Barnabas File

Ha ve you seen   The Legend of Bagger Vance ?     The film was released in 2000 and was not a box office success.       I must admit that I had not seen it until recently.     I saw it on a list of films that life coaches should watch, so I found it on Amazon and watched it with my wife a couple of weeks ago. A sports fantasy,  The Legend of Bagger Vance was directed by Robert Redford and starred Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Charlize Theron.  Although it was generally panned by critics, the theme of redemption through finding encouragement, focus, and purpose fits well with the coaching paradigm. The film is told through the eyes of Hardy Greaves .  Played by Jack Lemon as an old man, Greaves’ heart attack on a golf course provides the bookends of the story.  As he lies on the grass, he thinks back to his experiences with Bagger Vance (Smith) and Rannulph Junuh (Damon) when he was a youngster (J. Michae...

This is a movie about a committed, gifted physician who takes a stand against a powerful bureaucracy.   No, Concussion is not about Dr. Ben Carson but Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), the gifted forensic pathologist who fought against efforts by the National Football League to suppress his research on the brain damage suffered by professional football players. On many levels, this is a story about faith.   Omalu is a man of faith but he is also a man of science.   He clearly sees no conflict between the two and when he finds truth in science, he must share it with a religious fervor.    In doing so, he takes on a uniquely American expression of faith—football. As one character points out, Omalu is attacking an industry (not just a sport) that “owns a day of the week, one that used to belong to the church.”   Another character describes football as a “blessing,” “salvation,” and “the beating heart of the city.”   Strong words for a secular e...