Crockett and Football

[Robbie C.]

One last little thing about Crockett's background: those pesky University of Florida football Gators. This also comes from my essay about Crockett's background.

One thing Miami Vice is very clear about is the university Crockett attended. “University of Florida football Gators” he tells people repeatedly, although we never learn if he graduated or not. We also are told an injury ended his playing time. He refers to a “trick knee” in the episode “Rites of Passage” but never goes into any detail. Talk of the injury also appears in “The Little Prince” but is again vague. In the script for the pilot episode, Trudy tells Tubbs that the ‘injury’ was sustained when Crockett fell out of a co-ed’s dorm room window, but that story was not included in the version which aired.

Crockett’s football career, however, remains as shadowed as his time in uniform. It also suffers from the same inconsistencies and historical inaccuracies, starting with the pilot episode itself. According to SEC records, Florida played Alabama twice during the time Crockett might have played for the Gators - 1966 and September 1970 - and actually lost both games. There would have been no “gaming-winning screen pass.” The actual script for the pilot episode is even worse; it mentions a picture of a 21-year old Crockett in his football uniform as part of the “SEC Champion Florida Gators” in 1970 - Florida finished with a poor record in 1970 and wasn’t even in contention for the title!

Like most things relating to Crockett’s background, that catch morphs over time. In the third season episode “Good Collar” Crockett gives his game ball to a rising high school star named Ellis. During their talk he mentions the catch as a game-winning screen pass in a Gator Bowl. Again, Florida only played in one Gator Bowl during the 1960s (December 1969), and it was against Tennessee. The final score was 14-13 in favor of Florida, and the Gator team that year featured a group of standout second-year players (dubbed the “Super Sophs” by sportswriters), so it’s possible Crockett was supposed to be a fictionalized version of one of them. But that rules out Crockett taking part in operations in Cambodia if he’s in the Army.

If we ignore this third season shift, it is possible Crockett scored his game-winning touchdown not against Alabama, but against a school from the state of Alabama. If we accept this, and assume Tubbs was right about the state but wrong about the team, the next likely candidate is Auburn. Florida played Auburn every year during the 1960s, but only beat them in 1966 (and then by a field goal - no “game-winning catch” here).

And then there’s the mysterious football injury. Rarely mentioned in the series after the pilot, it seems to have been severe enough to end Crockett’s playing days forever. Or was it? I feel there are good reasons to doubt the severity of this injury, even if it had been mentioned more regularly. If Crockett had been injured that badly, he likely would have qualified for medical deferral from the draft and also be medically disqualified from enlisting. Also, an injury ending his playing time wouldn’t have automatically eliminated him from college.

Based on what we know of Crockett’s background, my belief is he began feeling guilty about avoiding service in Vietnam. This would be heightened by his friends going overseas, some being killed or maimed, and the fact that as a lower-middle class student he might have felt little in common with his more affluent classmates. Crockett never talks about college aside from football, giving us no reason to suspect he either graduated or had any strong ties to people he met while attending classes. One possibility is Crockett suffered a minor injury (a knee sprain or something similar), played it up as more serious than it was, and used it as an excuse to be cut from the team and drop out of college. Then, knee healthy, he turned around and enlisted with Robbie. While he might have been too proud, or felt constrained by family considerations, to just quit the team, an overstated injury would be perfect. He’s eliminated through no fault of his own and then can move on.

[Bren10]

Wow what a mess they made. So with either Alabama or Auburn, it's impossible Tubbs saw that catch.  So we just have to accept, as somebody stated earlier, that this is a fictional universe with fictional characters, I suppose?  Was there a catch like that in the 14-13 TN game? 

[Robbie C.]

Not that I could find. It certainly wasn't "last second" as implied in the opener. But even if there was it would have mangled his proposed Vietnam service.

Like I said, the football arc is a total mess. I'm not surprised they let it fade without a trace.

And yeah, it's all fictional. But when they toss out as much information as they did with Crockett it would be nice if SOME of it lined up. The only major error I could find with Castillo, for example, is the DEA. It didn't exist as an agency during Vietnam. But with Crockett it's like Tubbs' brother changed names twice in one season or Valerie suddenly became a Japanese secretary and then changed back within a season.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Robbie C.

