THE PUTTDOWN

Sports films are as old as the sports themselves. From the 1921 release ‘Two Minutes to go’ to more recent releases like the 2018 release ‘Uncle Drew’. They even span every sport imaginable such as figures skatings I Tonya to Mountain Climbings ‘Everest’. Choosing a top 10 sports films is an arduous endeavour, one person can see ‘Field of Dreams’ as a cinematic masterpiece, and another might see it as a film about a man speaking to ghosts. The following list has been compiled at The Puttdown through personal opinion. You may not agree with the list, but it just shows how different movies connect to us through our love of sports and our experiences within them. None of the movies mentioned above cracked the top 10, so let us begin. 10. Mike Bassett: England Manager   Sports movies have always suffered in trying to recreate the sport on the big screen. Mike Bassett: England Manager does a good job avoiding that as it follows helpless new England Manager as he attempts to lead England...

The Weekly Puttdown   The Puttdown is back, kind of. Sports are slowly getting back on their feet, one by one emerging from the ground like The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. In this edition of the Puttdown, we will bring you updates on the major sports leagues and how they are looking to start back up. NBA: 31 st July, mark the calendars. The NBA is pretty much ready, they have a start date and even better than that, a location. Games will be played at Florida’s Disney World Resort. 22 teams have been invited to play out the rest of the season and playoffs. The proposal was voted in with 29 votes to 1. The only team not voting in favour was the 9 th placed Portland Trailblazers, stating that there were better ideas on the table. Football (Premier League unless otherwise stated): The Premier League will return on 17 th June. The games will be played behind closed doors and will be played out until all 38 are played. There is brilliant news for fans, as the majority of games will be...

Everyone wants to win, and for every clean athlete who wins, there is a dozen of other athlete’s attempting different methods of cheating to be the best. At the Puttdown we have narrowed down the list of cheaters to what we think is the top 10 cheaters of all time. Honourable Mention This goes to the one and only Shooter McGavin. Not only did he hire a man to torment Happy Gilmore at a pro-am tournament, but he also hired a man to run him over in an attempt to stop him from winning the coveted gold jacket. 10. MLB Steroid Era Coming in at number 10 is the MLB steroid era. It would be easy just to pin this on Barry Bonds, after all, he was probably the most successful but there was so many of them that the whole era gets in at number 10. It was so bad that many players including Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriquez were summoned in 2005 to testify in front of Congress about the issue. Bonds continue to this day to be shunned entry to the baseball hall of fame even though he holds the r...

The Premier League is looking more and more likely to be going ahead. When it does restart, stadiums will be empty, a far cry from what fans would hope for. But in time, fans will start to be allowed back into the stadiums. Teams won't be permitted to allow full attendances, more likely starting off around the 30% mark, which means if the league isn’t careful, true diehard fans may miss out on tickets. Here at the Puttdown, we have come up with an exhaustive list of criteria to stop the fair-weather fans from attendance, and to make sure only the true fans are in the stadium when they return. Not Permitted Half and Half scarfs. Clearly, people who wear these pieces of attire only buy them so when friends and family come to visit, they can show the scarves to prove they were at the game. They don’t really care about the club; a die-hard fan would only have their own clubs emblem on their scarf. One of their last 10 photos on their camera roll is a selfie. These people...

The chances of getting MLB games this year seems to be getting slimmer by the day. Originally players had agreed to a pro-rata salary for the 2020 season, but team owners have decided to go against the original decision and are now asking for a shared revenue pay scheme for the season. This has led to players such a Blake Snell and Trevor Bauer to come out publicly and say they are not happy with the new deal, putting another dent into the chances of a season for 2020. Reaction to this has been interesting, to say the least. Some fans are backing the players, saying that the original deal should be stuck to, some saying the players are being greedy wanting more money. All I know is I want to watch the MLB this year, but it is looking less and less likely. There are some losers and winners from this (mainly losers). The biggest losers are the fans; with no play this year we will be waiting until next year to see any games. The Dodgers; Mookie Betts will become a free agent ...

Your team is rock bottom of the premier league, about to go up against one of the best teams in the country and there is not an ounce of hope of beating them. It’s the middle of winter; you put on your favourite jersey and 3 more layers on top to keep off the cold. As you leave the house you put on a beanie, scarf and make the short trip to your home ground. You walk through the turnstiles to your seat and take in the pre-game activities. You rub your hands together to try and keep some feeling in them as the game begins. You know your team doesn't have much chance of winning, but there is hope. You take an early 1-0 lead, but in the back of your mind, you know nothing at this point is for certain. The ball is around midfield when it gets played forward, more in hope than expectation. Your top striker runs onto the ball, chests it down and slots it past the goalkeeper. The stadium proceeds to erupt; you start high fiving everyone around you, an improbable 2-0 lead against on...

Before we begin, I’d like to offer a brief update on the Nike Belichick situation, detailed at length in a previous blog; ESPN requested Nike as an analyst for their 3 hour (not a typo) Schedule Release special. His owner, Bill, proved to be the thorn in his side this time, rejecting the request, apparently with some whimsical excuse about 3 hours being ridiculous and a dog not being able to hold a microphone.  Moving on. Up until now, college athletes haven’t been allowed to accept any money from any outside source during their time at college. Whether that’s advertising for a local donut shop, or accepting a small loan from a family member; just ask this year’s 2nd overall pick in the NFL draft, Chase Young. He had to sit out a game for this exact reason.  The governing body for college sports, the NCAA (*boo*), recently announced that they will allow college athletes to negotiate sponsorship deals from third-parties. Essentially any deal that doesn’t involv...