"The U" premieres in Overtown

Sports Illustrated cover; June 12, 1995
Rakontur Films director Billy Corben screened his much-anticipated documentary, "The U," Wednesday night at the historic Lyric Theatre in Overtown.

Random Pixels was among the the 300 or so invited guests. And of course we showed up with camera in hand to document the fun before the film.

Miami New Times has posted a slide show of my pictures here.

New Times writer Frank Alvarado blogs about the evening.

ProCanes.com reviews the film.

And Ethan Skolnick of the Sun-Sentinel shares his thoughts on the film here.

Billy Corben and his talented crew have done a masterful job telling the story of one of the most colorful and interesting chapters in Miami sports history: the story of the bad-ass Miami Hurricanes of the 80' and 90's.

The film pulls no punches; the good along with the bad is included.

But die-hard Hurricane fans will love this film.

And the 'Canes haters - I'm sure there there are many - will no doubt be reminded of the reasons why they hate this team so much.

The film has no script. Corben lets the players and coaches tell the story in their own words.

Alvarado recounts one of the funnier moments (there are many) in the film:

Bennie Blades, one of the dominant voices in the documentary, explains how UM had a deal with Burger King to give away free game tickets with the purchase of a Whopper. But since his family had no money to afford Whoppers, Blades never got any free tickets.

Note: "The U" - premieres nationally this Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009 at 9PM on ESPN