Month: April 2020

The Replacements

The Replacements

Welcome to Sport on the Silver Screen. In this series, I will be looking back over sports movies that I have recently watched/re-watched and giving my thoughts on them. Getting into the Schmoedown and starting to follow a number of the personalities from the show has given me a much greater appreciation of movies and seen me starting to watch more.

Being a fan of both movies and sports, I have taken the chance to start highlighting the sheer volume of sports movies out there. For each movie I will be giving some details about the movie and then a quick review, including a section giving a sports fan’s perspective of the action’s realism.

This series has been heavily influenced by Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai of Action Industries, and as such I will be borrowing a couple of sections that they use in their weekly show Action Movie Anatomy: Fist-pump moment and favourite line. Be aware, there will be spoilers, but I will try to keep them to a minimum.

Today I will be looking at one of my favourite sports movies: The Replacements

ss the replacements

Key facts

Directed by Howard Deutch

Music by John Debney

Released in 2000

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Orlando Jones, Jon Favreau, Rhys Ifans, Brooke Langton

Synopsis: When the NFL players all go on strike with 4 games remaining in the regular season, the Washington Sentinels bring in head coach Jimmy McGinty (Hackman) to help the team make the playoffs. Rather than bring in semi-pros, McGinty chooses to bring in a hodgepodge of players he has watched through their careers to create the craziest team of replacements ever.

Review

If you’re looking for a piece of cinematic greatness, this is not going to be it. What it is though, is a genuinely fun sports comedy movie. I can’t even remember exactly how I first found this movie, I just came across the DVD at the bottom of my box of DVDs one day, decided to watch it and fell in love and it is a feel-good movie that I will consistently return to.

Much like many ensemble team sports comedies, the members of the team we follow all fall into their distinct roles: Keanu as Shane Falco is the heart of the team who has his funny moments but is generally used as the more serious spine to keep the story on track along with Hackman, Rhys Ifans is the one trying to run from his past, while Jon Favreau and Orlando Jones are key to a lot of the comedic moments as they play a maniacal linebacker/SWAT officer and a shop assistant who speaks before he thinks most of the time. Langton is there primarily as a love interest, but I do appreciate that she is shown to be highly knowledgeable about the team and the sport, helping her feel like a character in her own right rather than just a female for the lead to fall for.

As with many sports movies, it is always interesting to see where the antagonists come into play. The opposition are antagonists to some degree – especially specific players at times and the way Dallas are portrayed as so superior to the Replacements in the final match – but the real antagonist is the usual Quarterback, Eddie Martel (Brett Cullen) and his group of striking players, which is a dynamic that I think works quite well in that he is there at the start, but dealing with him brings the replacements together and it is only when he returns for the final match that things start to go wrong for the team again.

For me, the comedy really hits in this movie. Orlando Jones, Jon Favreau and Rhys Ifans are all incredible comedic actors and Gene Hackman plays off everyone around him so well. All of this then allows for more poignant moments, much like Keanu’s “Quicksand” speech and the scene where McGinty has to tell him that Martel has returned to the team.

Finally, I just want to mention the music of the movie, as I have had the soundtrack downloaded for years. I really like what John Debney does in this movie, combining a soundtrack of existing songs and a score to create something that works really well in the moment. The score works really well to cover a lot off the more sports-heavy moments, while the use of existing songs has led to me really appreciating Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and discovering “Heroes” (They use a cover by Marc Bonilla & Font 48, but it led me to David Bowie’s version).

Sports perspective

The movie utilises the actors playing the game as much as possible in the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium, which really helps in terms of making everything look realistic – though if you pay attention you will notice it leads to a number of inconsistencies as plays are shown from different angles.

The movie itself is very loosely based on the 1987 NFL strike and the Washington Redskins (who won all 3 games during the strike and went on to win the Super Bowl), but it is only really as far as the general premise and some similarities in the teams faced and the QB controversy. Archie Lee Harris, Jr. (who plays Wilson Carr, one of the striking players) was in fact one of the replacement players during the strike, playing tackle for the Denver Broncos in 3 games on their way to the Super Bowl.

Having real NFL coaches portraying the opposition head coaches and having the commentary duo of John Madden and Pat Summerall for the matches goes a long way to helping the action feel authentic, and it genuinely feels like the pair had fun with some of the commentary.

As someone who has been watching the NFL for years, though, there are a number of occasions where what we are seeing doesn’t quite match up with real life. Though I understand that a big part of it will be to keep the focus on our main characters, we do end up with circumstances where players are involved in plays where their position would usually not feature, such as a QB on a kickoff return and a linebacker and corner both involved in an offensive play. Similarly there are instances where the rules of the game are not quite as we see in the movie, such as having to call a timeout at the end of the play after fielding the kickoff (the clock would automatically stop) and the officials combining a number of penalties against the Sentinels on one play (in reality, it would have been just 1 penalty, though I wonder if any players would have been ejected, especially under modern rules).

