Sports Movies

I am not actively working on it at this time, but among my other reading lists there is a sports-themed one.

Three of my other reading lists have books that relate to baseball. As I have a few baseball-related books on Kindle, I decided to go through the Kindle sports books in general. That started with The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time by Ray Didinger and Glen MacNow.

I found plenty of room for disagreement, but I suppose that's inevitable. It does seem like a good time to go over the sports movies from the book that I've seen, and the ones I'm willing to see.

Seen:

#9 Caddyshack
#13 Pride of the Yankees
#16 Miracle
#21 When We Were Kings
#26 Major League
#49 Bend It Like Beckham
#51 The Karate Kid
#62 Invincible
#75 The Express
#77 Happy Gilmore
#82 The Sandlot
#87 Glory Road
#97 Cool Runnings

Willing to See:

#2 Hoosiers
#4 The Natural
#11 Field of Dreams
#14 Hoop Dreams
#15 Brian's Song
#16 Chariots of Fire*
#19 Remember the Titans
#20 Breaking Away
#22 A League Of Their Own
#34 The Rookie
#36 Heart Like A Wheel
#37 Jim Thorpe; All-American
#43 Murderball
#53 Without Limits
#57 Rudy
#70 We Are Marshall
#71 Damn Yankees
#80 Searching For Bobby Fischer
#83 The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
#86 Best In Show
#93 Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India
#100 The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

The asterisk by Chariots of Fire is that I did catch part of it on television once, and it was really boring. They mentioned that part as boring in the book, so maybe I just needed a little more patience.

Biggest disagreement: I did not like Caddyshack at all.

I know there are a lot of people who love it, but apathetic/obnoxious rich people triumphing over snooty rich people is not a great victory for me. It's nice the kid gets a scholarship. 

Perhaps it makes sense that my favorite part is the gopher, and that was their least favorite part. We just have different viewpoints.

One area of disagreement I understand is that often a movie's rating included how good the sports footage was. I get the sentiment, but that in itself is a good reason for Caddyshack to be ranked lower. That also led to...

Greatest Impact: I am more interested in seeing some movies now because of the sports action being praised.

There are a lot of these that I have never been against seeing (Hoosiers, Remember The Titans, We Are Marshall) and at least one (Brian's Song) that I have tried to see, but scheduling didn't work out. I am more interested in Heart Like A Wheel and The Natural -- both of which I knew existed -- based on the praise given.

Second Greatest Impact: I had never heard of Hank Greenberg before. He sounds interesting, but also I guess it was not just Sandy Koufax in that leaflet on Jewish Sports Heroes! (Airplane! reference.)

I would totally read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Sports-Legends-International-Hall/dp/1496201884

Greatest Need to Revisit: They got way different things out of The Express than I did. 

Now, our sensibilities have already proven to be different enough that any subsequent differences of opinion may simply relate to that, but I think it is worth re-watching.

Not included: I went through the table of contents and thought about movies that I had seen that were not there. Dodgeball and Blades of Glory were mentioned (in "Guilty Pleasures" and in reference to Will Farrell related to Talladega Nights) but there was nothing about The Blind Side.

That movie came out in 2009, so may have just been a timing issue. I could imagine them finding that the football action wasn't that great. 

I read all three related books after seeing the movie: one by Michael Oher, one by Leigh Anne Tuohy, and The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. Lewis's book combines the stories of the people with changes in football where large, agile players became so valuable. That is barely covered in the movie, except at the beginning with Joe Theismann's career-ending leg injury.

I found those sections of the book fascinating but knew I was not getting enough out of it. My sisters skipped those passages over. Okay, everyone has their own interests. On that note...

Most Glaring Omission: Touching the Void (2003)

Look, if there is room for movies about golf, bowling, dog shows, poker, and chess (and room to call figure skating barely a sport!), then this documentary about mountain climbing that is gripping and suspenseful, giving you a feel for the activity and its appeal but also being terrifying... seriously, how did they miss that? Because there are no playoffs?

Appreciated: They explained the artistic license used in Cool Runnings. They did with Glory Road too, but I remember seeing a few articles on the movie at the time, and also there is a book (though not easy to find). With Cool Runnings, while I was sure there was a lot that was made up, there was no easy way of guessing what was what.

Long story short: two investors witnessed the annual pushcart derby, recruited the winner and three soldiers, and gave them a good coach and training in Canada. More plausible, less dramatic. 

While the first Jamaican bobsled team performed poorly at the Olympics, they were very popular and treated well, and souvenir T-shirt sales made it sustainable. Not as dramatic as contempt from Germans and a disgraced coach, but perhaps it reflects better on humanity.

In conclusion: While I did not love the read, I might have enough love for sports and movies that after I do get through my sports reading list (which will not be any time soon), I will re-read this and see if I have changed my mind about any of the movies.

But I will not change my mind about Caddyshack.

Upcoming sports books: 

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss
Bat 6 by Virgina Euwer Wolff
Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South's Most Compelling Pennant Race by Larry Colton
Damn Yankees: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on the World's Most Loved (and Hated) Team edited by Rob Fleder
Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation by Michael Powell