Brian's Song

[Drip]

Nov. 3o, 2016 marks the 45th anniversary of Brian's Song. The story and message remains strong and very relevant. ‘Brian’s Song’ is forever

 

[The Big Ragu]

It was a good film and an even better movie.

 

[Drip]

Yes it was. Many lessons learned my friend.

 

[qtlaw]

I saw it in my 5th or 6th grade class in the 70's. Great to see Gale Sayers then dude dies and we're like "what just happened?"

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I hadn't seen the movie until a few years ago, but I had read Jeannie Morris' book on Piccolo, "A Short Season."

The end of the book, in which his wife is about to enter the room to be told he was dead, and was told by one of the McCaskeys (if I remember correctly) the line that Piccolo would frequently repeat to everyone, "You can't cry, it's a league rule," always gets me.

 

[cranberry]

I recently learned that Curt Flood's widow, Judy Pace, played Gale Sayers' wife.

 

[cisforkoke]

I always thought his playing career would have suffered after that farm lady smashed his ankles with the sledgehammer.

 

[ChrisLong]

Great casting of Shelley Fabares as Mrs. Piccolo ... or anything else she was cast for (Donna Reed Show, Coach, etc.).

 

[Songbird]

Vaccaro with a pretty good column today, 50 years after Sayers' tribute to Brian Piccolo.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/25/gale-sayers-moving-brians-song-tribute-turns-50/

“Compare his courage with the kind I’m supposed to possess. There was never any doubt that I’d return, knee injury or no. But think of Brian and his fortitude in the months since last November, in and out of hospitals, hoping to play football again, but not too sure at any time what the score was or might be. He has the heart of a giant. He has the mental attitude that makes me proud to have a friend who spells out the word ‘courage’ 24 hours a day, every day of his life.”

He paused. Six hundred men in tuxedos sat in silence, glassy-eyed, numb. Then, somehow, Gale Sayers summoned the strength to finish his speech with this: “You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive the George S. Halas Award. It is mine tonight, it is Brian Piccolo’s tomorrow.

“I love Brian Piccolo, and I’d like all of you to love him, too. And tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.”​

 

[lakefront]

Great casting of Shelley Fabares as Mrs. Piccolo ... or anything else she was cast for (Donna Reed Show, Coach, etc.).

You may know, Nanet Fabrey was her aunt.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Probably the best made-for-TV movie ever. We watched it in high school. Billy Dee Williams was great as Sayers. The movie had some comic relief as well to balance the sad.

 

[OscarMadison]

I must be a ghoul. In fourth grade, I sat dry-eyed through "Brian's Song" and "Ole Yeller." My deskmate cried over everything: movies, scholastic McGraw Hill movies and film strips, The Little Drummer Boy... After the "Ole Yeller" screening it became my designated task to walk him out to the hallway to cry it out.

Now I cry over everything. Darren grew up to be a female Louisiana state prison guard.

 

[BTExpress]

I always lost it when Sayers struggled to spit out, ". . . and give it to him at the hos...pital . . . "

And forget anything with an animal dying. I'll watch humanity exterminated in "Independence Day III" first.

 

[micropolitan guy]

In the 1976-77 period BP's younger brother was a TV sportscaster who I knew briefly. He willingly admitted his brother's fame helped him get started in the profession. Have no idea how long he lasted in that career.

 

[swingline]

Vaccaro with a pretty good column today, 50 years after Sayers' tribute to Brian Piccolo.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/25/gale-sayers-moving-brians-song-tribute-turns-50/

“Compare his courage with the kind I’m supposed to possess. There was never any doubt that I’d return, knee injury or no. But think of Brian and his fortitude in the months since last November, in and out of hospitals, hoping to play football again, but not too sure at any time what the score was or might be. He has the heart of a giant. He has the mental attitude that makes me proud to have a friend who spells out the word ‘courage’ 24 hours a day, every day of his life.”

He paused. Six hundred men in tuxedos sat in silence, glassy-eyed, numb. Then, somehow, Gale Sayers summoned the strength to finish his speech with this: “You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive the George S. Halas Award. It is mine tonight, it is Brian Piccolo’s tomorrow.

“I love Brian Piccolo, and I’d like all of you to love him, too. And tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.”​

********. I read that column and cried my eyes out. That one left a mark.

 

[DanOregon]

Met Sayers for a brief interview back in the day, he was in town for a store appearance and my SE asked me to get a quote from him about some NCAA stuff since he was a former AD - I was like "Man, Gale Sayers!" Also met **** Butkus years later. Two legends. Had any film really portrayed football players as "human beings" before Brian's Song?

 

[Liut]

Wonder what has become of Drip?

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Met Sayers for a brief interview back in the day, he was in town for a store appearance and my SE asked me to get a quote from him about some NCAA stuff since he was a former AD - I was like "Man, Gale Sayers!" Also met **** Butkus years later. Two legends. Had any film really portrayed football players as "human beings" before Brian's Song?

Interesting question: the documentary about Lombardi and the Packers in the 1960s showed a more human side to them, but after that my mind is coming up with hero stuff like Knute Rockne All American and scathing farces like Horse Feathers.

 

[DanOregon]

Paper Lion showed them (mainly Karras) to be a lot more interesting than you'd think - but not so introspective.

 

[qtlaw]

I always lost it when Sayers struggled to spit out, ". . . and give it to him at the hos...pital . . . "

And forget anything with an animal dying. I'll watch humanity exterminated in "Independence Day III" first.

One of my favorite books as a kid was "Where the Red Fern Grows." Forgot about impact so read it to my two boys and they are forever pissed that I read that to them (because of the dogs dying.)