The Philly Phanatics

Although Any Given Sunday was released in 1999, I saw it for the first time yesterday. Twice. One version starred Jamie Foxx and Al Pacino. The second Kevin Craft and Rick Neuheisel.

For those of you who were unable to see UCLA's overtime victory over the #18-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, let me summarize. Much like Any Given Sunday, UCLA's top two quarterbacks were injured prior to the game and were unable to play, leaving third-string QB Kevin Craft as the only quarterback left. I can imagine Neuheisel telling Craft what Pacino's character told Foxx, "You don't have to worry about getting pulled, you're all I've got left!"

Well, Craft's first half was a crash course in what not to do as a QB. He threw four interceptions in the first half with one being returned for a touchdown with under one minute to play in the first half. Needless to say, UCLA's last possession of the first half ended with Craft taking a knee and cutting their losses. Yet, somehow, UCLA entered the locker room down only 7 at the half.

Craft turned his game around at halftime in almost as much time as it took for Foxx's character to turn his season around in the film version. Craft came out in the second half and looked like the type of player that deserves to be a starter at UCLA. His second half line read 18 of 25 passing, 193 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Included in that was the triumphant march down the field in the two minute drill to take the lead.

After Tennessee brilliantly forced overtime with a field goal as time expired, UCLA was able to pull off the upset 27-24, give Neuheisel a cold Gatorade shower on the sideline, and save their quarterback an embarassing start to the season.

Sports are a funny thing sometimes. Sometimes the parallelism is uncanny. A previously unfathomable sports movie turns into a tale of UCLA football lure and a reminder of why college football is an addiction that afflicts sports fans across the nation. And the homecoming of Rick Neuheisel mirrors his own first start as a walk-on quarterback at UCLA where he threw four interceptions, then eventually became a legendary story in UCLA history.