Sports books...

[fajrdrako]

From August 14, 2008: Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general? Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both? And, Second: Do you consider yourself a sports fan?

The easy answer is "no", and "no". Whatever instinct makes people like sports, I don't have it.

There are some sports I love: fencing, equestrian sports, archery, gymnastics. But I don't find myself making any time to watch them. I just love them in theory.

I watched a few minutes of the Olympics coverage with josanpq the other day - swimming events - and was somewhat amazed at how boring I found it, how uninteresting even the most beautifully toned and muscled bodies, how full of platitudes the announcers and the athletes were. I was more interested in catching glimpses of China.

The only sport I like watching on TV is European football.

So - do I read about sports? No, though sometimes sports come into things I read. I once (in my teens) went on a spree of reading Paul Gallico, after seeing and loving the Disney movie, The Three Lives of Thomasina, based on his novel. Paul Gallico was a sports reporter for years, and I read all his short stories about sports - and loved them because I liked his style of storytelling. Subject matter was irrelevant.

The Olympics have been featured in some books I've read about ancient Greece. Now, that was fascinating. Cynisca, winning the Olympic gold in 396 BC - yes! Go for it, girl! But it was history, not sport, I was reading.

I can't recall otherwise reading books about sports, ever. Most movies about sports bore me. The only sports movie I can think of offhand that I actually enjoyed was Bend it Like Beckham.

Comments

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

It's about two men (Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins) competing for the love of one woman (Susan Sarandon), basically, although I'm sure someone will jump in and tell me that that's not what the movie is about At All. Has one of the hottest movie sex scenes I've ever watched [g].

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think I've heard that from others! I have almost no memory of that movie at all.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I rewatch it every year or so just because. I rather hanker after Costner at that age, and Susan Sarandon, well, she's just brilliant no matter what she does. It's also a Really Smart Movie, IMHO. The script has way too many good moments for its own good.

So I forgive it its baseball setting [g].

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I liked Costner until I realized that all his movies bored me, except the Alan Rickman bits of Robin Hood. And I hold a grudge for what he did with The Postman, which had been a book I loved. So soon after that I just stopped going to his movies. Soon after that, he stopped making them. Just coincidence, I'm sure. [g]

I don't like Susan Sarandon, though I agree with you that she's good. It's just one of those things, like my reaction to Burn Gorman.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved, and still love Dances With Wolves. And I adore Bull Durham. I agree with you that the only redeemable parts of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves had Alan Rickman onscreen (gods, that man can chew scenery), and that the rest of Costner's movies are all but forgettable.

I've never seen The Untouchables. I understand Costner was good in that, too, though.

Oh, and Costner does still make movies [g]. He's got a new one coming out in the next few weeks.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well - Dances With Wolves may be one of my least favourite movies ever, so there you have it! Waterworld had its moments, especially with good visuals, but the story was dull.

Yes, I liked Untouchables, though I don't remember it well now. And I really, really loved The Bodyguard - not so much because of Costner (who was adequate but not much more) but because of the story.

Costner's still making movies? Really? I shake my head in wonder!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I hated Waterworld with a passion. Ridiculous and my suspension of disbelief got drowned utterly.

I suspect this dichotomy in our taste may have more to do with genre than Mr. Costner -- I noticed from your reading of the first couple of chapters of my book that you don't have much interest in the Old West. Might that have something to do with it?

Oh, and don't get me started on The Bodyguard. Costner in the running for worst haircut ever, not to mention that Whitney Houston is probably my least favorite non-rap singer of all time.

But, yeah, Costner's still making movies [g] -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027862/. He went to college about eight blocks from my childhood home, so I admit to some positive bias in his direction...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

you don't have much interest in the Old West.

It might. It isn't a conscious reaction, but it isn't a setting I gravitate towards.

Whitney Houston is probably my least favorite non-rap singer of all time.

[g]

He went to college about eight blocks from my childhood home, so I admit to some positive bias in his direction...

Cool. I was a big fan of his, at first. But then after being bored by some of his movies... and disliking Dances with Wolves... disappointment set in and it was downhill from there.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Whereas I became a fan of his with DWW. I didn't discover Bull Durham till after I'd seen DWW, even though it was made first.