Messina Character Analysis

Of all the deaths that plagued New Bremen in the summer of 1961, Ariel’s death robbed their community of more than just her music. William Kent Krueger’s novel Ordinary Grace cleverly weaves in filaments and truths about grace through the person of Ariel. As the summer tumbles forward at a fevered pace, Ariel’s character continuously gives insight into the threads of grace that hold the Drum family together. Ariel plays a pivotal roll in Ordinary Grace because her character explores the facets of grace: kindness, beauty, forgiveness, and hope, while exposing how dark life is without it. As the eldest and only daughter in the Drum family, Ariel carried the expectations and hopes of her family like hefty luggage.

The story takes place in a small town in Iowa, Parkersburg, it was the summer of 2009 on June 24, 2009 Ed Thomas, the football coach at A-P was tragically killed by one of his former players, Mark Becker. Ed Thomas was a bevelled man not only in the town of Parkersburg but in many other towns also. One of my favorite quotes from Ed is that “ If all I have taught you is how to tackle and block I have failed you as a coach.” Ed believed that everyone was put on earth to do something good

He is a legend in Messina, having coached the high school football team for 34 years and piling up tremendous statistics. Neely Crenshaw- The quarterback hero in the 1980’s who had a great future perhaps in professional football. Then, he received a career-ending knee injury as a sophomore in college and his great future disappeared. He has not returned to his hometown in 15 years because of his hatred for Coach Rake.

Hoosiers is a film about second chances. Redemption is given to a short tempered coach, who was issued a lifetime suspension by the NCAA for physically assaulting a player, and a former star player- turned town drunk. These two defeat their odds by taking a small town high school basketball team from being just 15 and 10, all the way to the state championship. In my review, I’ll attempt to explain how this coach matches up against Kouzes and Posner’s “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.”

     Bleachers, is about a high school all-American Nelly Crenshaw who was the best quarterback ever to play for the Messina Spartans. The story is based around on the impending death of the Messina Spartans' football coach Eddie Rake, who is one of the most victorious coaches in high school football history, Rake is both feared and loved by his players and by a town that relishes his 13 state titles. The protagonist of the novel is Neely Crenshaw, who is a former Rake All-American whose NFL prospects ended quickly after a cheap shot to the knees. In the book, Neely has just returned home for the first time in years to join his former teammates to sit in the bleachers and wait for the dimming field lights to signal his passing. During this time they replay the old games, relive the glory days and try and decide whether they love or hate their former coach, Eddie Rake. This trip back for Neely is more meaningful as he has to forgive himself as well as his coach and try and rekindle his love for his ex-girlfriend he abandoned long ago so he can get on with his life. It is obvious to see the positive values and appropriate nature of Bleachers.

A concern for Messina would be losing. Coach had not won a state title since 1987 and he was ready for another one. The 1992 team was not looking very promising to accomplish much. Rake was ready to work these boys and get them ready for the season. They needed to be in tip top shape to win it all. The team had shown Rake poor effort in a scrimmage, leading to a rare Sunday morning practice. This would be a full out conditioning practice. No contact football, just conditioning. The boys were there and ready at eight o’clock on that Sunday morning, with thick humidity in the air. Practice started with a mile around the track for a warm up, followed by another mile. “Number two on the list of dreaded tortures, just behind the Spartan Marathon, was the assault on the bleachers” (Grisham 74). Up and down, side to side on both the guest and home bleachers. This was the hardest conditioning. Rake had been conditioning for years and these boys could push themselves. He believed in them. As Scotty Reardon, a sophomore player began to weaken in his bleacher workout, everyone else kept going. Before anyone knew, Scotty passed out. No trainers, no ambulance, just coach and the

I think it is like this, there is a town called Sameville and in this town, everyone always wears a suit both male and female and they all must speak softly to one another. These are the most important rules of their society. One day John decides he is tired of wearing a suit he can’t stand it, so John rips the sleeves off, cuts his suit pants above the knee, and he also talk very loud. This makes John a deviant because he is no longer abiding by his societies norms. Everyone in Sameville sees what John has done and gossip ensues, this would be a type of informal punishment, but the people see no change in John by doing this, so his society decide that they now need to take him to court, this is a formal punishment. John is found guilty for

As a high school boy, Collis Suggs lives through a period of time in Messina as the town is beginning to become integrated. He and other classmates are unenrolled at their old school to go to an all-white school. As he says, “We were intimidated, but we knew we had to be brave (Grisham, 212).” Through this time, Collis has to deal with this intimidation along with Rake’s rough football practices, yet he manages to be brave and strong each day. At the end of a football game, it is not if he and his team win or lose that matters. It is if he goes home feeling confident about being who he is where he is. Collis is able to prevail over the speculation of racial conflict, and he, as a person, is able to relax.

