Caught some of this on the Documentary Channel the other day and realized I had run across this man before while doing some sports writing in Western Pa. I can say there is a general respect for the man in that region, but I also think there are a lot of people who view him with pity.
The same coaches that praise him on camera are no doubt secretly cursing him for taking up their precious time off camera. He claims to be in it for the kids, but it's really about attaching himself to their glories in an attempt to garner some sort of slight attention. This is a very lonely man who is stuck in a very naive state of mind.
The first time I met him (and the second, and third and fourth), he handed me a sports card with his picture, some stats (No. of games covered) and some sayings. I did not ask for this, but I noticed he referred to himself as a legend on the card. The numbers of games he claims to have covered are probably inflated. As far as keeping track of the game in front of him, I noticed that he would be too busy talking to others to keep accurate stats. Sure he has notebooks full of marks, but what good is it if they're not correct? There's probably a very good story surrounding him, but the film is too worried about keeping the "Deuce" myth in tact to really get to the root of his humanity.
The same coaches that praise him on camera are no doubt secretly cursing him for taking up their precious time off camera. He claims to be in it for the kids, but it's really about attaching himself to their glories in an attempt to garner some sort of slight attention. This is a very lonely man who is stuck in a very naive state of mind.
The first time I met him (and the second, and third and fourth), he handed me a sports card with his picture, some stats (No. of games covered) and some sayings. I did not ask for this, but I noticed he referred to himself as a legend on the card. The numbers of games he claims to have covered are probably inflated. As far as keeping track of the game in front of him, I noticed that he would be too busy talking to others to keep accurate stats. Sure he has notebooks full of marks, but what good is it if they're not correct? There's probably a very good story surrounding him, but the film is too worried about keeping the "Deuce" myth in tact to really get to the root of his humanity.