The 90's Were the Golden Age of Kid's Sports Movies

I've been on a kick lately watching kids sports movies from the 90's that I loved as a kid. With my downtime I like to watch shows and movies, and for the past couple weeks I have been craving older sports movies. It all started one afternoon when I heard some people on a podcast mention the movie "Rookie if the Year". I adored that movie as a kid. It had everything I wanted in life. Kid breaks his arm, it heals weird, he can throw super fast and he ends up on the Cubs. It was an absolute dream. From there I would endlessly watch movies like "The Sandlot", "Little Big League", "Little Giants" and "The Mighty Ducks" among many, many others. I watched them all. Even some movies that were not, by definition sports movies, like "3 Ninjas", I watched because they had a few sports scenes. I couldn't get enough.

As I got older though I kind of left those movies behind. I have become a bit snobbish when it comes to movies. RD calls some of my early reviews "Cloves and Fedoras", and he is not wrong. I prefer indie movies. I love a good documentary. I want to watch movies that make you think. But I have been craving movies that I used to enjoy. I have had these feelings of wanting to go back and see if these movies still hold any weight for me.

I am very happy to say that I still get the same feelings when watching these movies. I understand that they are fantastical and you have to remove any kind of sense when watching. That makes it more fun for me now as a father, husband and a 40 year old. I have enjoyed watching these movies with my wife and I think she has had fun too. She has said she is at the very least. But my love for these movies is not the basis of this blog today. I could go on and on and on about my love. But today I want to take the time to tell you all about the straight line each of these movies have. They all have similar plots and villains and endings. They have the old hand, the young star and the family. They are all fun and satisfying because they are all the same. You can watch any of these movies and know how it will finish. It is comforting.

Let's look at "Rookie of the Year" real quick. Kid breaks his arm, conflict. It heals weird, but he can throw hard all of the sudden, fantastical. Goes to the Cubs and learns under the veteran, Rocket, played by Gary Busey, yikes. The villain is the Mets and their slugger. Henry Rowengartner strikes him out with an underhand toss and the Cubs win. It is stupid and phony and wild and I love it. They were even able to get a love story with the mom. This is how a 90's kids sports movie goes.

Take "The Sandlot" next. Star player plays with his buddies, they beat the bullies, the nerdy kid gets the girl, the star player and the new kid are best friends into adulthood, the villain is a dog who turns out to be nice and each kid has their own happy ending. It is my favorite sports movie.

"The Mighty Ducks" have the grisled former hockey star in town deemed with coaching the rag tag misfits. He turns them into a respectable squad. He gets a team from the rival team to come play for his team. The villain is the coach's former coach. He is still a jerk. They beat them in the finals. The kid closest to the coach on the team essentially sets his coach up with his mom. It is almost too perfect.

"Little Big League" brings us a genius kid who isn't good at playing baseball, but knows the game incredibly well, he ends up coaching the Minnesota Twins. He is tasked with the job from his grandpa. He helps turn the Twins around after some skepticism from some vets. The main vet helps him out though, takes his side and that is when things turn. The villains on the team come around but this movie finds a way to make Ken Griffey Jr a villain. I couldn't believe it. The only way this movie differs, and why I still love it to this day, is that the Twins don't win in the end. But they all have fun.

"Air Bud" is the wildest of them all. This movie is about a dog who plays receiver for a local kids team and is the star. This is the most fantastical of them all and it is endlessly watchable for me.

"Little Giants" is great because it features brothers versus brothers. Ed O'Neill is the "villain", but he is actually a good dude in the end. This movie is so great because it gives the little guy the limelight. The "nerds" find a way to beat the jocks and it is a fun football movie. It is also one of Rick Moranis' last roles and he crushes it here. The movie also introduced all of us to Becky, The Icebox, O'Shea. She is a kids sports movie legend.

"Space Jam" is wildly odd and weird and not very good. But I can watch that movie time and again and be very happy.

I could list more and more movies here, but they all have the same, safe and watchable premise. These movies are by no means good, but damn are they fun. I cannot wait to watch more of these because the rewatch of the first couple has been so well remembered. I suggest you do the same if you grew up similar to me. These 90's sports kids movies still rule. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Space Jam: A New Legacy"

We watched "Space Jam: A New Legacy" last Friday. It was date night, it was my turn to pick, I loved the original movie, still do in fact and I was pumped to watch the new movie. I watched all the trailers, I saw some news stories prior to the movie that made me more excited and I like Lebron James. I also saw that Don Cheadle was the villain, and he is one of my favorite actors. Basically, I was predestined to love this movie.

Unfortunately I did not love this movie.

I am not going to go scorched Earth like some other notable critics have, but this movie is not very good. I do not buy Lebron as an overbearing parent, I didn't find any connection between this movie and the original, the cuts were choppy, the jokes were not great and it just did not have the nostalgia that I wanted. My wife felt the same. We both loved the original, but did not like this new one. I will give it up and say some of the jokes made me chuckle, I appreciated Don Cheadle totally hamming it up and chewing the scenery and the kid who plays Lebron's youngest son was pretty impressive. Other than that though it was pretty boring. I also wished they had done something with the Goon Squad like they did with the Monstars. I wanted to see the NBA and WNBA players get their powers taken from them. I know it didn't fit with the theme of the movie, but that was one of my favorite parts of the original.

