All Along the Watchtower by the late great Jimi Hendrix is one of the best songs to ever use in a movie, and when it’s used in Blue Chips you know things have started slipping out of control. If you remember correctly however it was Bob Dylan that brought this song out to start with, while Jimi Hendrix made it a hit. One very important interpretation of the movie, and one that fits with Blue Chips as you’ll learn in a moment, is this:
Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5-9:
Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield./For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth./And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed./…And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
What happens in college sports is something of a scandal since it’s illegal to pay the players or offer any kind of incentive other than the honor and privilege of playing at a collegiate level and possibly moving on to the pros when they’re done. The glory however tends to fade for some when they have a lifetime worth of issues behind them and no way to continue forward until they’re taken care of. In Blue Chips this is where the ‘hands out’ method starts to come into play. All a player needs to do, if they’re good enough and a desire member for the team, is to do as they’re asked by the program and take the money.
Pete Bell’s chances at putting together a winning program once again are over before they even start since he knows what he’s allowing is wrong and yet he still goes along with it. The guilt finally boils over though as he confronts one of his players about shaving points and finally makes a decision about what he’s going to do. It’s one thing to be part of a losing team but it’s another to be part of a winning team that has to cheat in order to gain an edge. At that point Babylon has already fallen, and the crumbled remains are all that’s left. The metaphorical princes along the watchtower were too busy watching their ships roll in to notice that the foundation of what they were standing on was crumbling underneath them. Once Pete made his decision however, it was the last vestige of a man that knows he’s done wrong, but is going to make sure that the rotten interior of the program is exposed before he leaves for good.
The worst part of all of this is that such things have happened at the college level and continue do so without being caught. There’s no glory in the sports these days, only dollars.
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