That Championship Season
Who is Tom Daley (Gary Sinise)? The answer seems simple. He is a drunk. But taking a closer look at Tom reveals a complicated man. He has come back to town for a reunion with his coach and former basketball teammates. It is the 20-year reunion of a winning season and the championship that it led to. Four of the teammates are there but the fifth is missing and has never come to a reunion.
Three of the teammates have stayed in the small town and made lives for themselves. Their lives are intertwined personally, in business matter and with the fact that they all seem dependent on the coach. He continues to be their mentor and they rely on his advice. He appears to be the center of their world. He encourages them, pushes them, bullies them and is able to get them to do what he imagines is best for them.
The Coach (Paul Sorvino) is locked into the past. The house is an old style gothic looking house. The inside of the house is a trip back into the past. The furniture, the pictures on the wall, the curtains, the light fixtures, on down to the coat rack at the front door are all out of an earlier period. The Coach himself is a remnant from the past. He is a study in prejudices. He rails against the Jews, the blacks, Communist, homosexuals and women. Then he turns around and denies that he has anything against them. The 3 do not even seem to flinch as he rants and raves against the various groups. It is obvious that they have lived with this their whole lives and even have incorporated it into their lives. At times they sound like him. He is their guru and they gather around him for his counsel.
Tom has come back for this reunion but he seems to be an observer rather than a part of the group. It is obvious from the first that we see him that Tom has a drinking problem. After the game he and George (Tony Shaloub) go to get some beer for the gathering at the coach’s. He and George go thru the liquor store talking and Tom gleefully piles the grocery cart with all kinds of liquor.
As they get back to the house, there is an interesting choreography of conversations going on. They talk in pairs and in threes. They move from the trophy room, to the kitchen, out in the back yard and in the foyer. No matter where they are or who is speaking, Tom seems to be there. He is always just off to the side of the group, always listening, always watching. The others sit on the couch and the chairs and Tom leans against the wall. They stand in the middle of the living room and Tom sits on the couch or the step. Outside he sits in the shadows under the tree. Part of the group but not part of the group.
His dialogue is sardonic and telling. He alone seems to understand what is going on in this house. As the evening goes on and he becomes drunker, his insights become keener, more edgy and probably more truthful than anything else said in the house. He makes fun of the prejudices and the problems and he is dismissed as merely a drunk.
Tom doesn’t speak a lot but his expressions speak volumes. The camera seeks him out often. He watches intently as the men talk, brag and argue. He is disgusted by some of the revelations and the slurs that he hears. He listens at times in disbelief as the men rationalize their lives. He seems sad at times as when he is listening to the story of George’s baby. He is moved on a couple of occasions to speak but for the most part when a conversation is particularly upsetting he merely pours himself another drink. Although he sits off to the side, he seems to be the conscience of the group. And ignored, as consciences seems to be when they starts making noises that we don’t want to hear.
Tom is drawn back year after year to this group because the championship was the best that he ever was and he feels it is the best that he ever will be. He states that he “fell on his ass in 10 cities”. He is 38 years old and his crowning achievement was when he was 18.
Tom is torn apart by the secret of the championship game. He is haunted by the fact that they “stole” the trophy. This is the reason that Martin has never returned for a reunion. The others deny that there was a problem but Tom can’t forget the cheating. He drinks to forget but fails and is drawn back to this group. He almost broke away. He went 3 years without coming back but this year he once again back with them. The fact that his brother James (Terry Kinney) is one of his teammates is probably another reason that he is pulled back year after year. Tom has a deep love and loyalty to his brother. He wants to break away but he wants his brother to break away also.
When James is pushed out of George’s mayoral campaign he becomes very upset and at this point Tom attempts to get him to leave this group. James only makes it to the foyer before turning around and coming back. It is then that Tom, drunk and frustrated confronts the coach with the truth about their championship. The coach is livid that one of his “boys” would suggest that they cheated and when he is unable to convince Tom of his “truth”, throws him out of his house.
He searches for his ticket out of town as he leaves the house but does not leave. He makes his way around to the back of the house and reemerges into the patio door as the coach, in an attempt to reestablish the cohesiveness of the group puts on the recording of the last 10 seconds of the game. They are all lost in the memories of that time as the recording plays and for once Tom is a part of the group. The memories and the emotions draw them together once again.
Tom understands these men. The bond they share is deep and hard to break from. For all their fighting and bickering they are still and always will be connected. Tom promises that he will stay to help with George’s campaign as a speechwriter but given Tom’s struggles of the past 20 years it will only be a matter of time before he attempts once again to break from this group and from the coach.
Tom Daley is a complicated and multifaceted character and it is a tribute to Gary Sinise that he can bring this man to life with a minimum of dialogue. He conveys Tom mostly with the facial expressions and body language. If you haven’t seen this movie I would highly recommend it. It is further acknowledgement of his great talent.