Finally, I just need to mention the oddity that Keanu’s character Shane Falco is goes from starting QB to being cut when Martel returns to the team. QB is such a vital position, teams will always carry at least 2 on the roster, so from a sporting sense, Falco would just be benched rather than cut. Obviously, this wouldn’t have been as impactful narratively, but from a sporting perspective, it would have been easy enough to add a moment in where McGinty is forced to cut Falco as well as take back Martel.

Useless trivia

Keanu’s character in this movie, Shane Falco, studied at Ohio State, which is also the alma mater of his character Johnny Utah in Point Break.

Fist-pump moment

I almost went for Fumiko’s “fat-man score” against San Diego, but for me, the fist-pump moment is the bar brawl after the first match. We get to see all of our main characters from the team working together, while also bringing out the individuality of each character.

Favourite line

Falco’s “Quicksand” speech is definitely up there in showing how so quickly a situation can deteriorate when things start to go wrong, no matter what you do. Instead, I ended up going for an inspirational quote from one of the huddles in the final game.

“Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever.”

 

What did you think of this movie? Let me know in the comments. Until next time!

TAKING ON THE FLOUSE: 3 Schmoedown Opponents for ZeFlertinFlouse

TAKING ON THE FLOUSE: 3 Schmoedown Opponents for ZeFlertinFlouse

Twitter went crazy last week as Bavarian superstar ZeFlertinFlouse made his debut on SEN Live and began doing the rounds on a number of affiliated shows.

The German, best known for his multi-platinum albums Und, Und, Und and Flouse in das Haus and his starring role in the semi-autobiographical film Za Flert Locker is in high demand, with rumours as to his immediate future including furthering his sporting career, returning to WWE or going into seclusion while he writes his next album – which is said to feature collaborations with Yanni, David B and Stine Bramsen! However before he leaves, we can only hope that he finds time to compete in a Schmoedown.

But who would be willing to take on the man who taught Chuck Norris everything he knows? I have put together a shortlist of 3 potential opponents for him:

mts finstock is back tom dagninoFinstock

Who ever thought that a crazier character would appear on the Schmoedown Entertainment Network than Bob Finstock?! The man in the beard mask has only just returned to the league for the first time in over a year, but is now finding the attention shifting to The Flouse.

Now I can’t promise more points than Dagnino v Burnett, but I’m pretty certain the personalities on show would make it an entertaining match!

mts danish kristian harloffDanish Kristian Harloff

ZeFlertinFlouse may be the A-lister, but he’s not the first European to guest on a Kristian Harloff show, as his Danish namesake was a regular guest on Collider Live. Unfortunately, it sounds like Danish Kristian Harloff currently has some beef with The Flouse.

You see, Danish Kristian Harloff is a big fan of Stine Bramsen. And while you’d think that The Flouse collaborating with Bramsen on his next album would be good news, The Flouse is famous for taking himself and any collaborators into complete seclusion for at least 2 years when creating a new album (you can’t rush art), which means that Danish Harloff’s record of 15 consecutive years having seen Stine Bramsen perform live will be coming to an end. Would he be able to get some form of revenge in a 1v1 Schmoedown?

DJ Froby

mts dj froby

While ZeFlirtenFlouse has taken all the attention, his long-time partner DJ Froby has also been turning up on some streams, including recent episodes of the Reilly Roundtable and Chill to Action. While Froby has been on board for most of The Flouse’s biggest hits, there are rumours that a rift is forming between the pair as Froby does not feel that The Flouse gives him enough recognition in public, while reports also state that Froby is feeling threatened by the upcoming collaboration with David B.

Could the Schmoedown be about to play host to the messiest breakup since Andrew Ghai tackled Ben Bateman through a table? That all-but guarantees drawing a crowd!

 

Who would you love to see ZaFlertinFlouse face off against?

Until next time!

Multiple Allegiance XV

Multiple Allegiance XV

The lack of rugby (and sport in general) during the COVID-19 pandemic is driving me insane, so in a need for a rugby fix, I have started putting together a couple of “Pick an XV” articles. I was throwing about ideas with my god friend and occasional contributor Gez a few nights ago and he made a great suggestion: creating a starting XV of players who would have been eligible to play for multiple nations.

Per World Rugby regulation 8, a Player may only play for the senior fifteen-aside National Representative Team, the next senior fifteen-a-side National Representative Team and the senior National Representative Sevens Team of the Union of the country in which:

  1. he was born; or
  2. one parent or grandparent was born; or
  3. he has completed thirty six consecutive months of Residence immediately preceding the time of playing. 

The 3-year residency rule is set to extend to 5 years from the end of 2020.

A player who has been capped for one nation can become eligible for another nation by completing a period of 3 years without selection for the original nation, then playing in an Olympic event (rugby 7s Olympic Games/Olympic qualifying events) for the new nation.

