Binge Sports: Ballers, 7 Days in Hell, Champs
It’s time to catch my breath. The past few months in sports have been absolutely fantastic, and it’s finally time for a little break. Every single event that I’ve written about or discussed on the newest addition to the Binge Media podcast network, the Binge SportsCast, has given sports fans great drama and some excellent games, matches, and/or rounds. We started with the NCAA Tournament, moved onto Wrestlemania, watched history at the Masters, and saw some great basketball and hockey before crowning two new champions. This past weekend, the US Open gave us some great theater despite a lackluster golf course and horrible coverage from FOX, which you can read about HERE.
So what does that leave us with now? Well, the two pictures you saw above are probably the two biggest things in sports this week. Tomorrow night, we’ve got the 2015 NBA Draft and this weekend we’ve got the quarterfinals of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. If you’re looking for coverage on that here today, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. I may tune in for a little while for the NBA Draft, but I’m not going to sit here and give you a mock draft. Let the picks fall where they may, and I’ll talk basketball once the season gets going again. As far as the Women’s World Cup is concerned, I apologize to those who wanted full coverage. The fact is that I will not insult you by attempting to write on an event that I’m not that familiar with. Sure, I could go to another website, take a few notes and word it differently, but that’s really not my style. You would see through the lack of passion and you don’t deserve that. I’ll be getting into the heart of baseball season very soon, especially with the All-Star break coming up. It’s been a very good first half of the year thus far (and it’s a Cubs vs Cardinals weekend so I won’t be taking that long of a break), and I’ve already got plans to record a new Binge SportsCast the night after the All-Star Game. As for next week’s show, I’m still kicking a few things around, so if you’ve got ideas or questions you’d like answered, just let me know. And speaking of podcasts, in case you missed it, I urge and invite you to check out this week’s Monday Morning Moreno titled “Up Close & Personal w/ Luke Norris”. Alyx took a big risk doing a personal show like this, but we had an absolute blast recording it, and even in the first couple of days, we’ve gotten some great response to it, so kudos to Moreno for thinking outside the box and trying something different. Thanks brother. You can check that out HERE.
But I’m still the Binge Media sports guy. So even without big events this week, I’ve got to give you something, right? Luckily, I ran into a few sports-related items over the past few days, so allow me to do a little something different myself and get into some sports on the screen.
While the bigger news on HBO was coming from the second season of True Detective (which I’m sure somebody here will get to at some point), another part of the new Sunday night was a brand new show, Ballers, starring Dwayne Johnson (he doesn’t seem to be using “The Rock” for this one, so I’ll leave it out).
Johnson stars as Spencer Strasmore, a retired defensive end for the Miami Dolphins who’s suffered some sort of injury that hasn’t been completely explained yet, but has left football to try his hand as a financial advisor/planner. While he will be the focus of the show, there are a few more stories that we’ll be given, one involving a current wide receiver with anger issues and off-the-field problems, a former O-lineman who has retired (played by Omar Benson Miller, who is usually pretty solid)and is now working at a car dealership, and a sports agent played by Troy Garity, who you probably know as the white guy from Barbershop. The added bonus is Rob Corddry, who plays Johnson’s associate and wants to use Strasmore’s connections to the NFL as a way to make more money.
If you haven’t watched the episode yet, I won’t spoil anything for you, but I’ll say it was decent. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t terrible. It was……well, decent. There were a few obvious cliches that could have been avoided, but with it being the first episode, I’ll cut it some slack….for now. Basically, all of these guys are intertwined from their time in the league, but are now headed down different paths, while still being involved in each other’s lives. The stories have the chance to be there, so we’ll give it some time to see how things develop. If I had to put a number on it, I’d with 6.5/10 for the moment. From the things I’ve read and future scenes I’ve seen, things are looking up, and we can only hope that there’s more banter between Johnson and Corddry. I would have never have thought to put those two together, but from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like they’ve got some chemistry. I’ll check back in at the end of the season to let you know what I thought.
Let’s put it this way. It’s kinda like the sports version of this….
….it’s got a ways to go before it’s as good as this….
….but it’s bound to be better than this.
The great part of watching HBO is sometimes to see what else is coming up on HBO, and I’m jacked to watch what’s coming in a few weeks.
If you’re not familiar yet with 7 Days in Hell, I suggest you keep reading and prepare yourself. What we’re looking at here is basically a mockumentary starring Andy Samberg and Kit Harington as tennis rivals who played the longest match in tennis history, a match that lasted….you guessed it, seven days. Basically, what we’re looking at here is a 30 for 30 spoof and it’s going to be glorious. As I mentioned, you’ve got Samberg and Harington as the stars, but just look at the names that will be involved here and tell me you’re not in. Will Forte, Lena Dunham, Mary Steenburgen, Michael Sheen, Howie Mandel, June Squibb, Fred Armisen, David Copperfield, Chris Evert, Serena Williams, John McEnroe, Soledad O’Brien, and Jim Lampley all make appearances. Just watch the trailer and tell me you’re not going to watch.
I thought so.
Okay, there’s no jokes here. This is an actual documentary and it’s great. Written and directed by Bert Marcus, Champs follows the journey of three of the greatest boxers of my generation in Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Bernard Hopkins. I could have done without some of the recreation of their respective childhoods in the beginning of the film, but a cheesy movie critic would call this movie “a knockout”.
I’ve always been a boxing fan, as I’m sure you’ve gathered with the multiple articles I’ve written for this site alone. I’ve watched a lot of documentaries about the sport, and I won’t lie and pretend this is the best one I’ve ever seen, but it’s very solid. All three boxers give very candid interviews about their upbringing. Most people are familiar with Mike Tyson’s childhood, so some of that wasn’t new to me, but some of the younger footage was. Watching the progression of Tyson throughout the years has always been fascinating. To hear him talk now about the person he was versus the person he is today makes the whole film worthwhile, but there’s so much more.
I knew Bernard Hopkins was in prison as a younger man, but I was unaware that he was in a boxing circuit during his time inside. Listening to him talk about how boxing saved his life and following his journey to become the oldest champion in boxing history is a great story.
Evander Holyfield has a great story to tell as well. One of my favorite parts of the whole film is when he talks about how he came from poverty as well, just like Tyson did. He just didn’t act like it, so everyone thought that he didn’t have as big of a chip on his shoulder that Tyson did. They go into his screwjob from the Olympics, how he won the light heavyweight crown and still didn’t feel accomplished, how he squandered his money, and everything in between.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg as to what this film gets into. Not only are the respective stories of these three men covered, but the sport as a whole is dissected with interviews from promoters, trainers, and celebrities who follow the sport, which includes Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, 50 Cent, and many more. This is an easy 8 or 8.5/10.
So there you have it. Even in my “down time”, I’ve still got your sports covered. Stay tuned for more great things from the rest of the boys this week. I’ll be back with an all-new Working the Weekend with Luke on Sunday, and an all-new Binge SportsCast next week. Again, if you’ve got questions for me on anything, leave them below or hit me up on Twitter @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. Until next time, I’ll leave you with another trailer about sports on-screen that’s got me excited. See you soon.
Garrett Collins
June 24, 2015 @ 3:49 pm
Ironically, the very first thing I thought of when I saw the preview for Ballers was Entourage. It’s sitting on my DVR, so I might give it a go today.
Good stuff as always Luke.