[Bren10]

Is it possible Castillo worked for a forerunner/prototype organisation to the DEA and just refers to it as DEA the same way Jesse Ventura was a Frogman but calls himself a SEAL?  And was that before or after the Savage affair in Nam?

Edited March 27, 2019 by Bren10

[Crockettt]

@Robbie C. where can I find SEC records? 

[Robbie C.]

1 hour ago, Bren10 said:

Is it possible Castillo worked for a forerunner/prototype organisation to the DEA and just refers to it as DEA the same way Jesse Ventura was a Frogman but calls himself a SEAL?  And was that before or after the Savage affair in Nam?

I think it was more likely the writers and EJO weren't aware that the DEA was formed by Nixon. Although they never say with certainty, my assumption was he worked with DEA (or whatever) prior to the Savage and he was shifted to working the Saigon area as a punishment for what went down in Laos. Certainly it could go the other way, but he always seemed to have had more time on the ground in Laos than he did Saigon.

[Robbie C.]

30 minutes ago, Crockettt said:

@Robbie C. where can I find SEC records? 

I pulled game stats from Wikipedia, which is risky most times but I've found sports stuff tends to be fairly well maintained there. I cross-referenced the major items by checking wikipedia sources.

[vicegirl85]

7 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

One last little thing about Crockett's background: those pesky University of Florida football Gators. This also comes from my essay about Crockett's background.

One thing Miami Vice is very clear about is the university Crockett attended. “University of Florida football Gators” he tells people repeatedly, although we never learn if he graduated or not. We also are told an injury ended his playing time. He refers to a “trick knee” in the episode “Rites of Passage” but never goes into any detail. Talk of the injury also appears in “The Little Prince” but is again vague. In the script for the pilot episode, Trudy tells Tubbs that the ‘injury’ was sustained when Crockett fell out of a co-ed’s dorm room window, but that story was not included in the version which aired.

(snipped)

Based on what we know of Crockett’s background, my belief is he began feeling guilty about avoiding service in Vietnam. This would be heightened by his friends going overseas, some being killed or maimed, and the fact that as a lower-middle class student he might have felt little in common with his more affluent classmates. Crockett never talks about college aside from football, giving us no reason to suspect he either graduated or had any strong ties to people he met while attending classes. One possibility is Crockett suffered a minor injury (a knee sprain or something similar), played it up as more serious than it was, and used it as an excuse to be cut from the team and drop out of college. Then, knee healthy, he turned around and enlisted with Robbie. While he might have been too proud, or felt constrained by family considerations, to just quit the team, an overstated injury would be perfect. He’s eliminated through no fault of his own and then can move on.

As easily as I'm willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to pesky details like football and Crockett's military service , what you say makes a lot of sense.  And of course if the pesky details had to do with the medical field I would be less willing to swallow them without question!

[king77]

4 hours ago, Bren10 said:

Wow what a mess they made. So with either Alabama or Auburn, it's impossible Tubbs saw that catch.  So we just have to accept, as somebody stated earlier, that this is a fictional universe with fictional characters, I suppose?  Was there a catch like that in the 14-13 TN game? 

Due to multiple script changes that happen, I wouldn't try to base a character on things in a script that never made the cut. Many times things are in scripts only axed and the writers have to issue "Pink" pages to either remove the dialog or the references or scene. If the Producer/Director didn't want it filmed or shown, in my world it doesn't exist, but that's just my 2-cents.

I would guess that during character development the PA or whomever tasked with the Crockett character early on used the 1969 Gator Bowl as the "hard" reference establishing a real event and date, but used "Soft"(Made-Up/Embellished) references for the remainder to fill out the characters depth and background. I would bet that person or an intern/researcher seen that Alabama lost in 1968 and just used Alabama rather than Tennessee as Alabama is more widely know as a much better team to punch up Crockett's "accomplishment" in the game. There was no last minute touchdown catch in the real game. 

As for scores in the real game, Fumble recovery for Fla in the 1st. 63 yard TD catch for Tenn in the 2nd. 2 yard FG for Tenn in the 2nd. 9 yard TD catch for Fla in the 3rd. 9 yard FG in the 4th for Tenn. 14-13 FLA.

[king77]

3 hours ago, Bren10 said:

Is it possible Castillo worked for a forerunner/prototype organisation to the DEA and just refers to it as DEA the same way Jesse Ventura was a Frogman but calls himself a SEAL?  And was that before or after the Savage affair in Nam?

