White Water Tavern screens The Identity Theft of Mitch Mustain Wednesday night pic

  • White Water Tavern screens “The Identity Theft of Mitch Mustain” Wednesday night.

‘THE IDENTITY THEFT OF MITCH MUSTAIN’
9 p.m. White Water Tavern.

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Back in the early fall of 2006, if you cared about the Razorbacks football team or knew anyone who cared about the Razorbacks football team, the name Mitch Mustain was likely a familiar one. Many a Hog fan’s head was filled with visions of touchdown passes, cheering crowds and maybe, eventually, one of those big Waterford crystal footballs and fond future memories of “The Mitch Mustain Era.”

But it didn’t work out that way for the vaunted Springdale quarterback and 2005 USA Today High School Offensive Player of the Year. There’s probably no need to rehash all of it at this point, as it’s just a painful memory for fans. So why would you want to see a 90-minute documentary about it?

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I’ll defer to Arkansas Expats writer Doc Harper, who caught the movie at this year’s Little Rock Film Fest: “The story involves most of all the worst parts of college sports. The filthiness of recruiting. Coaches pushing their own agendas at the expense of their players. Inappropriately meddlesome boosters. Media and fans twisting teenagers into demigods. Power, corruption, deceit, influence, ambition. It’s all very ‘Game of Thrones,’ with the Broyles Center taking the place of the Iron Throne and everybody forgetting that the point of high-level college football is the crystal football. And no dragons.”

The film, by Matthew Wolfe, was narrated by Nolan Richardson, himself a legendary figure who knows a thing or three about how heated and insane things can get in Hog Country. Loblolly Creamery will be serving booze-y milkshakes at this screening.

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