Yet another Pony Excess post

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Just wanted to get my two cents in. Congratulations to Thad on a terrific project! I have now watched Pony Excess four times. Even better for me, my wife, who is also an SMU grad but has little interest in football, watched the premiere with me from beginning to end. It was hilarious hearing her defend SMU with gusto, since she is the most ethical person I've ever known. By the end of the program, she was wondering aloud what's so bad about paying players and expressing pride that SMU was so much better at it then the other SWC schools. She expressed utter contempt for A&M, UT, TCU, etc. and the fact that they wished they could cheat like SMU. I've never heard her get that fired up about SMU football. . .it was awesome.

For me, the highlight of the show was Dickerson's comment at the end that he would always choose playing on Saturdays for SMU. It reminded me of the original Article 19 trailer, where Reggie Dupard said he would have come to SMU even if they hadn't given him one cent. Having lived through the dark times, it gives me such a good feeling to see fences being mended between SMU and the former players. Along the same lines, I loved the ex-players talking about the 2009 Hawaii Bowl. I think it was Harvey Armstrong who said, "I was like a 2-year-old at Christmas. . .I was so happy!" That was great.

Nothing new here, I know. But I just wanted to express to ThadFilms that this project turned out better than even I expected, and I had high hopes. Thanks for telling the story and putting the history SMU football back on the map!

[lwjr]

I have said this before, living in Midland it seems 95% of those that graduated from college went to Texas, A&M or Tech. Having talked to many of them this week they all were very impressed by "Pony Excess". Pretty much all of them thought it would benefit SMU in recruiting and the show really shed a positive light on the program as it rebuilds itself.

[ponyte]

I believed from the beginning that had would do us right. And he did. Yes, some of it wasn't too nice...like that Death Penalty part. But he created a great post Death Penalty story.

One other thing, This was a film without professional actors yet some of the folks in it added so much to the story just by their presentation. Love them or hate them, the flavor of the comments from Blayliss and Hanson added to the story for me. The way some of the players presented their lines (Rod Jones, Mike Ford, Harvey Armstrong, Brett Kershaw) also added to the story.

Thad could have used his abilities to make anyone interviewed into a jerk and he didn't. He did this right not just in the story and production but in the fairness he treated all. And he sure didn’t have to be fair if he didn’t want to be.

[Stallion]

You had one of the best lines of the entire show-(unfortunately I can't remember it exactly)-about the rise in talent level from when you arrived until you graduated. Something like Death Valley to-----. You even got my rouge booster reference in. (Plus you had a nice block on Craig James' TD run against Texas)

[ponyte]

You had one of the best line of the entire show-(unfortunately I can't remember it exactly)-about the rise in talent level from when you arrived until you graduated. Something like Death Valley to-----. You even got my rouge booster reference in. (Plus you had a nice block on Craig James' TD run against Texas)

...Mt Everest. And by the way, that is a published quote of mine in one of the Dallas papers before the 1980 Arkansas game.

Not to steal anyone’s thunder, but the other line was completely spontaneous. Got caught by a response/challenge/inquiry I wasn’t completely ready to address. I guess somewhere in my subconscious, there was a little voice saying, Stallion, Stallion…

But the dramatic piano intro right before that comment set that line up completely. Stunning how well they crafted this documentary. Little things like that that highlighted parts of the story.

Like I said, Thad did it right and he did us right by it.

[Longtime]

No professional actors? Ever seen Skip Bayless on ESPN First Take?

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

I'v never cared much for Norm Hitzgus, but he's another one whose comments I thought really added something.