"We Are Marshall"

"We are Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo)"

18 people associated with the Cal Poly football program, including 16 players, died in a plane crash Oct. 29, 1960. Among those who DIDN'T die in the crash were John Madden (an assistant coach then and the reason he enjoys a Maddencruiser and will never fly) and ted Tollner (former USC, San Diego State head coach).

Cal Poly held a ceremony before and during halftime of a football game for those lost in the crash. Mustang Memorial Plaza, located at the entrance of its on-campus football stadium, has a sculpture of a Mustang surrounded by 18 pillars, forming a team huddle. Each pillar represents one of the 16 players, a Mustang booster and the team manager. Each pillar stands at the same height as that of its honoree.

It's not finished yet, but when it is, I plan to drive up there to see it. While I feel sympathy for those who perished in the Marshall plane crash, my mother lost one of her very good friends from high school in the Cal Poly crash.

 

The we have to include "We are Oklahoma State."

 

McConaughey is dazed and confused.

 

I've got three better stories about teams and plane crashes.

FC Torino, Manchester United and the Zambian national soccer team.

The trailer for this Marshall film makes me want to kill. Worst sports tragedy of all time?

Fuck you. Not even close.

 

My ex-girlfriend's step-uncle played for Cal-Poly SLO that year and if he hadn't torn his knee up the week before, he, too, would've been on that plane.

 

Not to belittle the gist of your post, but wow, is that not the most tenuous relationship ever between two people?

 

My mom is from Manchester, and she and her side of the family talk about the United crash like it was D-Day.

 

I'll third that. Had a former colleague whose family was from Manchester. They were the same way.

And if we're talking worst sports tragedies of all time, I submit my No. 2 choice: the Heysel tragedy.

And my No. 1 choice:

<a href="http://wesclark.com/rrr/alive2.html">"Alive."</a> Rugby players eating human flesh to survive the winter is a lot more chilling in my book than a plane crash of football players. (Here's a better article, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571#The_crash_and_rescue">Wikipedia entry on the 1972 Andes plane disaster</a>.)

 

If you're saying she's a bitch, then, yeah, haw haw haw.

 

Just to clarify, I'm pretty sure that's not what I said.

 

Better stories? Yeah, like anyone wants to post something saying that their plane crash is BETTER than another.

By the way, I was in Torino for the Winter Olympics and saw the area where they pay homage to those lost in that crash for FC Torino. Sad, really sad. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo.com was at the Olympics too and did a story touching on a father who lost his son in the Oklahoma State crash and when he visited the Torino shrine how it brought back all the emotions he felt only a few short years ago.

 

You know, I read "Alive" only a few months ago -- it is a damn good book.

Not to threadjack, just saying.