B2. The Rules Make No Sense

“Boys, the rules don’t make much sense. But I believe in the rules. Some of us broke them. I broke them. I can’t do this. I can’t win like this.” From Coach Pete Bell’s mouth to our ears, this week the Bill Bradley Collective return to the movies for a discussion of William Friedkin and Ron Shelton’s 1994 basketball drama, Blue Chips. Tepidly received by critics and audiences alike upon release, the Collective return a unanimous positive appraisal of the film’s artistic merits: the strong performances of Nick Nolte as the aforementioned Coach Bell, Alfre Woodard, J.T. Walsh, Mary McDonnell and the host of cameos from a who’s who of the early 1990’s hoops scene, the soundtrack, and the portrayal of on-court basketball sequences. Nuanced cinema critique quickly gives way to an examination of Blue Chips’ message, namely the question: what does this movie have to say about amateurism in college sports and the forces that continue to refuse collegiate athletes be given commensurate compensation within the very rules Pete Bell struggles to reckon with. Brought to you remotely thanks to the efforts of our esteemed producer in light of adverse weather and necessary COVID precaution, we are three fists in the face of sports and politics (and occasionally the movies), the Bill Bradley Collective.