Hill: this is a great football story

Big stage ... Can Martinez trump Mancini in the FA Cup final? Source: Martin Rickett / AAP

Many years ago - 1978 to be exact - I was, like many 11 year-old kids growing up in northern England, football mad.

Being a season ticket holder at Manchester City wasn’t enough for my fix, so, on the weeks City played away, I’d badger my dad to go to some of the many other lower league (and non-league) grounds that proliferated around the north west.

Most alternate weeks, that meant the short hop to see Altrincham FC, in those days a top non-league side, pressing hard for a shot at league football itself.

But one club from the region had already made it to the old Division Four. After years of trying, Wigan Athletic had been elected at the expense of Southport (automatic promotion was still some way off), and took their place for the 1978-1979 season.

Three games in to their inaugural league campaign, the Latics were yet to win, and even to register a goal. So, when Newport County came visiting on September 2, 1978, I persuaded my father to take me along to the rickety old Springfield Park to see if a little piece of history could be made. My dad knew the trip well, having been a policeman in the town in the ‘60s, my sister had even been born there.

The Latics weren’t able to find their elusive first win that day - losing to the Welsh outfit (who’ve just retaken their place in the league after defeating Wrexham in the Conference play-off final), but they did get their first-ever league goal, courtesy of Joe Hinnigan, with Ian Purdie adding a second in a 3-2 loss.  I still have the match program, which cost a princely 15p (less than 10 cents).

Little did anyone think in those days that Wigan would one day become a Premier League club, let alone play in an FA Cup Final.  But this weekend, they will run out at Wembley to play - strangely - Manchester City, in just their second major final, after losing the 2006 League Cup Final to Manchester United in Cardiff.

When people in England talk of great football stories, of teams rising through the leagues, the spotlight normally falls upon Wimbledon - many seem to have forgotten (or ignored) the story of Wigan Athletic, but it is a remarkable tale.

Lodged at the edge of the two major north west conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester, Wigan not only has a short league history, but has NINE established football league clubs within an hours travel, all competing for attention.

Then, there is arguably the most famous Rugby League club in the country - Wigan Warriors - right on its doorstep. The fact that the Latics average attendance (19,192) now outstrips the Super League outfit (16,043) is testament to its spectacular rise.

It’s true that Wigan has been bankrolled to a certain extent to the Premier League. Dave Whelan, an ex-pro with Blackburn Rovers actually played in the 1960 FA Cup Final against Wolves, and has invested large chunks of his personal wealth in transforming the clubs fortunes - and its facilities. Whelan took over in 1995 with the club still in the English fourth tier, and crowds down to below 2,000.  He promised Premier League football - and delivered within a decade. During that time, the club left scruffy Springfield Park for the shiny new DW (yes, Dave Whelan) Stadium in 1999, and against the odds, have now survived for seven seasons in the cut-throat Premier League. One of Whelan’s first signings was Roberto Martinez - the first Spaniard ever to play in England, and now manager of the club.

Whether they will survive an eighth top flight season is debatable. Defeat against Swansea this week leaves them perilously close to the drop - but the Latics have pulled off miracles before. Realistically, they will need to win both their remaining games to have a chance - but before then, they can enjoy their big day at English football’s most famous home.

I’ll be there too, and clearly, given my personal allegiances, I hope it’s not Wigan’s day.  But if it is, then I, for one, won’t begrudge them - and I’ll take solace in the fact that I saw Joe Hinnigan start them out on one of the most extraordinary journeys English football has ever seen.

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Documentary 'MURPH: The Protector' tells true story of hero soldier in Afghanistan

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LOS ANGELES –  It’s not your typical Hollywood fare, but “MURPH: The Protector” is bound to tug at every heartstring.

This new feature-length documentary tells the emotional, true life tale of fallen U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy, a young serviceman who gave his life to save his brothers in combat during a 2005 operation in Afghanistan. Patched together by personal memories voiced from those closest to him, the film paints a picture of a hero far beyond Tinseltown’s fictionalized accounts.

“There is a lack of family-safe material that shows the good side of man,” director Scott Mactavish told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I hope viewers have a greater appreciation of the sacrifices made not only by the troops, but of those made by their friends and family back home. SEALs aren’t comic book characters. They are real men with families, friends and lives outside the military. They come in all shapes and sizes, but are all incredibly driven and committed.”

Fondly referred to by his peers and loved ones as “Murph,” the New York-raised, Penn State graduate declined law school offers to instead serve his country. In 2005, Lt. Murphy was put in-charge of a four-man SEAL element in support of Operation Red Wing, tasked with finding important anti-coalition militia commander. While in the objective area, the SEALs were detected by goat herders and an intense gun battle was soon ignited with a much larger enemy force. Realizing that it was impossible to make contact with headquarters while firing back from the protection of mountain terrain, Murphy unhesitatingly moved out into prime target view so he could use his satellite device and call in help for his team.