The BNDD Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was the precursor to the DEA from 68 to 73. It was the Bureau of Narcotics from 1930 to 1968. Before that it tackled issues with probation.

The only issue with being in the drug enforcement side is that Castillo would not have been in an investigatory capacity as shown in The Savage. To do both back then he would have had to have been Army CID as you could be a civilian. I don't remember him ever being noted as a former service member so he may have been a civilian appointee to the Army CID.

We do know that during the run of the show he had contacts in Washington that seemed political in nature, an appointed civilian to a high rank in Army CID would get these perks. I don't see a field DEA supervisor getting them. And adding to the fact that he hid out after the attack, the DEA wouldn't have given him that cover he would have been yanked out. So it is quite possible Castillo was with Army CID working undercover in the BNDD and then DEA after 1973 and during the run of the show, he never outed himself.

[Robbie C.]

Castillo could have been seconded to the Saigon office in a civilian advisory capacity. It's also possible that he was CIA, but working out of a different station and was seconded to the operation in Laos. There was an awful lot of unofficial cross-pollonization going on with those operations. I honestly don't think Castillo was military. His background actually fits CIA quite well.

[mjcmmv]

2 hours ago, vicegirl85 said:

As easily as I'm willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to pesky details like football and Crockett's military service , what you say makes a lot of sense.  And of course if the pesky details had to do with the medical field I would be less willing to swallow them without question!

Oh, yes. The medical references were really a mess. I'm a nurse so some of the scenes in Bullet for Crockett, made me cringe. I know, this is a TV Show, but, trying to accept how the surgeon explained Sonny's condition was painful to watch. Ultimately Sonny recovered, but it's tough for me to figure out how! 

[Robbie C.]

2 hours ago, king77 said:

Due to multiple script changes that happen, I wouldn't try to base a character on things in a script that never made the cut. Many times things are in scripts only axed and the writers have to issue "Pink" pages to either remove the dialog or the references or scene. If the Producer/Director didn't want it filmed or shown, in my world it doesn't exist, but that's just my 2-cents.

I would guess that during character development the PA or whomever tasked with the Crockett character early on used the 1969 Gator Bowl as the "hard" reference establishing a real event and date, but used "Soft"(Made-Up/Embellished) references for the remainder to fill out the characters depth and background. I would bet that person or an intern/researcher seen that Alabama lost in 1968 and just used Alabama rather than Tennessee as Alabama is more widely know as a much better team to punch up Crockett's "accomplishment" in the game. There was no last minute touchdown catch in the real game. 

As for scores in the real game, Fumble recovery for Fla in the 1st. 63 yard TD catch for Tenn in the 2nd. 2 yard FG for Tenn in the 2nd. 9 yard TD catch for Fla in the 3rd. 9 yard FG in the 4th for Tenn. 14-13 FLA.

The Alabama and SEC Champion stuff came out of the pilot script, which is posted online (revision 4/9/84). The Gator Bowl came in quite a bit later, actually.

[NeonHumidity]

I'm just amused that they (eventually) got the date right for the only Gator Bowl he could have played in.

There was a touchdown pass to a wide receiver that helped narrowly win the game, so it seems like Sonny was at least mildly based off Carlos Alvarez -- who also went to Florida on scholarship and had a knee injury (more than one, actually), but not one that ended his playing career.

[Robbie C.]

8 minutes ago, NeonHumidity said:

I'm just amused that they (eventually) got the date right for the only Gator Bowl he could have played in.

There was a touchdown pass to a wide receiver that helped narrowly win the game, so it seems like Sonny was at least mildly based off Carlos Alvarez -- who also went to Florida on scholarship and had a knee injury (more than one, actually), but not one that ended his playing career.

Which of course doesn't line up with anything else...thus continuing the problems with Crockett's background. 

[BroganGordon]

Ah, stumbled upon a blast from the past! It's intriguing how discussions about characters and their backgrounds can still captivate us years later. Reminds me of delving into old Manchester United match reports and uncovering hidden stories.  Even though it's been a while, the depth of analysis and speculation remains relevant. It's like revisiting a classic match and dissecting every play.

Edited March 11 by BroganGordon