I won my very first fantasy football league back in 1993 and have played in countless leagues over the last 15 years. Who knew that all I had to do to get a gig in the fantasy football business was to look good in a belly shirt?
I love the joke about Ron Dayne… proof positive that she didn’t write that monologue herself.
Fantasy football teams are like assholes… everyone has one. Okay, not everyone has a fantasy football team, but an estimated 20 million people do and the number seems to be growing every year. The game’s exploding popularity makes it ripe for a documentary and filmmakers Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell stepped in to fill the void.
“10 Yards” follows three friends, Hunter, Josh and J. Fred (a.k.a. “The Commish”), who own and operate three of the 15 teams in the Intergalactic Championship League. Hunter and Josh travel around the country interviewing different fantasy football players, real football players and analysts (including Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe) to get insight into why the game has become so popular. Meanwhile, The Commish chimes in with his weekly diary covering all the league happenings as well as his random ramblings. Over the course of the film, a full season is played and a champion is crowned.
Like “King of Kong,” “Air Guitar Nation” and “Word Wars” before it, “10 Yards” attempts to take a humorous slant on the hobby of a subsection of society. Unfortunately, the cast of characters in “10 Yards” isn’t nearly as unique or as engaging as those of the aforementioned docs. They’re not trying to set the world record score in Donkey Kong, flying to Europe to compete in an air guitar compeition or entering cutthroat Scrabble tournaments. They’re regular, average Joes, just like you and me, and truth be told, we’re just not that interesting. The film has its moments, but too much of its humor comes off as shtick.
That said, Weeks and Caldwell do a nice job of moving from one topic to another, all the while keeping the season-long storyline – the retirement of The Commish – in sight. The graphics and transitions are smooth and the film is well constructed. “10 Yards” is a worthwhile distraction for hardcore fantasy footballers and for those that want to learn about the game (or about those who play it).
Starting August 21 and running for two weeks, OurStage.com is offering a download of the film if you register with the site. (It’s free.) SnagFilms.com will stream the movie for free and allow for viral sharing via its widgets. A nationwide DVD release rolls out on September 30.
Asylum.com posted an interesting article about Colts’ star Peyton Manning “spearheading an effort to have football included in the Olympics.” Manning is reaching out to the public to sign a petition to help his cause.
But should American football be part of the games? In 2012, baseball and softball will be dropped from the Olympic roster, and it seems the IOC owes America at least one event, football or otherwise, in which the U.S. would be among the gold medal favorites. Let’s consider the options …
Pro: NFL preseason games sell out in Mexico and Japan, and last year a regular season game in London was the hottest ticket in town. The rest of the world sees in football the qualities that have made it our number one sport, and including it in the Olympics would only widen its appeal (and allow for a few more friendly wagers, of course).
Con: A 160-pound Namibian wide receiver who learned his craft from a Jerry Rice coloring book goes over the middle and is flattened by a 240-pound throat-slash-gesturing strong safety from the University of Miami. If football becomes an Olympic sport, that scene gets repeated for like the next 60 years.
Tell me that video couldn’t be a SNL skit? Love the music, Peyton.
It’s hard to imagine Jamaican wide receiver Usain Bolt going over the middle against Ed Reed without shuddering a little bit. While I wouldn’t mind seeing the U.S. dominant another Olympic event, I don’t know if introducing football to the summer games is such a good idea. It would no doubt have an affect on training camps and what if a marquee player got hurt and had to miss an entire season or even worse, the rest of his career?
JoeSportsFan.com paid a hilarious tribute to the top seven sports movie fat kids of all-time.
2. Ham, The Sandlot
He’s one of the greatest trash-talkers in sports movie history, even if he was doing so against fellow ten-year olds. He also became the first person in baseball history to hit a home run, the one against the rich club team, that actually traveled backwards off the bat. If you haven’t seen Sandlot recently or in the neighborhood of 200 times, I apologize for such an obscure reference. But it’s true.
If you don’t like the “Great Hambino,” you don’t like America.
By the way, while searching for Ham Porter YouTube clips, I stumbled upon this video, which is freaking outstanding. Anyone who has seen the movie “300” will appreciate it.
Fortunately, we haven’t had too many doping controversies at the 2008 Olympics (so far). Of course, one doesn’t have to worry about drug use at the All-Drug Olympics!
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