdog, clobbering Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Most football writers considered Florida to be at least the third best team in the SEC. Georgia, which almost beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, looked a little shaky for awhile against a ho-hum Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl. Three of Alabama's wins this year were against non-conference foes Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and Western Carolina, all patsies compared to the teams ND faced in 2012. (Well, okay, Wake Forest was pretty weak.) ND had to beat Oklahoma and Southern Cal on the road, and took care of business in overtime against a very formidable Stanford team under a South Bend monsoon. The Irish will not be in awe of playing a team from the SEC, nor will the bright prime time lights give them the jitters. More than half of ND's games were in prime time, and all were nationally televised.
My sister Michele and I were at the famous ND-Alabama Sugar Bowl Game in New Orleans on New Year's Eve 1973. No one except the Irish faithful gave them much of a chance to pull an upset against the top-ranked Tide. The hero of the game was a second string tight end, Robin Weber, who caught a desperation pass by Irish QB Tom Clements out of his own end zone, enabling ND to run out the clock for the one point victory. It was only the second pass Weber had caught all year. This year, Notre Dame's second string tight end is a six-seven sophomore from Fullerton, California named Troy Niklas (# 85). His main role is that of a blocker in Notre Dame's goal line/short yardage offensive package. He has played in every game, but has caught only five passes. Wouldn't it be something if history repeats itself tonight?
When you are a Domer you can dream with the best of them. My dream is ND 24, Alabama 23, just like the '73 Sugar Bowl.
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