For this, I am only picking from players who are currently playing the game. I am also going on knowledge that is out there, so there may very much be a player who was eligible for multiple countries due to family links, but due to committing early to his country of birth and residence, those links have not come out.

Who would make your XV?

1: Mako Vunipola:- Where else to start but England and Lions prop Mako Vunipola. He may have become one of the best looseheads in World Rugby and become a key component of the England pack, but he qualified for England on residency, having been born in New Zealand to Tongan parents. His father Feʻao Vunipola represented Tonga at the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups.

2: Joe Taufete’e:- I was initially going to select former France captain Guilhem Guirado, who is of Catalan descent so was eligible for Spain, but as he is no longer playing internationally, I chose to call a late audible and select 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year nominee Joe Taufete’e. The hooker is of Samoan descent and was born in American Samoa, but moved to California aged 5. He has gone on to represent the USA at 2 World Cups so far and has scored more tries than any other tight five player in international rugby history (20 in 27 games).

3: W.P. Nel:- As you can probably tell by the name Willem Petrus Nel, the tighthead is South African by birth but moved to Scotland in the summer of 2012 to join Edinburgh. He made his Scotland debut in 2015 after completing a 3-year residency period and went on to become a key part of the squad, though injuries have denied him the chance to earn as many caps as he should have.

4: Paul Willemse:- Much like Nel, the surname probably gives it away, but Willemse was born in Pretoria before moving to Namibia in his youth and then later back to South Africa. He represented Namibia U18 and South Africa U20, but moved to France in 2014. Having completed the residency period and obtaining French nationality, he made his debut for Les Bleus in the 2019 Six Nations. While he struggled to hold down a spot in the squad under Jacques Brunel, he has quickly become a key figure in Fabien Galthié’s new-look, resurgent French team.

5: George Kruis:- A key component for Saracens and England, George Kruis is a lineout general who is arguably underrated in the loose. The lock has 45 England caps and 3 caps for the British and Irish Lions, but could have instead chosen to represent the Netherlands as his father is Dutch.

6: CJ Stander:- Christiaan Johan Stander becomes the third South African to move abroad on this list, having represented the Baby Boks at U18 and U20 level. After being considered too small to play back row for the Springboks, he was left with the choice of trying to convert to hooker or moving abroad. Stander joined Munster in June 2012 and qualified for Ireland through residency the day after the RWC2015 final. Able to play at 8 or 6, I feel that he is more consistently strong at blindside, where he can carry hard, tackle hard and cause a nuisance at the breakdown. He’ll be hoping to make the British and Irish Lions squad next year to show SARU just how big a mistake they made.

7: David Pocock:- One of my favourite players of the modern game, Pocock is one of the best opensides to play in the last decade. Australia have had the joy of being able to pair him with Michael Hooper, but Pocock was also eligible to play for Zimbabwe, having been born in Gweru but fleeing the country during the unrest created by the government’s land seizure and redistribution campaign.

8: Grégory Alldritt:- Number 8 was such a hard position to pick due to the sheer number of top quality options – especially when you consider both of the flankers I picked also cover 8! If this was 4 years ago, I would have picked Italian captain Sergio Parisse, who was born in Argentina. Tongan-born Welsh back row Taulupe Faletau was an option but injuries have severely hampered his career in recent years. Billy Vunipola was going to be my pick here but considering I already have his brother Mako in the squad, I called an audible and selected Alldritt, who was starring in the Six Nations for Les Bleus but would have qualified for Ireland through his grandparents.

9: Ali Price:- Scrum half was probably the hardest position to pick in terms of limited options, but I settled eventually on Scotland’s current starter. Price’s Scottish eligibility is through his mother, but he was born in King’s Lynn and was educated in Cambridgeshire. He moved from Bedford to Glasgow Warriors in 2013 as part of their Elite Development Programme. He has formed a good one-two punch with Greig Laidlaw in recent years but his former captain’s international retirement has now seen Price take on the lead role ahead of his Glasgow understudy George Horne.

10: Gareth Anscombe:- When New Zealand defeated England in the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship, they had future All Blacks fly halves Lima Sopoaga and Beauden Barrett starting at 12 and 15 respectively. At fly half that day was Gareth Anscombe. In 2014, Anscombe moved to the Cardiff Blues and he made his Wales debut in August 2015, courtesy of his Cardiff-born mother. Though it took a few years to solidify his place in the squad, it looked as if he had earned the number 10 shirt for the World Cup until a knee injury put him out for the season.

11: Marika Koroibete:- Koroibete has been one of the best, most consistent players for Australia in recent years and was a great pick-up for the Wallabies, but this was due to him qualifying on residency. He is in fact a dual-code international, having represented Fiji, the country of his birth, in rugby league.