Sustaining the ambitions of not only themselves but the alumni and town of Odessa, Texas is a lot to ask from a young adult. That’s exactly what Permian football provides to the people of Odessa, where the post economic boom of the oil business has left the town in a racially tense, economic crisis. The lights on Permian High School’s football field are the only sanctuary for the west Texas town. Socially and racially divided, Odessa’s mass dependence on high school football constructs glorified expectations for the football team to temporarily disguise the disappointments that come with living in a town tagged as the “murder capital” of

The bond between the teams became stronger from this to the point were when they both faced each other as number 1 and 2 the winner would go the state championship game. That game that Woodlawn and Banks played at Legion Field was and still is the most attended high school football game in history. From this came a showdown from the great quarterback and the unstoppable force that was Tony Nathan. Though Woodlawn lost Tony, this served as a symbol that black kids can be superstars even in the state of Alabama. All throughout the movie Tony was being recruited by Paul “Bear” Bryant to play football at The University of Alabama. Tony ended up playing for Bryant and won a national championship title for the school. After they lost the coach, Tandy, ended up quitting his job, which he was on the hot seat for introducing religion in a public school. After the game, Tony called his old coach to tell him that he was going to win a national championship game for him, and he kept his promise. The phone conversation was about Tony giving his gratitude to the coach and this speech from him fueled the coach to get back to coaching

he darkness of evening slowly blankets the land. The harvest moon, gowned in silver attire floats in a sea of air, peeks from behind a misty veil. Below, a wisp of smoke dances upward toward the heavens. There is a feeling of ancient magic as the circle is cast in the clearing. The lone worshipper walks the circle, methodically lighting the colored candles she has placed in each of the cardinal directions: North is green and represents represents earth, the east candle is yellow and represents air, South is red and represents fire and west is blue and represents water. As each candle is she invokes the spirits of the Watchtowers. The circle is cast to create a hallowed ground, a place that exists and does not exist simultaneously. She

Sports are a significant part of society and spectators enjoy particular events regardless of the type. However, there are many players who develop special working and social relationships with whom they are participating regardless of the type of sport. The relationship and how people interact with one another can be the determination of how successful a team can be. The particular film based on a true story that I chose is titled When the Game Stands Tall. This film consists of a high performing football team of De La Salle High School in the state of California. Jim Caviezel portrays the head coach (Bob Ladouceur) as a man with such vision and passion that goes beyond the fundamental principles of coaching the game of football. The football team had won 151 games without being defeated which is the highest winning record a team has had in the game of football. The film shows the internal struggles of the players in their lives as people, and how they perform on the field. It also shows the external tragic difficulties that they face while they attend and play for De Le Salle High School. In the movie, the head coach helps the students/players by not only coaching them but also showing them how to live a flourishing life by committing to endure difficult life situations and the way to overcome them. He helps teach the principles of brotherhood and companionship with the team that they build. In the movie, the head coach and the staff had taught the players

From the all star Neely Crenshaw to the not so talented Nat Sawyer. Up until his very last breath, he loved his players, and he knew that they loved him. The love that he shared with everyone was a quiet kind of love, mostly it was just misunderstood. He would push his Spartans to the breaking point because if he didn’t, they would not be where they are today. They would not be the prize of messina, they would not have won the hearts of the thousand fans that came to watch every game. Eddie Rake had allowed his players to experience something that so few get to. One would believe that he would have to love them to put them trough so much strain and hardship? once one has practiced under Eddie, they will always see him barking and and jumping until he is blue in the face and one is on the ground crying in pain. Eddie Rake loved them all and in return they loved

Bassanio is an aristocrat or a man of high class. He lives a lavish lifestyle and cannot manage his wealth. “Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, How much I have disabled mine estate. By something showing a more swelling port Than my faint means would grant continuance” (Shakespeare 1.1 122-124). Bassanio ends up borrowing money from Antonio. Although Bassanio says he loves Antonio, it seems that he uses his love as an excuse and take advantage on Antonio.

Rinaldi is a kind of boss with wide perspective and deep thought in seeing things. He is able and eager to share his knowledge with the team while at the same time handling the situation properly. Yet, he is still welcome to feedback and ideas. He seems calm at first, but actually he is quite ‘cheezy’ as he sometimes spills out not-so-funny jokes during free time with the team. It shows that he is an easy going, humble, down to earth and yet, inspirational.