The Express

Tonight I got to go see an early viewing of The Express the story of Ernie Davis the first African-American to ever win the Heisman trophy. Now, this movie meant a lot for me to see, being that the movie takes place near my home town Syracuse. I was born in Syracuse an have been a fan of Syracuse University sports for a long time.

My great grandfather was a janitor at Syracuse University and the team that is shown in the movie express were one of the teams that played there during the time my great grandfather worked there. In fact when my great grandfather died some of the team members were made honorary Paul Bearers at his funeral. They couldn't be official Paul Bearers due some sort of regulation.

Ernie Davis, went from being a poor black boy from Almira, NY to being one of the biggest names in football history. Ernie Davis, when he started easily fought his way out of the shadows of Jim Brown who earlier had played for SU under that same number(44) that was given to Davis(and later worn by Floyd Little.)

Ernie Davis also had to put up with the extreme racism of the times and even had to dodge thrown projectiles from fans in stadiums he played in. Ernie Davis during that time never let his skin color become a hindrance to his football ability. Ernie rather than make a fuss about seeing racism took it in stride and just moved on to become a stronger player in spite of it. Even after Syracuse became the number 1 team and made it to the Cotton Bowl to play against the #2 University of Texas, he was still forced to stay in a run-down hotel with the other black players while the white team members got to stay is a really nice hotel. When Ernie Davis won the MVP award for the Cotton Bowl, the ceremony for the trophy was being held in a building that African-Americans couldn't attend. So instead they opted for a BBQ restaurant for the trophy ceremony.

If you didn't have any intentions of seeing The Express, I really think you should reconsider. If this movie isn't #1 tomorrow when it is released, there is really something fucking wrong with America.

This movie should be viewed by all audiences, at all ages. This movie is inspirational, Ernie Davis is a hero that we can all look up to.

I'd give this movie 6 stars out of 5.