Hoosiers! And the day after my beloved IU Hoosiers win their first Big Ten regular season basketball championship in 20 years, we speak now of the other beloved "Hoosiers." New York Times film critic A.O. Scott on what makes "Hoosiers" not just a great sports film, but a great film for the ages

Opening scene and credits of MGM's 1986 "Hoosiers," with Jerry Goldsmith's iconic Oscar-nominated score. Uploaded June 1, 2012. http://youtu.be/tUqhPsZh93Y

NYTimes video: N.Y. Times film critic A. O. Scott reviews the beloved 1986 MGM film "Hoosiers" about Indiana high school basketball -and personal redemption- set in 1951, and why it still remains a film for the ages. Uploaded March 3, 2009. http://youtu.be/AzgOZ0xHCEA

And on the day after my IU Hoosiers win the Big Ten basketball regular season championship for the first time in 20 years, a game they appeared certain to lose to Michigan in Ann Arbor before coming back in the final seconds, we speak of the other beloved "Hoosiers."

In 1986, I was living in Evanston, Illinois, the suburban home of IU Big ten rival Northwestern University, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, a town full of bright and fully-engaged professional, academic and management types just north of Chicago, and a world separate and apart from the life I had known and led in North Miami Beach and in Bloomington.

Then as now I was a big sports fan and avid movie-goer, a lover of not only classic films, but the worlds of advertising, journalism, American and European history and politics.
And like many of you reading this today, a sucker for smart and knowing well-made films about comebacks and teamwork and overcoming adversity against all odds, including those of self-sabotage, as was the case with Dennis Hooper's character in the film, where he played former basketball star-turned-alcoholic father and assistant coach "Shooter" Flatch



In short, I was the perfect demographic for the MGM film that came out that year loaded with a cinematic all-star lineup and a narrative that was straight out of both Indiana and Hollywood, loosely based on a story I'd known for years since leaving South Florida in the rear-view mirror for the Cream and Crimson of the beautiful rolling hills of southern Indiana and Indiana University in Bloomington, late in the summer of the year that the film 'Breaking Away" had been released to popular and critical acclaim.

Because of who I knew and what my interests and passions were, I'd been hearing and reading about the film from the very beginning, even before it was ever shot, from friends in Los Angeles involved in the entertainment industry and thru my avid and copious reading of the film industry trades I usually bought most weeks, like Variety.

From the crucial initial choices made in on-screen casting as well as those behind-the-screen with respect to the writer, director and even the film's composer, I knew that it could be a very special film indeed if all the stars aligned, and yet you never know how these things will go, despite the talented team you assemble.

So, it was with all of that history and knowledge very much front and center in my mind that I found myself one cold night in Evanston literally leaning against a wall while in line outside of a movie theater, forced by timing to listen to a bunch of jaded and self-indulgent NU grad students blabbing about the film and story in ways that bore absolutely no resemblance to what the reality was or what was soon to come.

As ridiculous as it sounds now, they even joked about leaving after an hour because how could this story about Indiana high school basketball possibly turn out to be anything worthwhile, even with Gene Hackman.
Yes, they really said that.

But you know what I did?
I kept quiet.
I kept my mouth shut and refused to play the Marshall McLuhan card as Woody Allen had does in his Oscar-winning Annie Hall.
You know what scene I mean.



I found myself there at that point in time because I'd had the good sense and foresight many months before to call in some IOU's from folks I knew around the Chicago area who were very much, yes, "in the "Loop" in the Loop.
The sort of people who know things before the masses and have unusual access because of who they are or what they do.
Since I wasn't afraid to reciprocate, I was also never afraid to ask for favors when it came to something important, as long as it was legal and above board.

I told them, these media and business mavens, that I wanted to be in the audience for the sneak preview of "Hoosiers " weeks before the film actually played in Chicagoland, and if possible, somewhere near Evanston.


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That's how I came to be standing in line with a special pass from a film-related concern to attend a special sneak preview of "Hoosiers" at a then-extant movie theater on Central Avenue, located across the street from the Wildcats' athletic facilitiess, the-then Dyche Stadium and Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Hickory High head coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) gives his underdog Huskers some pregame reminders and encouragement just moments before the start of their championship game against South Bend Central. Preacher Purl (Michael Sassone)  delivers a message that seems tailor-made for the upset-minded team. Uploaded February 13, 2011. http://youtu.be/3gKbrj2nZis

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen."

