Final Bracket of 16 Sports Flicks

2
Oct

Final Bracket of 16 Sports Flicks

Our final batch of first rounders has been decided.  Here goes!
Rudy, perhaps the greatest underdog movie ever, smashed Rodney Dangerfield, who never got no respect, and Jonathan Brandeis of Ladybugs.
Rudy, the great underdog, will take on perhaps the greatest front runner of all time, Steve Prefontaine, from Without Limits in the next round.
That’s the Billy Crudup version, with an excellent Donald Sutherland as the creator of Nike.  Not the garbage Jared Leto version.  Without Limits swept the leg, then crane kicked The Karate Kid.  Sorry Daniel-san.
Seabiscuit ran over Facing the Giant.
4 seed Breaking Away defeated the only “Mocu-mentary” on the list – 7 Days in Hell.  7 Days in Hell was BA-NA-NAS.  There is a digital recreation of a prison orgy that you cannot un-see.  Breaking Away movies on, and Jackie Earl Haley gets his second movie in the top 32.
Chariots of Fire, with perhaps the best sports movie soundtrack, which is saying something runs away with a win over a young Rob Lowe from Youngblood.  Young Rob Lowe was dick.  Old Rob Lowe is rad.  If he re-did Youngblood now, I would probably like it.
The Sandlot, which must have been a sleeper hit, takes out Coach Carter.  In all honesty – did anyone see the Sandlot in the theaters?  That can’t be possible.  I have no recollection of this movie until it showed up on HBO.  Few movies on this list have benefited more from cable than The Sandlot, as it’s become a cultural touchstone, it completely re-watchable and incredibly quotable.  True story – my boss’s-boss’s-boss (3 levels above me) told my boss, “You’re killing me, Smalls” in a meeting a couple of years ago.  And my boss was pissed about it.  Think about that – a 57 year old government executive chided another manager by quoting a baseball movie made for kids.  I would guess my boss’s boss’s boss never, ever saw the Sandlot.  Ever!  They must have heard it in other insults over the years.  I am fascinated by this…
Dodgeball, a 7 seed, takes out Glory Road.  Is Glory Road the most predictable, boring movie on the list? Maybe.  Is it bad?  Not at all.  Does it have Rip Torn in it?  No, it does not.  Dodgeball wins.
Bull Durham takes out what I would argue is the worst actual sports movie on the list, Any Given Sunday.  AGS was a dumpster fire of a movie.  Remember when Oliver Stone was, like, the best director in Hollywood?  He made freaking Platoon for god’s sake!  Wall Street! Natual Born Killers!  Pacino reprises the Michael Corleone role as a head coach over Caan’s Sonny Corleone from The Program.  Actually, I would watch that. The uniforms in this movie are laughably bad.  And somehow, they got Johnny Unitas to star as a bonehead coach.  “He’s tearing this team APART!” “You are the god damn quarterback for the Miami Sharks!”

Workout of the Day
5 RFT
15 Chest to Bar Pullups
50′ One arm Overhead Walking Lunge 50/35
Switch arms at 25′