12: Bundee Aki:- There were a few ways that I could have gone with this selection. New Zealand-born Hadleigh Parkes qualified for Wales on residency, while Fijian-born Samu Kerevi has become the man for Australia. They both just missed out in place of Bundee Aki, who qualified for Ireland on residency, but was born in New Zealand and is of Samoan descent.

13: Manu Tuilagi:- France’s Fijian superstar Virimi Vakatawa was very close to making the list, but loses out to Manu Tuilagi. Born in Samoa in 1991, Tuilagi moved to Cardiff in 2004 and then onto Leicester. The youngest of 7 children (5 of whom have represented Samoa), Manu chose to play for England as this was where he had grown up and played all of his rugby.

14: Sevu Reece:- A newer name on the scene but one to remember, Sevu Reece topped the try scoring charts for the 2019 Super Rugby Season before going on to play for the All Blacks at RWC2019. He was born in Fiji and grew up there, moving to New Zealand in 2014.

15: Charles Piutau:- The fullback played at U20 level for both Tonga and New Zealand before committing to the All Blacks (though brother Siale went on to captain Tonga). Piutau made 17 appearances for the All Blacks but missed out on selection for RWC2015 and has since been ineligible due to playing outside New Zealand, playing starring roles for Wasps, Ulster and Bristol. How great would it have been to see him representing Tonga over the past decade? Aged 28, there is still time for him to play for Tonga, as he has gone long enough since being capped by New Zealand that playing an Olympic Qualifying event for Tonga’s 7s team would make him eligible for the 15-a-side team.

2019/20 Gloucester Rugby 23

2019/20 Gloucester Rugby 23

The COVID-19 pandemic is seeing me going crazy with no sport to watch and it’s no shock to say that I have been missing watching my beloved Gloucester Rugby play.

It’s not been the best of seasons for the cherry and whites, who find themselves 9ᵗʰ in the Premiership table with just 4 wins from 13 games, however one bright spark has been the amount of international representation this season during both the World Cup and the Six Nations. Despite the bad results, I still feel that this is a very strong squad, but there have been issues with injuries and dips in form that have left them lacking wins.

For this article, I will be looking at the Gloucester squad and selecting my ideal matchday 23 if everyone was fully fit.

Starting XV

1: Val Rapava-Ruskin:- Injuries have been the big issue for the Georgian, but he is an incredible talent when physically fit. He can hold his own in the scrum, but comes to life at the breakdown, where he becomes like and extra back row with his ability to jackal and win a turnover.

2: Franco Marais:- So let me get the negative out of the way first: for a top flight hooker, he has been unreliable at the lineout this season. However, his impact on the match is largely positive, as he carries hard and tackles even harder. I could imagine him being used as an emergency 6 and being able to hold his own at the position.

3: Fraser Balmain:- With my decision to go for a player known more for their play in the loose than their scrummaging at loosehead, I have gone for a scrummaging specialist at tighthead. That’s not to say Balmain is a one-trick pony as he also carries very well to help create a platform for the backs.

4 & 5: Ed Slater & Franco Mostert:- Slater was very much missed earlier in the season but has largely put his injuries behind him since moving from Leicester and I would argue that he should have got closer to England recognition when you look at some of the players who have been called up ahead of him. He is a proven leader, a strong carrier and a key part of the lineout. World Cup winner Franco Mostert is also strong at the lineout but more than anything, he is an engine who will keep going all game and top the tackle charts with regularity. Slater and Mostert are arguably one of the strongest second row pairings in the league.

6: Freddie Clarke:- I was initially thinking of putting Clarke on the bench due to his versatility, but eventually decided that he had earned a starting spot and could switch positions mid-game if needed. Clarke is an underrated talent who does not get the respect that he deserves for his work around the park, while he is a strong carrier who can make a team pay if they give him a big enough gap.

7: Jake Polledri:- Anyone who regularly reads my articles will know that I am a big fan of Polledri and while I would not consider him an out-and-out jackal, he is probably the most successful over the breakdown of my back row selections. Where he really comes into his own is as a carrier, where he rarely fails to make ground, while he is another who can fully exploit a gap that opens in front of them.

8: Ruan Ackermann:- Ben Morgan has failed to live up to last year’s performances and at 31, he may now be reaching his decline. Instead, I have gone with Ruan Ackermann who has a wealth of top flight experience for someone who is only 24. Ackermann is another strong carrier who can make the hard yards and tackle all day long.

9: Willi Heinz:- I’ll be the first to say that I don’t think Heinz should be in the England 23 right now as Dan Robson and Ben Spencer are the 9s I think should be building with the squad in this cycle, but I think that the kiwi is a fantastic player. Years of playing for the Crusaders and Gloucester have made him a proven leader and he controls the game so well, including having a strong kicking game to help take pressure off the fly half.

10: Danny Cipriani:- He may not have reached the heights of last season, but let’s be honest: this team’s attack is built around Danny Cipriani. He is one of the most skilful playmakers I have ever seen, who reads the game so well and has the ability to pick out a man with a pin-point accurate pass or kick.