Now that I have had an entire weekend to sit on the movie, I have made a revelation. This movie wasn't made for me and my wife. The original was made for us because we were kids at the time of its release. That is who this new "Space Jam" is made for. This is a kids movie through and through. This movie is made for kids under ten. They will love it. My son is stoked to watch. He is nine. One of his buddies keeps telling him how great it is. He watched it with his family last week, they were chatting on Fortnite, and apparently he would not stop talking about it. I have seen some friends posting about watching it and saying that they enjoyed it so much because their kids enjoyed it. My wife is going out of town and my son and I will watch it together when she is gone. I think my daughter wants to join us as well. I will be very curious to see how much they like it, if they do, and if it changes my view of the movie. I'm also certain my son is going to love it. He keeps talking about it and he still hasn't watched it. My daughter will be happy just to see a bunch of cartoon characters on screen, and she likes to watch basketball with me, which there is plenty of in this movie. I will probably do a follow up after watching with them to let you all know how that experience goes. But for my first viewing, I realize that it is not a good movie, that it has many, many flaws and that a ton of things could be changed. But I also realize that I am not the audience this movie is going after.

Long story short, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is a total kids movie and that is who the producers want to watch. I am sure they understand that parents will be watching as well, but they most likely know that adults and parents are just there to start the movie and hang out. So while I did not think it was good, I am sure my kids will adore it. More to come.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "The Last Dance" Parts 6 and 7

I just finished up the most recent episodes of "The Last Dance", and this is why I was so interested in this doc. This is the stuff I was here for. These are the episodes I have been waiting for. This is the kind of new information I wanted to see, and hear from the man himself, in Michael Jordan. I was so enthralled by everything I watched.

The first episode talked about the first three peat. The team, and Jordan getting to that level, and all the stuff they went through after the third tit;e. This was when Jordan retired the first time. This was when his father was tragically killed. This was when all the theories came out that he was "forced" to retire by David Stern due to his gambling. All the people refuted everything, but still, seeing them questioned, and seeing them kind of shift and look around when they answered, it was glorious. I don't believe that Jordan was forced into retirement, but I also don't think he left to simply play baseball. He was at the top of his game, he was winning every year, he was making a ton of money and he was the biggest star in the world. I think he wanted a new challenge. He mastered the game of basketball, so I think he wanted to try to conquer a different sport, a sport he grew up playing, and falling in love with due to his dad. I think the passing of his dad was the main reason why he walked away. That, and that he was so tired from carrying the Bulls to three straight titles. The stuff with his dad was so upsetting and sad and just miserable too. To see the media drag him the way they did back then, that was disgusting. I cannot fathom what the media would do today. It would have been ten times worse. I will say, to see Jordan, his mom and brother talk about this was pretty upsetting, but I respect that they did it. It had to be really tough for them, but they still did it.

Then they shifted to his demeanor with his teammates. This was the stuff I have been waiting for. They touched on it a little in episode 7, but they really went into it in episode 8. In 7 we got to see Jordan going after a young rookie, Scott Burrell. The stuff he stood up to, the stuff he dealt with, the way he handled it, he is a much better dude than I am. He was a pro, and he knew why Jordan was doing what he did. We also got stories of him and Steve Kerr getting into it. He used to shit talk guys like Jud Buechler and Luc Longley. He went in on anyone that he felt didn't meet his standards. Jordan is the GOAT, and I would have hated playing on his team. But, he did win, and he helped to squeeze out every ounce of talent his teammates had.

They also talked about him coming out of retirement the first time, and how he had to reshape his body multiple times because of switching sports. Jordan was nothing if not maniacal when it came to getting the best out of himself. We also got to hear about the incredible pick up games that would go on while Jordan was filming "Space Jam". The people who made that movie built him a gym, and he had players fly in from everywhere to compete with him so he could get back into basketball shape. This was the season after the Magic ousted the Bulls in the playoffs. The only time I believe a Bulls team MJ was on, after getting past the Pistons, that didn't win a title. Reggie Miller, during a talking head interview talked about how MJ must have been a "vampire" because he filmed the movie all day, played games at night, lifted and did this everyday during the course of making "Space Jam". That was a special moment from this doc.

We also got a look into the 72 win Bulls team. This was the year after Jordan came back, the fight with Kerr during practice, and the way that Bulls team ran roughshod over the rest of the NBA. That team still irks me because they beat my team, the Supersonics, but damn it were they impressive. We also got more of the asshole Jordan during this season, and this part of the doc. I mentioned Burrell and Kerr, but he did this to everyone on the team. They asked him if he ever regrets being so mean, being described as a "mean person", and he said no, very bluntly I might add. He didn't care if he hurt your feelings, as long as you helped him win. I also liked that we got to see Gary Payton heavily interviewed during this episode, he is my second favorite Sonic ever behind Shawn Kemp. He was a great defender, and an even better shit talker. He talked about how he locked Jordan up to help the Sonics win two games in the Finals, and they showed the film to Jordan, and he kept laughing, and simply stated, "Payton didn't stop me, I had other things on my mind for those two games". We come to realize that Father's Day was the day of game six, and this was the first season, and Finals his dad wasn't at. The Bulls proceeded to dominate the Sonics to win the title, and they show Jordan just collapse in the locker room. I would be lying if I didn't say I teared up at this moment. It was a gut punch indeed. They finished the episode off with the East Finals in 1998 against the Pacers, and Reggie Miller saying that he was going to be the guy to retire MJ. Another great line from Reggie Miller.

These were the two best episodes to this point, and it has me so excited for the last two. It's bittersweet though because I don't want this doc to end, but I am so excited to see how they finish it. I imagine it is going to go out with a bang because, with every episode to this point, it has just gotten better and better and better.

This is an amazing docu series.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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