“What if I told you….the next 30 for 30 series was a sequel; the first ever sequel in the series. The U Part 2 directed by Billy Corben, premieres tomorrow night after the Heisman gets awarded to Marcus Mariota. The original documentary, the U” #3 is considered by many to be the greatest 30 for 30 of all time.
The U Part 2 is one of the rarest phenomena of modern life- a sequel that lives up to the original. You have to see The U, The U Part 2 and “Pony Exce$$” sort of all at the same time. First you’ll learn all the big picture ideas that you need to know about how college football has developed over the past 40-50 years.
Then you’ll realize that the NCAA model of “amateurism” is even more broke than you could ever imagine. And that’s been broken since the 1970s.
“While ‘The U’ (part 1) covered the ’80s, we never got to tell the incredible story of the greatest college football team of all time: the 2001 Miami Hurricanes,” says director Billy Corben.
“Bookended by scandal, NCAA investigations and sanctions, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to tell this new rise and fall story that picks the saga up right where we left off in ‘The U.’
“I’m also flattered to be a part of the first-ever 30 for 30 sequel and looking forward to ‘The Three Escobars,’ ‘June 18, 1994’ and ‘Pony Exce$$ive!’”
The U Part 2 is a very compelling watch. You will be enthralled and informed.
Produced in 2009, the first installment examined all the on-the-field success and off-the-field scandal during the rise of Miami football program in the 1980s. But that wasn’t the end of the story. The U Part 2 picks up where the original film left off, with the program trying to recover from the devastation left by NCAA sanctions and scandals that had some calling for the school to drop football. (Sports Illustrated published a cover story about the Hurricanes in 1995 that was a print version of “clickbait,” i.e. intellectually bankrupt garbage designed to stir up controversy. SI did it again this time, re-hashing the same nonsense)
The U Part 2 starts with Butch Davis taking over and re-building the program, and this time the Canes win another national championship, doing “things the (so called) right way.” Then Miami faces a new controversy with Nevin Shapiro, who made his fortune through a Ponzi scheme, exerts influence over the program.
We’re not going to recap The U Part 2 much more, as to not give away the movie, but the main takeaway here is that the NCAA is the true antagonist. Mark Emmert’s organization is the true villain here, and in the end Miami never really did anything “scandalous” at all. At least not this time; and at least not anything that every other big time college football program does. Or college student for that matter.
The late Walter Byers, former NCAA leader, legal expert and architect of the sinister “student-athlete” legal classification, had a kind of Dr. Frankenstein like remorse for his creation very late in life. During one of his final public appearances, Byers himself referred to the NCAA revenue producing sports as a “neo-plantation mentality.”
The neo-plantation system is best exemplified by financial powerhouse programs directing their recruiting efforts at the lowest income neighborhoods. Now Miami Coach Howard Schnellenberger didn’t have that type of exploitative agenda; not at all. But he was the first to go into the rough neighborhoods that other coaches wouldn’t. He pioneered the concept and won national titles with it.
Start with this concept, and everything else in The U and The U part 2 proceeds logically from there.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2