11: Ollie Thorley:- If you’ve never seen his try against Leicester, you need to watch it! That try highlights his pace and footwork, but strangely enough that’s probably the underrate side of his attacking game, as his strength and ability to break a tackle is what put him on most people’s radar. And at just 23, he will only get better!

12: Mark Atkinson:- He’s started to get the plaudits from some pundits, but I still think that Atkinson is one of the most underrated players in the league. He has always been a solid defender and a hard runner with a dangerous offload, but over the last couple of years, he has become even more of an all-rounder and even developed a decent kicking game to exploit the defence out wide.

13: Billy Twelvetrees:- While I think that Chris Harris has got better as the season has gone on and he built chemistry with the players around him, I still think that the way the teams plays benefits from having a second playmaker in the centre… and that man is Billy Twelvetrees. He has had his ups and downs at Gloucester but always puts in 100% and is one of the players who really appeared to have benefited most from Johan Ackermann taking over at Kingsholm.

14: Louis Rees-Zammit:- I’d heard of Rees-Zammit and his crazy speed from the Gloucester age groups, but going into this season, I wasn’t expecting to see him much at all for the seniors this season. However, he came in and shocked the world with 12 tries in 1074 minutes (a try every 89.5 minutes) including a hat-trick against Northampton, fully earning his spot on the wing ahead of his far more experienced teammates.

15: Jason Woodward:- This was a difficult pick for me and I must admit that I am a big fan of Woodward so may have a degree of bias. However the former Hurricane gets the nod for me here. He is such a dangerous player on the counter-attack and his ability to play fullback/wing/centre makes him dangerous coming into the line at any spot. I will however give this caveat: in terrible conditions that favour a kick-heavy territorial game, I go for the more positionally sound Tom Marshall.

Bench

16: Todd Gleave:- This may be a bit of a shock considering James Hanson is still on the roster, but he was not the most reliable at the lineout and has been out for a long time. Gleave may be on paper the 3ʳᵈ or 4ᵗʰ hooker on the depth chart if everyone is fit, but he has impressed me when given the chance, causing some issues for the opposition at the breakdown while also being a bit more reliable at the lineout.

17 & 18: Josh Hohneck & Jamal Ford-Robinson:- As I mentioned when looking at my starting props, I looked to pair one specialist scrummager with one who is a bit more of a open-play threat. While being a kiwi means that he is naturally skilled in the loose, Josh Hohneck will provide a stable scrum, while Ford-Robinson can hold his own at the scrum and then cause issues for tired defences with his carrying.

19: Gerbrandt Grobler:- Say what you want about whether Grobler should be allowed to play having tested positive for an anabolic steroid in 2014, but Grobler served his ban and has gone about reviving his career since. He would be a fantastic starter for Gloucester but unfortunately finds himself at the club at the same time as Slater and Mostert,but that allows for great rotation at lock. Grobler will carry and tackle all day long and is yet another fine lineout operator.

20: Lewis Ludlow:- With 3 ball carriers in my starting back row, I have gone for Ludlow over Morgan for the bench spot as he provides a different dynamic. Ludlow is another potential jackal but has an issue with giving away penalties at the breakdown this season, however his best season came a few years back where he was used primarily as a tackle machine, allowing other players to then get in over the top and make the turnover.

21: Joe Simpson:- I was a little nervous when it was announced that Joe Simpson would be coming to Kingsholm as I had always seen him as a pacy attacking 9, who was now getting on in age. However in the absence of Willi Heinz, he instantly proved his quality as a game manager and leader while still causing the opposition problems with his own legs.

22: Chris Harris:- Henry Trinder was a wonderful talent ruined by a litany of injuries, so Chris Harris gets the nod here, as Billy Twelvetrees can cover fly half. Harris provides a defensively solid, strong running option from the bench to create a solid centre pairing with either Atkinson or Twelvetrees.

23: Tom Marshall:- It’s probably no real surprise given I mentioned him as a possible starter at 15, but Tom Marshall gets the final spot here to cover the back 3. He is a fantastic attacking player and good in the air. I would feel sorry for a team that saw him coming on when they felt tired after 50-60 minutes.

 

Who would make your squad?

Until next time…

Masked Intentions

Masked Intentions

“Do you really think that I’m the type of Ghai that would give that guy this guy’s mask? You don’t know this Ghai at all.”

Tom Dagnino and Schmoedown fans around the world were shocked ahead of the recent match between Jader Paramo and Britney Young as Andrew Ghai presented Dagnino with a gift, the infamous beard mask, thought to have been burned by Robert Meyer Burnett during Spectacular III, over a year ago.

The two-time Heel of the Year has been undergoing a change in personality since his short-lived retirement at the end of the 2019 season – highlighted by his name change from “Dastardly” to “Debonair” – but the reveal that he had not actually given Burnett the real beard mask and is willing to give it back to someone who he spent all of last season in a feud with raises some questions as to what Ghai’s intentions are here.

