Wilmer Valderrama and Mr. Met at the “Knuckleball” premiere
(Getty Images)
“Mets hurler R.A. Dickey says he and a “Jedi council of knuckleball pitchers” will meet at the Tribeca Film Festival’s Drive-In section tonight. The righty and former players Tim Wakefield, Charlie Hough and Jim Bouton will hold a pitching clinic at a Battery Park premiere of the documentary “Knuckleball!” — about the slow pitch — by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg (who’ve tackled such other confounding topics as Darfur and Joan Rivers). “We’re definitely different,” Dickey told us. “The pitch is viewed by a lot of people as freakish, capricious and tough-to-master. It’s the ugly stepchild of pitches. But it’s something we’ve embraced instead of being ashamed of.”
Mets’ R.A. Dickey in new Tribeca film - NYPOST
Namath (9pm, HBO)
“‘Namath’ seems too cozy and slightly too apologetic to be considered a pure, real-deal, warts-in-sports documentary, yet too honest to be seen as a whitewash. But, above and beyond that, it’s good, very good.” - Phil Mushnick, NY Post
8 P.M. (ESPN) THE REAL ROCKY
In 1975 Chuck Wepner, the 6-foot-5 boxer known as the Bayonne Bleeder for his New Jersey hometown and for the pummeling he sustained at the fists of Sonny Liston, went up against Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title and a potential purse of $100,000. (Ali would win $1.5 million.) Wepner knocked Ali down in the ninth round, stunning the crowd; in the remaining rounds Ali opened cuts above Wepner’s eyes, broke his nose and, with 19 seconds remaining in the 15th round, knocked him down, winning the bout. Watching it all was a young Sylvester Stallone, who was inspired to write the script for, and eventually star in, “Rocky” (1976), which won three Academy Awards, including best picture. Jeff Feuerzeig (“The Devil and Daniel Johnston”) chronicles the life and times of Wepner, now a liquor salesman who drives a Cadillac with vanity plates that read “Champ.”
Muslim High School Football Players Stay Close to Home
As the title credits roll in “Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football” — a documentary about Fordson High School’s football team, whose ranks are drawn from the predominantly Arab population of Dearborn, Mich. — we hear a gripping audio montage of anti-Muslim tirades.
These sound bites of unidentified but recognizable talk radio and cable news mainstays are the kind of provocations regularly criticized by media watchdogs. But when all of this hatemongering is mashed together with a sweeping orchestral march, the individual instances of bigotry are transformed into something larger: a glimpse of how monstrous our post-9/11 hysteria may appear to future students of American history.
“Fordson,” however, does not condemn the United States. It rather proudly affirms the American dream, reclaiming it for Muslims who see no conflict between their patriotism and their faith.
Continue reading… ‘Fordson - Faith, Fasting, Football’ — Review - NYTimes
“Mathematically Alive” New York Mets Baseball Fan Documentary Trailer
Loved this movie
“Derek Jeter 3K” Documentary Premieres Tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO
“It chronicles Jeter’s chase of 3,000 career hits and features new interviews with Reggie Jackson, Hal Steinbrenner, Joe Torre and Minka Kelly, among others. It also was the first time that Jeter wore a microphone during the game. Nice work by HBO and MLB Productions getting that to happen.” - Neil Best, Newsday
HBO and MLB Productions are producing a one hour special on Jeter’s quest for hit 3,000: “Derek Jeter 3K.”
NFL Lockout mini-documentary
This is a mini-documentary featuring Broncos tight end Dan Gronkowski and punter Britton Colquitt that underlines the impact of the NFL lockout on their personal family situations. The documentary was reported, produced, and edited by Josina Anderson.
10 P.M. (HBO) McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice
As Borg and McEnroe surveyed Centre Court and replayed shots, tactics and their state of mind during the documentary, they also conveyed a sense of genuine friendship and respect. They are not tennis’s Magic and Bird or even Ali and Frazier. They might be closest to Evert and Navratilova, whose rivalry endured longer and whose relationship has also matured over the years.
What separates McEnroe-Borg is one match that stands alone — and survives the test of time. - NYTimes
Bartman is the hermitlike subject of Alex Gibney’s new documentary, Catching Hell, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday night, and he doesn’t speak in the film; he is, as always, an unwilling subject. Since Bartman’s eventful night, he has only released one two-paragraph press release and then vanished from sight. He has never given an interview, never appeared on a reality show, never accepted any of the hundreds of thousands of dollars offered him to come out of hiding. When most people have some sort of public scandal, they find a way to profit from it, whether it’s Kim Kardashian making a career out of a leaked sex tape or Eliot Spitzer getting a talk show (and a documentary by Gibney) in the wake of his time in gossip pages. All Bartman wanted was to be left alone. Most people say this, but when their time comes, they don’t mind all the cameras. But Bartman: Poof, he was gone. Today, that’s heroic.
Continue reading… Will Leitch on Catching Hell, the Tribeca Doc About Reviled Cubs Fan Steve Bartman — Vulture
Frontline: Football High (Entire Program)
Corporate sponsorships, nationally televised games, minute-by-minute coverage on sports websites — for players, parents and coaches, high school football has never been bigger. But is enough being done to ensure players’ safety as the intensity of the sport grows? In Football High, FRONTLINE investigates the new face of high school football.
9 P.M. (PBS) Frontline: “Money and March Madness”
“Money and March Madness,” an inside look at the multi-billion dollar business of the NCAA and its brand of amateur college sports. In this investigation, correspondent Lowell Bergman gains access to Sonny Vaccaro, a former marketing executive at Nike, Adidas, and Reebok who helped bring about the rapid commercialization of college basketball. Vaccaro’s success made coaches, administrators, and companies rich. But the players remain at the mercy of the NCAA, which, despite a new $10.8 billion contract for its basketball tournament, has continued to insist that the athletes don’t get paid. Now, Vaccaro has left the business world and he’s spearheading a class-action lawsuit that aims to ensure that players get a piece of the action.
