A SPORTY TV ROUNDUP
A SPORTY TV ROUNDUP
As much as I like to read ... I love watching TV so I'm going to share some shows I enjoy.
These ones are on the sporty side. Full transparency, I'm not a big sports fan (although there's always a game on in my house) but I'm fascinated by athletes. Their backgrounds and sideline antics. Even as a little kid, my brother subscribed to Sports Illustrated and I would read through the cover profiles, because these people are just built on another level.
Don't ask me any career statistics, but I might be able to tell you how many siblings someone has, the name of their first born, or what hurdle they had to overcome.
QUARTERBACK
I've never watched a complete NFL game, and didn't know who any of the players were, yet I loved this series.
It focused on 4 NFL quarterbacks through last season. And while many viewers would be absorbing plays and scores ... I loved the differences in housing: Patrick Mahomes is building a mega-mansion in Kansas City with special shelves in the kitchen to showcase his trophies. while Minnesota's Kirk Cousins has a normal suburban two story, albeit with a hidden room to house his hardware.
You see the dedication and support these guys need to have to succeed at this level.
The other interesting thing to come out of that viewing was I picked up on Mahomes' cute teammate - a guy named Travis Kelce. And as happens when my interest is piqued, I did a deep dive into him on social media, and suddenly became a fan of a football podcast. Again -- because it's athletes talking to athletes, and generally, things get funny.
And I like funny.
KELCE
On the heels of Quarterback, I watched this documentary about Jason Kelce — Travis’ brother and the Eagles' 35 year-old center, and loved it.
Talk about differences …
In Quarterback, we saw that Patrick Mahomes booked a huge, luxury Phoenix air bnb 3 months before the big game-- just in case they made it. He and his family lounged on a 15 person sectional adjacent to an open plan kitchen and high ceilings. Meanwhile, this doc showed Jason Kelce rolling back to the hotel after having his soul crushed in the big game, and flopping down on one of the queen beds in his regular room, while his two toddlers bounced on him.
After watching this show, I was so invested in Jason and Travis Kelce, I should have bought stock. Because the next thing I knew, the Taylor Effect has launched them to virtually their own column on Page Six of the New York post.
At dinner the other night, my girlfriends were a little surprised that two months ago I'd never heard of these guys, and now I could be interviewed on ESPN about them. As long as it's not about their stats.
TED LASSO
I didn't have AppleTV so was very late to the party on this one.
I loved it out of the gate. But there were a few odd episodes for me. The one where Ted's assistant coach has a crazy night -- I loved the original movie After Hours (if you haven't seen it, look it up -- 1985 Martin Scorcese,Teri Garr, Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette), but 'Beard After-Hours' was just strange to me.
And I also found in the third season the writers didn't really know what to do with the women.They had always seemed to randomly throw women friends in without much reason and then finally it's like they just said: 'Let's make one of them bi-sexual and put her in a lesbian relationship.' To me it was so forced and superfluous I wanted to fast forward through those scenes. And Rebecca, who had been a powerhouse in the first 2 seasons, virtually disappeared.
But the show had heart and laughs and one of my all time favorite scenes -- the Darts Game. I've probably watched it on youtube a hundred times.
If you get to the series finale, you have to read this article: 25 Callbacks to Previous Episodes of Ted Lasso.
WELCOME WREXHAM
Like Ted Lasso, but for real.
And I've never watched one of these football/soccergames if I wasn't in a TV control room.
This show tells how TV guy Rob McElhenney convinced movie guy Ryan Reynolds to buy this UK football team, and then follows their path as they boost up the team and win the support of team-obsessed town.
There are moments you couldn't make up if you tried.
Again.. not a sports fan, but this isn't really about sports.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
The goat show. (greatest of all time). It was out for a few years before I watched it, largely because, why the f*** would I want to watch a show about high school football.
And now I can't even count the reasons. It was gritty, and dramatic. Great characters -- Riggins. Coach. Matt. Street. Riggins.... Texas football, means Texans. And where better to mine for drama than Texas -- Dallas, Giant, Hud.
If you need a series to binge watch this winter, this would get you through the cold months