You scratch my back…

mts Jeannine the Machine Andrew Ghai Jenn Sterger Drew McWeenyAn obvious result of this action is that he is sure to be in Finstock’s good graces moving forward. Good enough perhaps to start working an angle that sees him convince Finstock to trade for him. With Drew McWeeny’s recent retirement, Ghai is currently without a teammate and a move to the Finstock Exchange would give the option of a Team Action reunion or a pairing with rookie sensation “The Barbarian” that would create a third superteam within the faction. With Dan Murrell joining the Innergeekdom Division this season, the offer of Emily Rose Jacobson and potentially 1 or 2 of Grae Drake, Cody Hall or BC could sway Samm Levine into accepting a trade for a Schmoedown Pro who has the potential to make a run in the Singles Division but is most likely to challenge for a title in the Teams Division if given the right partner.

Similarly, Ghai maybe trying to get in Finstock’s good books to arrange a trade between the Finstock Exchange and Usual Suspects to get Ghai a partner on the Usual suspects. “The Barbarian” looks a real talent at the moment and pairing him with Ghai could create a legitimate title contender, but he probably wouldn’t come cheap despite being a 6ᵗʰ round pick. However, if Ghai can create some goodwill with Finstock, the may convince the three-time Manager of the Year to accept a cheaper offer than expected, suddenly putting the Usual Suspects in a much stronger position.

Debonair Apology Tour

mts andrew ghai mike kalinowski jeannine the machine jenn sterger
mts dan murrell andrew ghai winner
mts mark reilly andrew ghai
mts the tackle 2 spectacular iii ben bateman andrew ghai
mts andrew ghai jenn sterger
mts the tackle spectacular ii team action andrew ghai top 10 matt knost john rocha

We all remember when Kristian Harloff came back to compete for one final “Revenge Tour” that saw him go all the way to winning the Singles Title from Dan Murrell. Maybe Andrew Ghai is beginning a tour of his own, though not waiting for matches to do so. We saw him telling Mike Kalinowski “it’s not your fault” that Mike was KOrrupted to the dark side following DC Movie News’ loss to Team Action. Now we have seen him bringing his season-long feud with Tom Dagnino to a end by giving him back his most prized possession. Who could be next on the list?

Well Mark Reilly and Dan Murrell would be obvious options giving the way the Dastard treated them during his TKO victories back in 2018. Perhaps we’ll see him buying orthopedic pillows for Ben Bateman and John Rocha, who both found themselves on the end of Ghai’s infamous tackles. Or maybe we will just see him finally getting Jenn Sterger’s name right!

feat mts Movie-Trivia-Schmoedown-Team-Action-Andrew-Ghai-Ben-Bateman
mts live john rocha andrew ghai

Shifting attention

feat mts Movie-Trivia-Schmoedown-Robert-Meyer-Burnett

As you may have noticed with the last section, Andrew Ghai has somewhat of a rocky history with a large number of the current Finstock Exchange roster. If the Exchange felt it benefited them, they could use this as an excuse to continually call out members of the Usual Suspects for matches.

Right now, the Usual Suspects are not in a strong position, and the Exchange look super strng, so it would be hard to see the Usual Suspects pick up many points from those matches. Perhaps Ghai’s gift of the beard mask will work as a peace offering, resulting in the Exchange turning their attention instead to Robert Meyer Burnett’s Burning Droogs. And while those 2 factions fight it out, the Usual Suspects can recover from the loss of Drew McWeeny, rebuild and restrategize, finding matches that give them the best chance of victory.

At the end of the day, the enemy of your enemy… is a pretty good weapon to take advantage of.

Sowing seeds of destruction

mts finstock free 4 all ii

“The fire that burns in your fireplace is the same fire that burns down your house” – Finstock

His current faction may be the Finstock Exchange, but if you were asked which faction you associated the Finstock character with, it would be the Lion’s Den. Finstock was very much part of Dagnino’s heel days and though the character did appear to mellow during Who’s The Boss’ run through the 2018 Ultimate Schmoedown, it wasn’t until his mask was stolen that we really saw Tom Dagnino completely give up his antics.

Now he has the mask back, will he be able to geek on the straight and narrow… or will his old antics start coming back? Let’s not forget how much beef “The Dope Rocha” and Reilly both had with Finstock back in the day. There has already been a fair bit of disharmony within the Exchange this season, some due to some questionable calls by Dagnino. Could Andrew Ghai be hoping that the return of Finstock be the spark that burns the faction down to the ground?

If you have any other theories as to Andrew Ghai’s intentions, leave them in the comments below – I’d love to hear your thoughts. But for now, let’s just take a moment to enjoy the return of one of the league’s biggest characters…

mts finstock is back tom dagnino

Warrior (2011)

Warrior (2011)

Welcome to my new series Sport on the Silver Screen. In this series, I will be looking back over sports movies that I have recently watched/re-watched and giving my thoughts on them. Getting into the Schmoedown and starting to follow a number of the personalities from the show has given me a much greater appreciation of movies and seen me starting to watch more.

Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic stopping most sport, I have taken the chance to start highlighting the sheer volume of sports movies out there. For each movie I will be giving some details about the movie and then a quick review, including a section giving a sports fan’s perspective of the action’s realism.

This series has been heavily influenced by Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai of Action Industries, and as such I will be borrowing a couple of sections that they use in their weekly show Action Movie Anatomy: Fist-pump moment and favourite line. Be aware, they will be spoilers, but I will try to keep them to a minimum.

I wanted to start the series with a bang, so I have started with a movie I was watching for the first time after hearing Ben and Drew continually praise it: Warrior

sport screen Warrior (2011)

Key facts

Directed by Gavin O’Connor

Music by Mark Isham

Released in 2011

Starring: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo

Synopsis: Two estranged brothers come back into each others lives as they find themselves both competing in a winner-takes-all mixed martial arts tournament.

Review

After hearing Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai hype up this movie so often, I was keen to watch it but also a little nervous that it would not live up to the hype… I needn’t have worried. I immediately fell in love with this movie and already feel comfortable putting this in my top 5 movies after just 1 watch!

This is not just a sports movie. It is an emotional drama set around a sports event, with everything going on away from the octagon being as important (if not more so) than what is actually happening. All 5 of the main actors feel perfect for their roles and while it was potentially a risk to cast Hardy and Edgerton in the lead roles when they were still relative unknowns, they carried the movie so well and were so believable in both the drama and the action sequences. Grillo and Morrison were fantastic in their supporting roles, but Nick Nolte was absolutely superb in the role of the alcohlic estranged father and Tommy’s (Hardy) coach. He was fully deserving of his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and Christopher Plummer’s performance in Beginners must have been amazing to deny him the award!

What the movie does really well is build on what you know about the brothers and their backstory as the movie goes on. At the start, you know very little about them, but as the story continues you slowly get to see why each of the brothers is motivated to win the tournament, why they became estranged and how they both came to be in their respective situations. The way that Tommy’s backstory comes out slowly as the film progresses is amazing and I must admit that I didn’t see the final reveal coming but it did a great job of making everything click into place. What this means is that our feelings for the characters are built on how they act and talk rather than what we initially know about them. I also really like how neither of them is really a villain (Hardy could probably be considered an antihero), which creates a different dynamic to what you would see in most sports stories, as the most villainous characters are the brothers’ semifinal opponents. This allows for a final where you feel conflicted as to who you should want to win (even though it should be Brendan, there is enough to make you cheer for Tommy) and the brothers’ relationship can become the focus as much as the actual fight itself and building to a beautiful ending.

If you’ve never watched this movie, stop reading this and put it on now!

Sports perspective

So I want to start this section by saying that MMA is far from my strong suit, I will watch on occasion but not regularly, so the sporting aspect is not one that I can judge as closely as I can in some other sports. It certainly feels though that the fights are realistic, as we see different fighters using different styles (Hardy’s Tommy is more of a brute fighter, Edgerton’s Brendan is more technical).

The joy of combat sports like MMA and boxing are that they are easy for someone watching the movie to pick up the basics without having to know the full ins and outs. All you need to know is that the fights are split into rounds and that one guy is trying to knock out their opponent or make them submit.

Fist-pump moment

For me, this was Brendan’s semifinal against Koba, going from Frank’s (Frank Grillo) talk in the corner right up to the end of the fight when Koba taps out. The speech in the corner was fantastic and the build through the round as Brendan went from being bullied around the octagon to slowly taking control and pulling off the victory felt like an amazing climax… and that was with the final still to come!

“Look at me! Look at me! Why are we here, Brendan? Why are we here? Are we here to win this fight? You tell me, ’cause if we’re not, I’ll throw in the towel right now. We’ll get Tess and we will go home. You don’t knock him out, you lose the fight. Understand me? You don’t knock him out, you don’t have a home!”

Favourite line

If we’re talking inspirational lines, it’s the one above, but as with so many sports movies, we got an absolute zinger in the commentary that gets my pick here:

“He ripped the door off a tank!”

 

What did you think of this movie? Let me know in the comments. Until next time!

Premier League: March 2020

Premier League: March 2020

Well… this was an odd month!

It feels like forever since we had any football, but we did in fact manage to get a week’s worth of matches (and those from the latter half of the week before) before all football was shut down due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that has brought not just sport, but everyday life to a standstill. This is a very strange time for us all and the season is currently in a strange form of limbo, but in an attempt to keep things as normal as possible, I am still here with a look at the action and stories to come out this month.

Premier League Round-up

Offside?

