Sports Dramas: Romcoms for Men

A long story involving several mistakes by Columbia House resulted in a Recent Screening of “We Are Marshall” at the Dietz house. This prompted the realization that the disdain at the predictability of Romantic Comedies and the mystifying desire of many women to see every formulaic one is explained in the way men are suckers for Sports Dramas.

 

Friday Night Lights, Hoosiers, A League of Their Own, Miracle, Remember the Titans, The Rookie, and on, and on and on… These movies are the very definition of formulaic and predictable, and yet they suck us in every time. Here is an incomplete list of the formulaic elements of the Sports Drama:

 

1. They are “based on a true story.”

 

2. They always tell the story of an underdog—the biggest loser in the sport in question.

 

3. The heroes always loose a game early on in the film.

 

4. If the sport in question is a team sport, there will be an individual player facing great personal difficulties.

 

5. The sport will be presented in slow motion.

 

6. The movie will climax with a big and unexpected win. If this is not the end of the season—championship—final then the movie will end with the last win.

 

7. We end up by seeing where they are now or how they lived their lives after the film.

In short, it becomes evident that the basic plot of most Sports Dramas shares a lot with the average episode of The A Team.