While continuing to be fired upon, as detailed in “MURPH: The Protector,” Murphy made contact with the SOF Quick Reaction Force and provided his unit’s location. A shot in the back caused him to fall and drop the transmitter, and yet he picked it back up and calmly completed the call as the enemy -- and its weaponry -- closed in.

“Roger that, sir,” were his final words once he had given all the necessarily details. “And thank you.”

Murphy’s selfless act attracted great attention at the time, and he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007. But turning the moving account into a motion picture proved no easy task.

“This story is incredibly compelling and therefore easy to tell,” Mactavish explained. “But as a non-Hollywood guy, fundraising was incredibly difficult.”

Yet if all goes well during the film’s theatrical run, the filmmakers hope to finalize a deal to make the movie available on military bases, in addition to a foreign distribution deal. A portion of the proceeds from the film will go to Lt. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which was formed by his family after his death in 2005.

But above all, the forces behind the film simply hope that audiences gain a deeper understanding of who we should really be revering here in America.

“It is nice in this age of the generating of celebrities and people that have contributed nothing to this world, that someone like Michael Murphy, someone who is such a ridiculously, unbelievable individual, now has people looking up to him,” one of his friends says in the documentary. “He is the type of person people should look up to, and that they should name things after.”

“MURPH: The Protector” premieres at select Regal Entertainment Group Theaters on Friday, March 22nd.

MURPH: The Protector - Official Trailer [HD] from Mactavish Pictures on Vimeo.

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TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER:Casey Anthony's Life Story May Be Used to Pay Debts

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  March 4, 2013: Casey Anthony, center, leaves the United States Courthouse in Tampa, Fla., with U.S. Marshals after a bankruptcy hearing in Tampa, Fla. Anthony has not made any public appearances since she left jail after being acquitted in 2011 for the murder of her two-year-old daughter Caylee.AP

TAMPA, Fla. –  The trustee overseeing Casey Anthony's bankruptcy case has filed a motion to sell the rights to her story so she can pay her debts.

In a motion filed Friday in federal court in Tampa, trustee Stephen Meininger asked Judge K. Rodney May for permission to sell the "exclusive worldwide rights" of Anthony's life story.

Anthony, who is now 26, was acquitted of murder in 2011 in the death her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Anthony has never told her side of the story, despite intense media scrutiny of the case.

During a meeting with creditors in her bankruptcy case in Tampa on March 4, Anthony said she was unemployed and hasn't received any money to tell her story. She said that she is living with friends and that those friends -- and strangers who send her gift cards and cash -- help her survive.

But Meininger, through his attorney, said he thinks that her story has value and should be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

One man, Meininger wrote, has already offered to pay $10,000 for Anthony's life story so he can prevent her from publishing or profiting from it in the future.

Meininger points out that the man's offer is not contingent on Anthony's cooperation or participation. Anthony's life story -- including details about her childhood and the disappearance and death of Caylee -- is referred to as "the Property" in the motion.

"Due to the intense public interest in Debtor and the Property, the Trustee believes that there will be interest from others in purchasing the Property," the motion reads.

An auction, with bidding, is the "best way to maximize the value for the Estate and its creditors."

A call to David Schrader, Anthony's bankruptcy attorney, was not immediately returned.

One New York publisher said Monday that Anthony's story has the potential to be worth seven figures.

"If she had the goods, and she was really going to spill the beans of what happened, particularly if she's not guilty, that's pretty big," said Eric Kampmann, the owner of Beaufort Books. "If she knew who the murderer was for example, that would be huge. That would be the biggest news story of the year."

Kampmann, who said he has been in contact with a member of Anthony's legal team but has no deal in place, is no stranger to controversial books. His publishing house reissued OJ Simpson's book, originally scheduled for release by ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins. But "If I Did It" was dropped in response to widespread outrage. ReganBooks founder Judith Regan was later fired and her imprint disbanded.

A federal bankruptcy judge then awarded rights to the book to the family of murder victim Ronald Goldman to help satisfy a $38 million wrongful death judgment against Simpson.

Beaufort Books, based in New York, published "If I Did It" with Simpson's original manuscript intact and commentary included. The Goldman family called the book Simpson's confession -- the same description Regan offered in justifying the original publication. The Beaufort edition has sold more than 100,000 copies.

Kampmann said enough time has passed since Anthony's trial that her story could be marketable.

Anthony filed for bankruptcy in Florida in late January, claiming about $1,000 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities. Court papers list Anthony as unemployed, with no recent income.

Her listed debts include $500,000 for attorney fees and costs for Jose Baez, her criminal defense lawyer during the trial; $145,660 for the Orange County Sheriff's office for investigative fees and costs; $68,540 for the Internal Revenue Service for taxes, interest and penalties; and $61,505 for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for court costs.

The filling also states that she is a defendant in several lawsuits.br

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