- Preacher Purl encouraging the underdog Hickory High basketball team before the state title game against heavily-favored South Bend Central in 1986's Hoosiers 

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechhoosiersfinal.html

The rest as they say is history.

I've seen this film well over 25 times from beginning-to-end, less than some, but surely more than most.
Though that's still less than I've seen "Breaking Away," a film that I know inside and out like I know the smiles of my three adorable nieces in any large crowd.

National two-hour party in U.S. is 4 weeks from tonight -and everyone's invited. Mad Men -Season Premiere Sunday April 7th; Buchan39's Rick Astley-inspired Mad Men Mashup of 'Never Gonna Give You Up' is what makes YouTube a national treasure

amc YouTube Channel video: On-Air Promo, Affair: Mad Men. Uploaded March 4, 2013
http://youtu.be/I03g36sbU8Y

Buchan39 YouTube Channel video: Mad Men Perform Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. Uploaded August 31, 2012. http://youtu.be/SaFLd-hVKFY

Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up, RickAstleyVEVO Channel video: Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (1987). Uploaded October 24, 2009. http://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

Talk about someone with a powerful voice that just pops out of a car speaker on its own - Rick Astley!

Only one of the greatest songs ever to sing alone in a car on a (semi) cross-country trip, especially in the middle of the night in Nowheresville U.S.A., with your window down and the wind-rushing past you. 
And being able to fully see the stars!

In 1988, for me, that was usually a Chicago-to-Miami roundtrip road trip, loaded with lots of cold Cherry Coke in an Igloo cooler, and would usually happen in either south-central Tennessee or in Georgia between Atlanta and Macon.
Around 3:20 a.m.

*Coming or going, the worst part of that drive was always between 3:45 and 5:00 a.m.

I last mentioned favorite songs of mine that I loved singing and listening to on road trips by myself on April 8, 2012, in my post titled, Bringing out the Cow Bells for Easter! Stevie Wonder's genius "Another Star" still sends me -and reminds me of cross-country drives at night with the windows down, his music filling every inch of the car  
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/bringing-out-cow-bells-for-easter.html

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My previous blog posts about Mad Men are here:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Mad%20Men

http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men

http://www.thatawesomemovieguy.com

My open letter to Florida Governor Rick Scott about the longstanding corruption and incompetency at Hallandale Beach City Hall and environs re the HB CRA: More shocking proof of what I've written you several times in the past: Serial malfeasance and millions of dollars squandered by public officials as State laws/ethics were ignored, and with little genuine public oversight or transparency. Broward Inspector General Scott assails Hallandale Beach for past and continuing "gross mismanagement" -possible "criminal misconduct"; @MayorCooper, @SandersHB, @AlexLewy

Above, the center of the unethical storm, where malfeasance has a homestead:  Hallandale Beach City Hall. January 29, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier.© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

