Fake Sports

Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma) in 1976 as part of Jorge Ben's album Africa Brasil . The well-known song celebrates an unnamed African striker. The lyrics say the entire city is empty on a beautiful afternoon, gathered at the stadium to watch the "African spearhead", the "goal man" play. The album was released during Brazil's military dictatorship, which was of course supported by the United States. Censorship was extreme and torture and extra-judicial killings were common place. Jorge Ben did not deal with any censorship with his groundbreaking album, which mixed genres and focused on Afro-Brazilian music traditions, along with implementing other Western Hemisphere black music traditions. The album was celebratory, and took pride in Brazilian identity. Not a political rebuke of the military dictatorship, no, but this song, and the rest of the album is a direct counter to what that oppressive government wanted to portray about Brazil. It celebrates Afr...

This song is dedicated, "with much love" to Darius Washington Jr. The story Trey Anastacio, the guitarist of Phish, shared about former Michigan State University basketball player Darius Washington Jr. missing three free throws in a Final Four match up was incorrect. Washington played for the University of Memphis, and he missed two out of three free throws in their 2005 match up against Louisville to make the tournament. But Washington has said the lyrics "hit the nail on the head" about what it felt like at that moment, though he shook off the feeling by the time he went to bed that night. While 'The Line' describes a very specific moment, there is a universality to it, as there is with all great creations based on sports. I don't what that moment at the line is for you, but you know exactly when in your life you needed to accomplish something, something you had done hundreds of times before. And right at that moment, for some reason, it just doesn...

  Have you seen Uncut Gems (2019)? Yes? Then you’ve seen Marty Supreme (2025). Both movies are beautiful, manic journeys with an overconfident gambler desperate to make this one last chance work. If you haven’t seen Uncut Gems , I won’t spoil the ending, but Marty Supreme does end on a different note. (That being said, expect some light spoilers through the rest of the review.) Marty Supreme is the baby of Josh Safdie, one half of the brother duo who created Uncut Gems , and it is painfully evident. While the substance of the stories may be different, Marty Supreme ’s story beats are an almost perfect match. The third act of both movies even kicks off with a theater scene. Please, please don’t waste my time The movie dragged. I felt the entire runtime, and I could perfectly pinpoint which side journeys I’d cut.  There has to be an easier way to get a person shot, and there was a whole story line with a dog that really only served to show Marty as the kind of person who won’...

Gah, Much Ado About Nothing as a celebrity wedding with some of the Premier Leagues top players and personalities, I bet this was amazing. I am so, so very jealous of each and every person who witnessed it!  

   This one gave me a bit of whiplash. Media type: Live action film, romantic drama  Amount watched: Completed  Genre: drama Rating of sport/s in media: 7/10 Rating of movie overall: 5/10 I want to be kinder to this movie. Pretty much every shot is beautiful, even scenes that could be boring on park benches, bedrooms and B-roll of our characters traveling. The most beautiful scenes in this film are the actual rugby, of which there is far too little. And I say this as someone who is completely comfortable, and even often supportive, of limiting the amount of actual sporting shown in live-action sports movies and television shows. I am going to attempt to write a spoiler-free synopsis, but that will be difficult since you can absolutely guess where this story is going from a one-sentence summary. This movie is about two members of a local all-queer rugby team having an affair. Now, there are stories about infidelity that end as you would expect, but are still a...

The way I write about this show is shocking, considering I actually enjoyed watching it.  Media type: Period piece, live action television show How many episodes: 6 How many watched before review: 6 Genre: historical drama, re-enactment Rating of sport/s in media: 8/10 Rating of show overall: 6/10 It is important to me that you know this show has a 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and has only been reviewed by 19 critics. I feel like this information gives you most of the information you need to understand what is happening with this particular piece of media. The show revolves around Fergus Suter, the first true professional footballer, played by Kevin Guthrie, and Arthur Kinnard, played by Edward Holcroft, the 11th Lord Kinnard and the man who served as the president of The Football Association for 33 year, as well as the sport's first star player. There is a very sharp difference in class between the two men, but both were skilled footballers and revolutionized the sport on a...