Your day-to-day can be tedious enough with sport in it, let alone without it, or even the promise of some in the not-too-distant future.
Still, small mercies. And while you’re doing the world a service by limiting contact with those around you, it might be time to engage in some sports-related entertainment since the real-life action is no longer feasible.
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We here at Paddy Power treasure your pastimes, so we’d like to lend a hand in the form of five sports films for you to get stuck into.
And look, unlike the real thing, it might be easier to pass these off on the rest of your family.
‘Sure look, it’s only a film would you stop?’
Moneyball
Look, I’m sure you know the story by now, but here’s a recap for you and a recap for the people around you.
The Oakland As’ general manager begins to filter analytics into their recruitment process. It changed the way teams viewed the sport and the metrics they used to bring players in cause serious stir among the traditionalists.
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There’s a fine chunk of sport in it that can break through the sporting cold turkey of recent days, as well as enough theory to make you almost forgive the implementation of xG on your Monday Night Football Sky broadcasts.
Oh, and for those around you – it’s a drama starring Brad Pitt.
Mercenary
It’s in French and cost 80,000 dollars to make.
This means two things: there are subtitles, and we can’t guarantee they’re accurate.
But look, there’s a fella in New Caledonia who defies his father to go and play in France, but the settling-in period to do brings about even more life lessons than you can imagine.
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It also speaks to the idea that small colonies of bigger nations sometimes are forgotten and don’t always easily identify as being from the country that governs them.
It combines drama, cultural dissection and egg-chasing. One of those is more boring than the other two. I’ll let you decide which.
Rush
This is one of my favourite sports films of the last decade, and this was long before Lauda Air ever decided to offer me direct flights from Shannon to Vienna.
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It tells the story of the 1976 Formula One season that saw Niki Lauda and James Hunt clash over the course of nearly ever major grand prix.
But it doesn’t strictly stick to the Championship itself, no – it looks at the makeup of each character, giving a fair representation of their personalities and the bitterness that encapsulated the public in an otherwise minority sport.
Mean Machine
I mean, this a slightly more comedic look at sport, but if you haven’t seen, you probably don’t realise why some of your mates refer to you as ‘Monk’.
This one is about Vinny Jones and co being locked up. Think Escape to Victory, just with some more light-hearted characters, some FIFA-esque antics and Vinny Jones threatening to kill everyone in spite while simultaneously maintaining his innocence in relation to his conviction.
A good laugh, if nothing else.
Fighting With My Family
This one is going to rub people up the wrong way, but wrestling is sports entertainment, and it’s definitely in the top five of this category.
It brings you through the career path of since-retired wrestler Paige, whose family are from Norwich.
While it can certainly rely on cliché at times, it’s a nice overview on just how difficult it is to progress in the wrestling business when everything is going your way – let alone when it isn’t.
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