Give or take a day or two, depending on where you live and/or work, it’s been about a week since Americans were encouraged to self-quarantine.
In other words, for about a week or so, we’ve had explicit permission to hunker down in front of our televisions and computer screens and watch whatever the hell we want.
And during the same span, we’ve been offered all manner of lists of movies and binge-worthy shows to help us while away the days and hours — or at least until the latest shipment of toilet paper hits the local shelves.
And, of course, many of the lists on offer relate to sports and no doubt sparked many an informal argument.
It’s with that in mind that I present to you a list of my own. My list is different in that it’s not a ranking of any sort. It is merely a list of some of the sports-related movies and shows I’ve been checking out since essentially being given explicit permission to be a couch potato/critic.
I’ll give you three “reviews” every week for the time being. Enjoy...
You would not believe the incredulous looks I’ve received from friends and colleagues over the years when I’ve told them I’d never seen the ode to Indiana high school basketball. It got to the point where I felt a bit guilty about it. After all, it is considered one of the greatest sports movies of all-time, sitting comfortably near the top of most such lists.
Not mine.
Look, I’m as sentimental as the next guy, maybe more so. I’m also a huge hoops fan and a pretty light-handed critic. But I’m sorry, this one just doesn’t do it for me.
I thought the basketball scenes were lame, in part because they appear to be playing on courts that looked about two-thirds the length of a regulation court. I haven’t seen such congestion in the paint since the Bad Boys Pistons and Knicks were killing each other on tape delay.
The love story was gratuitous at best, the townsfolk — you know it’s an old movie when they have townsfolk — weren’t characters but caricatures, and the climactic scene was just too schlocky for my tastes.
But hey, I’ve seen the damn thing now. Perhaps my sports-loving friends will stop calling me a Fraud Fan. Then again, all of my friends LOVED this movie, so perhaps not.
Directed by Spike Lee, who had about a million cameras and microphones following Bryant for this documentary, one of several you will find on various platforms about the late, great Lakers legend.
I’ve seen them all now, and this is the best of the bunch.
Whether you loved him or loathed him, and the same thing could be said about Lee as a director, you’ve gotta respect greatness. And this film puts greatness on vivid display.
The audio alone is reason to check this out, as Kobe narrates the action while seeing the game footage for the first time. It’s genius, and that’s no hyperbole.
Kobe WAS a genius, and if you don’t walk away from this agreeing with that statement, go watch again until you wise up and accept it.
For those of us who grew up on “big-time wrestling,” this is a must. It’s old-school to say the least, with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and the inimitable Mick Foley among the featured athletes.
And yes, these men are athletes. Great athletes, many of them. Great athletes who routinely subjected themselves to ungodly physical punishment in the name of sports entertainment.
Blood, drama, and Vince McMahon shirtless, looking like he’s been dipping into the steroids bins I imagine were set up at the entrance to the locker rooms of this all-too-real era.
Did I mention there’s blood? Yeah, a ton of it. Not something to watch with the kids in the room, ok?