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Review | Shockumentary 'The U' tackles foul play

The Christmas Hope. 8-10 p.m. Sunday, Lifetime Movie Network

The U. 9-11 p.m. Saturday, ESPN

Does the University of Miami offer a degree in cluelessness? Because most of the former players interviewed in ESPN's documentary The U seem to have majored in it. For two solid hours they brag about their arrogance, their dirty play and even their outright criminality, smiling proudly during every moment.

Documentary on University of Miami football program strikes the right balance

S ome sensitive Hurricanes fans surely will not like the rehashing of the trash-talking, the over-the-top celebrations and the off-field scandals that are chronicled in The U , the two-hour University of Miami football documentary airing at 9 p.m. Dec. 12 on ESPN.

But after watching the film, the view here is that filmmakers and former UM students Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman accurately and colorfully capture the program's glory years -- blemishes and all -- and strike the right balance between what made UM so dominant and dynamic, and what made it a target for critics.

The film is an enjoyable trip down memory lane, filled with unforgettable game footage, amusing anecdotes and entertaining interviews with more than 30 people who made the program matter.

Miami Hurricanes succeed where others are failing

B efore Allen Iverson and Ron Artest, before Terrell Owens and OchoCinco, before Trick Daddy and Lil Wayne -- before America was quite ready, in other words -- there was championship University of Miami football. It was fun, violent, florescent, reckless and wonderful, but the street getting so close to the library was also pretty new then, and that particular kind of new can scare people the way black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson scared them by dating white women once upon a time.

So UM wide receiver Horace Copeland celebrated a touchdown by doing a backflip in the end zone. And, before a game against Florida State, defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy had to be restrained because he thought it would be funny to punch Renegade, the Seminole horse. And UM safety Charles Pharms -- who wore all black on game days because he was in mourning for the opponent, his T-shirt reading, ``Shut up, bitch!'' -- was so unintimidated by the caged tiger placed outside the UM locker room at a drunk and roaring

FPL's misdeeds

Re the Dec. 13 story FPL plays hardball in campaign for rate hike: Thanks to The Miami Herald's aggressive reporting, we find out that Florida Power & Light is using Richard Nixon's playbook to get a 30-percent rate increase.

Are the executives too young to know or too old to remember what happened to Nixon after he was more concerned with his enemies than doing his job? FPL shareholders must bear the brunt of executives' misdeeds.

The Public Service Commission should reject the rate-increase request and lower the fuel-cost component as proposed.

Miami Hurricanes' roster management has mostly paid off

When the University of Miami program was floundering a couple years ago, one of the complaints -- as voiced by ex-Cane Jonathan Vilma at the time -- was that ``guys are not improving year to year.'' That clearly has changed.

Recruiting has been the biggest key to UM's revival, but also credit the staff's roster management and player development. Some who improved were supposed to be very good ( Allen Bailey, Brandon Harris, Leonard Hankerson, etc.), but look at what UM has extracted from players once considered afterthoughts.

Against Wake Forest, tight end/H-back Tervaris Johnson -- who played sparingly at defensive back for two years -- made critical blocks to help win that game. Against Virginia, it was safety Jared Campbell knocking away three passes. (That's the same Campbell who played in one game in 2008 and whose previous football highlight was sitting next to Paris Hilton at this past Super Bowl.)