More shocking proof of what I've written you several times in the past: Serial malfeasance and millions of dollars squandered by public officials as State laws/ethics were ignored, and with little genuine public oversight or transparency. Broward Inspector General Scott assails City of Hallandale Beach for past and continuing "gross mismanagement" -possible "criminal misconduct" Broward Bulldog Broward Inspector General slams Hallandale for “gross mismanagement”; CRAs elsewhere eyed By William Gjebre and Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org  March 6, 2013 AT 6:10 AM http://www.browardbulldog.org/2013/03/broward-inspector-general-slams-hallandale-for-gross-mismanagement-of-cra-funds/ March 7, 2013 Dear Governor Scott: I'm writing to you today because I and many other concerned citizens of this community believe it's long past time for you and your staff to start paying  some serious attention to what's been allowed to go on in Hallandale Beach for YEARS, with nary a move by people legally in a position to both inquire into and prevent this sort of pervasive public corruption from continuing apace, to the detriment of the entire community. Years of opportunities for this community to move forward and actually solve some problems were wasted thru corruption, incompetency and outright dereliction of duty by elected officials who were supposed to follow the law, not ignore it. And yet even now as an IG investigation is underway, with damning news, current and former elected officials, administrators and city employees who engaged in this illegal and incompetent behavior continue to act like they are "untouchables." This simply can not be allowed to stand. For the record, I should state that I was the individual who blew the whistle to the Broward Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding certain specific failures that I had been able to uncover and prove regarding the Hallandale Beach City Commission, acting as the Hallandale Beach CRA Board of Directors, along with their highly-paid city staffers, including the then-City Managers Mike Good and Mark A. Antonio and City Attorney David Jove, failure to perform appropriate oversight and enforcement of applicable state laws and city rules/ordinances, with common sense ethical rules routinely violated all along the way. For YEARS. Specifically, I provided the OIG with information showing  a.) that even in years where they were no longer legally considered non-profits by the IRS -for the YEARS of the group(s) failing to provide the IRS the required documentation- groups eager to receive HB CRA funds continued claiming that non-profit status to the Hallandale Beach CRA in their applications, knowing that the city's elected officials and staff weren't verifying the information.  This all-too-true fact was borne out by the Broward OIG report, and, b.) that purported non-profit groups routinely turned in incomplete documents, including the sort of relevant information that the public should reasonably expect the city to have in their possession and know in advance BEFORE awarding any funds -who are the administrators, what are they being paid in salaries or fees, etc.- or, turned in documentation that was no longer valid, knowing the CRA Board of Directors and city staff would never make reasonable attempts to verify any of it. Again, another fact corroborated by the Inspector General's report. Recently the Hallandale Beach City Commission, acting as the HB CRA Board of Directors, despite all the facts, again voted to award precious CRA funds to a group, Palms Community Action Coalition, Inc., that claims on its own website that the best way for the taxpayers of this city and the general public to keep informed on its activities was to check their online Calendar. That this was just a sop is perfectly clear from my 2012 email below to the well-meaning and new-ish then-head of the city's CRA, Dr. Jackson, which physically showed that the Calendar had not been changed one iota since June -of 2011. It still hasn't been. But despite this fact, tens of thousands of dollars have continued to flow freely to them... All of this despite this particular group's having so little to point to in the way of tangible accomplishment that's consistent with the state's original purpose years ago in creating enabling CRA legislation -fighting blight. This is yet another point the Broward OIG report makes clear -the City of Hallandale Beach DOESN'T check whether any group's stated goals are actually accomplished. Tell me, without an objective and accurate measurement, what's the purpose of listing goals on an application? Exactly, Governor Scott! It's done merely for the sake of appearances, like so many other things in this city the past ten years. But without an objective measurement of whether the purported non-profit groups have actually done anything positive, how do you know whether they are deserving of being funded the following year? Perhaps that's why the City of Hallandale Beach doesn't believe in THAT. You see, an objective measurement would no doubt hurt the feelings of the group's leaders and Board of Directors, to say nothing of their supporters in the HB community -other stealthy non-profits who want to keep the gravy train running. Of course, a common sense move like an objective measurement would also necessarily blow-the-cover on what's been going on in this city for many, many years with respect to the non-profit groups NEVER actually being expected to show they're making any progress towards a defined goal. So instead, guess what the folks at City Hall and the shadowy figures behind these groups have done, rather than correct the process, the policies and their own behavior? Correct! They publicly lash out and malign concerned citizens in the community who show enough gumption to publicly ask basic questions like, "What happened to the money?" Yes, inconvenient questions that the powers-that-be at HB City Hall and their cronies prefer NOT be asked or answered. Concerned citizens like, well, me for instance, and many of my friends here, all of whom desperately want to see this city be so very much better than it has been allowed to be, and as you might imagine, we are both frustrated and resentful that elected officials and the hired help continue to use the CRA funds like their own personal piggy bank, as if we couldn't see exactly what they were doing -or do anything to stop them. The Hallandale Beach's CRA Board of Directors' oversight of millions of CRA dollars has been a complete pretense for years, as funds were routinely co-mingled, allowing the City Commission and the City Manager to treat CRA funds like they were 'found money' under a sofa cushion, or taken from their own personal piggy bank, with those funds carefully funneled to a select group of people in the community who have been and would be supportive (politically) of the members of the Board of Directors. But, of course, it WASN'T their money to play Santa with, was it? In fact, to give you some sense of how truly out-of-kilter things have been here for many, many years, until recently, Palms Community Action Coalition, Inc. was led on a day-to-day basis by the wife of HB City Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders, Jessica Sanders. Unlike any other real or imaginary non-profit group in this city, Mrs. Sanders was specifically given the use of a furnished office on city property, as well as the use  of city resources and city personnel. All to very little genuine accomplishment.  Which is why for years, Comm. Sanders has always been so very consistent when speaking at City Commission meetings with real estate developers with applications before the Commission, not so much job creation, which would be reasonable and predictable given his position, but rather about "job training," which is less reasonable, given what one of the stated goals of his wife's group was supposed to be. Are you sitting down? You guessed it: job training. What are the odds? And trust me, Governor Scott, the attorneys for the real estate developers speaking at the meetings know this fact, too, and carefully tailored their public comments towards him onto this subject almost exclusively. Hmm-m... I hope this fact-filled email of mine will have the effect of getting your attention and causing some wheels to start getting in-motion that will cause some real world consequences for the current and former elected officials and management at Hallandale Beach City Hall, people who were entrusted with responsibility and power to perform their jobs with fidelity to both the law and common sense -and who were loyal to neither. People who for years routinely abused their power and authority in order to use city funds like their own personal trust fund, to reward their various politically-supportive friends and cronies in the community, all while the Broward State Attorney's office did nothing but snooze. That latter fact no doubt only emboldened them in their thievery and malfeasance.. Trust me, Governor Scott, this beleaguered community will be closely watching your response to what's gone on here. It simply can't be allowed to stand, with no real-world consequences for both the perpetrators and those who consciously chose to look the other way. Unethical behavior and illegal actions in the performance of the people's business should have genuine consequences that serve to remind others why they shouldn't be repeated.

