With the passing of Alan Rickman I am compelled to call out what I consider his most compelling and successful film role. There are many, many characters that Mr. Rickman brought to life on the silver screen including, of course, the conniving kraut Hans Gruber who blew up Nakatomi Tower in a grim foreshadowing of terrorist tactics. But his greatest achievement, in my mind, was his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the horrible Kevin Costner vehicle, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It is show biz rumor that at the early test screenings of the film the audience cheered Rickman and rooted for him to kill Costner in the final sword fight - the producers had to go back to the editing room and cut out chunks of Rickman's scenes to make him less appealing and even after that butchery it's a toss up as to who to support - the tortured charismatic sheriff or the bland American interloper.
A few weeks ago Duke lost Coach K’s last game at Camron Indoor Stadium to the schools hated rival, North Carolina University, in an epic grudge match. It was an “ unacceptable ” finale for the maniacal ferret-faced competitor who created the 40 year dynastic Duke hoops program with 1,000+ wins and fists full of ACC and NCAA championships but for Tar Heels everywhere it was a day of retribution. Michael William Krzyzewski, is a red-blooded All-American college basketball coach of Polish and Ukrainian descent who grew up in Chicago’s famous Ukrainian Village which is (or at least was) culturally very reminiscent of the Rus borderlands. That is to say that young S h-shef-ski grew up as far away (psychology) from Dixie as is possible while still living within the borders of the USA. That makes him the perfect choice to represent Duke University and the Yankee overachievers who emigrate to Durham for 4 years of education and networking before moving back to non-Southern civilization. T
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