Daniel Ruettiger

Great movies transcend genres and achieve a universality that provokes human emotion. Rudy(1993) is a great movie. I cry, without fail, every single time I watch it. Based on a true story, the film chronicles a young man as he struggles to attend the University of Notre Dame and walk on the football team. Sure, it is a stereotypical account of an underdog that was glorified by Hollywood. However, it goes beyond football. It surpasses the symbolism of sport, and reminds the viewer of the importance of dreams.

Ever since I was a runt I have been infatuated with Notre Dame football, and being half Irish and raised Catholic the only two colors that mattered were blue and gold. Rudy just affirmed the only two options in my mind for college: 1) the University of Notre Dame, or 2) no college at all. Now that I have graduated from a university, that was not named Notre Dame, that had no football team to speak of, Rudy still remains a beacon of light.

Living in New York can be strenuous, even suffocating, and it can be easy to lose sight of things. Important things, like dreams. While football waved goodbye to me long ago, it was replaced by other dreams – modified dreams. However, living in NYC tends to bury them deep within my subconscious, and watching Rudy unearths them. Without dreams, I'm not convinced that life is worth living. While you may think that it's just a stupid movie about an undersized and talentless kid from a small town in Indiana who defies naysayers, I challenge you to consider your dreams and what you would be willing to sacrifice to achieve those dreams.