Here's a starting point that's relatively indisputable: Most sports fans like sports movies. Admittedly, there's nothing like real-life drama that can't be made up by any screenwriter. But such films can be a good reminder of why we love sports - the last-second finish, the plucky underdog triumph, the unlikely relationship, and so on.
Every so often, someone seems to come up with a way to group such movies together in a book. That brings us to "Movies With Balls," a publication from Kyle Bandujo and Rick Bryson.
This one has a particularly interesting genesis story. The two authors wondered during a dull moment what the ticket stubs from some of the great moments in sports movies might look like. In other words, they doodled with tickets from "The Natural," "Bad News Bears," "The Replacements," "Rocky IV," etc. To do that, they looked at comparable events from the time period and went to work.
They did a lot of work too. There are 26 main movies covered here, plus 11 "second stringers" that missed the cut and only received a paragraph and ticket stub at the end. The authors threw out some of the other motions pictures that could be candidates, such as "Miracle" or "Rudy." Their theory was that since those films are based on real events, they have real ticket stubs and not fake ones. There are a variety of breakdowns of the individual movies included here. That includes a description of the movie itself, the big game/event that climaxes the film, an MVP, an analysis of a key character, some graphics of key plays, a post-movie news conference, and some other notes.
You'd have to say Bandujo and Bryson really, really, really know these movies to give them this much thought. Lives must have been rearranged on short notice when a network aired "Days of Thunder." What's more, they obviously had a lot of fun with the assignment, and some of the writing makes the reader (meaning me, I guess) laugh out loud.
On the other hand, your level of interest may not match the authors' level. Most sports fans have their favorite movies that forces them to stop what they are doing when channel surfing. They might even have a DVD/VHS copy of a big favorite somewhere in the house. Those particular chapters will come across as interesting and well done.
But if, in the reader's opinion, the movie was watched once and forgotten about, then the level of interest won't match the amount of detail in the book. In my case, that would be such movies as "Kingpin," "The Karate Kid" and "Creed" - worth watching, certainly, but maybe not memorizing. Others might be missed altogether. In such cases, the reader doesn't really know what's going on ... and starts flipping pages quickly. If you've see such movies as "She's the Man" and "Hot Rod," you are unquestionably a major expert in this field.
Therefore, "Movies with Balls" is something of an accordion when it comes to interest. There are those who will enjoy every page as it hits the sweet spot, and the book will stay near the television set indefinitely for them. ("Look, 'Teen Wolf' and its group of adults trying to look like high school students are on TBS!") Certainly some of the public reviews have been enthusiastic. Others who will skim through it in little time at all. So take a look. If this sounds like it fits your niche, it might be worth your time.
Three stars
Learn more about this book from Amazon.com. (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn money from qualified purchases.)
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