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At this point in my letter to Governor Scott, I had a copy of my February 19, 2013 email to Broward Inspector General John. W. Scott, which was my blog post of February 20, 2013, titled, No end in sight for Hallandale Beach's ethical problems with CRA funds: The Palms Community Action Coalition's lack of public transparency -and Murvin Wright's fingers in so many pies- are THE logical result of years of unethical dealings in Hallandale Beach, wherein taxpayer & CRA dollars routinely go out to pals of City Hall, and compliance with laws, common sense and real-world notions of oversight and conflict-of-interest take second place to personal/political gain
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/no-end-in-sight-for-hallandale-beachs.html

Below that I had and a copy of my September 12, 2012 email to then-Hallandale Beach CRA Executive Director Alvin Jackson, Jr. 

I posted that email to him here most recently on September 19, 2012 under the title, More tough questions for Hallandale Beach taxpayers to ponder as voting draws near on 2013 budget for controversial CRA; Why can't the city provide real oversight and criticize Jessica Sanders' continued inability to properly manage the Palms Community Action Coalition, which gets CRA funds? Because her husband is a commissioner, the same man who hides from savvy taxpayers rather than answer their questions about his land sale to the city in 2009 -for MORE than property was worth!; @MayorCooper, @SandersHB, @AlexLewy

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-questions-as-hallandale-beach-gets.html

In my opinion, Dr. Jackson, while not without some fault for some things the past year that I strongly disagreed with him on, was largely forced out of his position by Mayor Joy Cooper so she could make him the fall guy for the scandalous, unethical and illegal culture of corruption and incompetency that has been the very hallmark of the HB CRA while Joy Cooper has been mayor for the past ten years, always eager to throw her weight around and try to take credit for things, even when she had nothing to do with them.

Cooper has had innumerable chances over the years to change course and do the right thing by taxpayers and residents and move the CRA towards more openness and transparency in their dealings, so that taxpayers could be satisfied -but she consciously chose NOT to. 

Year-after-year she did what she does best, bullied and hectored others into letting her get her way and get what she wanted, even when that was not in the best short-term or long-term interests of this community, and the results -or rather the lack of them- are readily-apparent when you drive within the CRA district, especially within NW Hallandale Beach.

And all the while she made excuses for the dismal performances of former City Managers Mike Good and Mark A. Antonio, both of whose own egos, myopia and tone deafness on these matters made the IG report largely predictable, because there was so very much for those investigators to choose from, given Good and Antonio's years of bad judgment and willingness to look the other way so the mayor and her cronies could do what they wanted to do.

And speaking of looking the other way, hardly anyone has perfected that quite like former City Attorney David Jove, who was present all these years when one curious and unethical thing after another happened.

As it concerns the HB CRA, instead of doing his job professionally and genuinely earning his salary by stepping in when appropriate to prevent the commissioners/directors from engaging in their unconscionable behavior and approving documents that had never been verified, Jove just sat like a bump on a log earning his very nice salary and working on a very nice pension.

But there was a real cost to Jove's dithering and inaction and it's one that has been and will be borne by Hallandale Beach taxpayers, residents and small business owners for years to come -squandered money and wasted opportunities.