To read an excerpt of Hollywood and Catholic Women visit http://www.women-write.com/hollywood.html. Summer is here, the perfect time to get reading! To kick off the contest, Sooner's Score! The Importance of Football in Saving Grace follows.
Saving
Grace creator Nancy Miller had always wanted to develop a series about a
Catholic protagonist living in Oklahoma,
where she grew up. Set in Oklahoma
City, Saving
Grace accomplishes much of its authenticity by having most of its
characters view Oklahoma Sooners football as a religious experience and football
games as high holy days for the throngs of the faithful. Since I’ve known real Oklahoma fans, their
fanaticism on the TV show is spot on.
The show is
filled with the lore that is Sooners football and Grace and her squad takes it
seriously, in the same way that fans of Nebraska
and Texas do.
Football becomes its own character in the series and a constant topic of
conversation. Every member of the squad, with the exception of Butch, display
Sooners football memorabilia on their desks or in their offices. There’s
constant chatter about who’s going to play, who’s got a shot at the Heisman
Trophy, and whether another national championship is on the horizon.
Having gone
to the University
of Texas to play football
as quarterback, Butch is viewed as a traitor, and the teasing he endures isn’t
always good-natured. Even Butch’s own mother was disappointed in her son’s
choice of schools, maintaining that she has no idea what went wrong and led her
son astray. Not about to be intimidated, Butch displays Long-horns memorabilia
on his desk. He’s brave enough to also have a stuffed animal that represents
“Bevo,” the University
of Texas mascot, but the
animal disappears on a regular basis during the series.
Tickets on the 50-yard line, or
better yet season tickets, are coveted like gold; and Grace’s teenage nephew,
Clay desperately wants to attend the University
of Oklahoma and play on
the fabled football team. There’s always talk about who’s got the better view
for a game.
In season two, former Oklahoma Coach
Barry Switzer appears as himself, as it turns out he and Grace have something
in common. Connie, the name of Grace’s Porsche, was at one time owned by Switzer,
and he comes to the Oklahoma City PD to take the car out for a spin. There is
an interesting dynamic as most of the squad treats Switzer like a deity. Upon
meeting Switzer, Grace genuflects and crosses herself as if she were having an
audience with the Pope. When Butch comes face-to-face with the coach, they lock
eyes in a silent stare-down, and it’s clear Butch will never be able to
overcome the fact that he chose to wear the uniform of a Texas Longhorn rather
than an Oklahoma Sooner.
In the final season, Grace is frantically
searching for a young girl named Neely. They share the same “last chance angel”
in the form of Earl, who will help them both find redemption, the premise upon
which Saving Grace is built. After
many false starts, when Grace and Neely finally do meet, do they talk about
salvation and redeeming one’s soul? No. They talk about the upcoming of Sooners
football season, like all passionate fans. For Earl, this conversation is a bit
confusing, but Grace tells him it makes perfect sense to her as Oklahoma football is in
her blood.
Grace may have shunned the Catholic
Church; but like a lot of people, she worships at the altar that is football. And
in Oklahoma
that altar is massive with a history that includes national championships and
Heisman trophy winners. Saving Grace may
be about one woman’s last chance to redeem herself spiritually, but it’s also very
much about the location and the culture there. Football is as much a part of Saving Grace as is the Oklahoma City bombing at the Murrah building.
Both have helped to mold Grace and her peers for better or worse.