Manchester United’s improvement was continuing in March with a 1-1 draw at Everton and a 2-0 victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford. A big moment in the Everton match came when VAR overruled an own goal from Harry Maguire (which would have won Everton the match) due to an offside decision against Gylfi Sigurðsson.

The Icelandic international was on the floor in the 6-yard box after having his shot saved by David de Gea. The ball came to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who’s shot towards the far post took a heavy deflection off Harry Maguire and into the goal at the near post after Sigurðsson – who was still on the floor with less than 2 United players between him and the goalline – pulled his legs out of the way. Sigurðsson was definitely in an offside position, but was he offside?

Per the FA’s Laws of the Game on their website:

A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:

  • interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or
  • interfering with an opponent by:
    • preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
    • challenging an opponent for the ball or
    • clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
    • making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball

*The first point of contact of the ‘play’ or ‘touch’ of the ball should be used

or

  • gaining an advantage by playing the ball or interfering with an opponent when it has:
    • rebounded or been deflected off the goalpost, crossbar or an opponent
    • been deliberately saved by any opponent
    • A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save by any opponent) is not considered to have gained an advantage.

A ‘save’ is when a player stops, or attempts to stop, a ball which is going into or very close to the goal with any part of the body except the hands/arms (unless the goalkeeper within the penalty area).

The clear argument here is that Sigurðsson was in de Gea’s line of vision, which is in itself enough to disallow the goal. I would also make an argument that the offside could be given for another point as well: “clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent”. In this case, the playing of the ball is the deliberate lifting of the legs just in time for the ball to pass by untouched, in a similar way to a player deliberately stepping over a pass as a dummy to allow a player behind them to get the ball. Were it not for this action, the ball is being blocked by him, and it is only this late evasion that stops this.

If nothing else, I’m sure we can agree that Sigurðsson had more than enough time to get back to his feet and get onside, but chose instead to just stay on the floor, which proved costly.

How do we proceed?

The Premier League is in limbo at the moment as we wait to see how quickly the COVID-19 pandemic clears up. If it happens relatively quickly, then I imagine we will see the league continue as it was and finish slightly further into the summer than usual, which is now possible due to the Euros being pushed back a year. Obviously this would be the ideal situation, but what if the pandemic carries on for another couple of months and completing the season becomes impossible?

Should the season stand with the final standings as they are? Should we go back a couple of weeks to the last point every team had played the same number of matches? Or should the season just be struck off and replayed next season?

There is so much to consider. If the season in stopped early, there is plenty of argument to award Liverpool the title, but as it is not mathematically impossible for them to be caught at this stage, I feel that their title victory would need an asterisk next to it. European places and the bottom 3 also become very contentious decisions as it can be argued that some teams will have had a harder or easier playing schedule, giving advantage to some teams. There is also the issue that right now, not all teams have played the same number of games, but going back to the last time all teams had played the same number of matches could see a team drop down a position that they had fairly climbed above. Any partial season automatically gives an advantage to teams who had a strong first half of the season. Teams like Manchester United and Arsenal started the season poorly but have seen their results improving of late, and could have found themselves rising even higher in the standings.

Though it is harsh on the teams that have been doing well this season like Liverpool and Sheffield United (also teams pushing for promotion from the Championship), I think that the only fair way to deal with this season is to strike it off, with prize money split equally between all the teams, no champion, no promotion/relegation and the same teams competing in European competition next season (with Manchester City’s ban being pushed back a year). It is far from ideal and would really need all UEFA nations to agree to do the same to basically replay the competition next season, but these are unheralded times and I can’t see a fairer way to deal with such an unprecedented situation.

Let’s hope the situation improves quick enough for the seasons to be completed to make all of this a moot point!

Coping with the times

In this very difficult time, clubs have been reacting in very different ways to the COVID-19 pandemic and I just wanted to take a moment to praise a couple of teams who have acted admirably in the circumstances before throwing some shade at others whose actions have been less praiseworthy.

First of all, a massive credit to Brighton, who announced that they will donate 1000 tickets to NHS staff once matches are back on, and Bournemouth, who agreed to match this. NHS Staff are so underappreciated and are putting themselves at risk to look after those who are ill, so I would argue that 1000 tickets from each team should be an absolute minimum! A shout-out too for Burnley, who announced earlier in the month that all the matchday and non-matchday staff (including those in the community) will receive their usual pay while the break goes on.

On the flip-side however, a number of teams including Newcastle and Tottenham are taking advantage of the government’s job retention scheme to pay 80% of staff’s wages to a maximum of £2,500 a month. Meanwhile the players and big-earners remain on full salaries. The average Premier League player has a salary of over £3m per year, so it is disgusting that they are still getting full salaries while the public’s taxes are used to help the rest of the club staff survive. In my opinion, a minimum salary should be set in place, players above which should automatically receive a pay cut with their cut wages going to the rest of the staff being affected. Let’s be honest, those diving primadonnas earn ridiculous money for what they do anyway!

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