By Darren Casserly
Now that everyone is stuck inside with nothing to do and no live sports to elevate one’s mood, I thought that now would be a good time to recommend some of the best sporting documentary films and series to get your sports fill in place of the live thing. A great sports documentary also means that even if you have no interest in the sport in question, the story should keep you entertained anyway. Whether it be professional skateboarding in the 1990s or minor league baseball in the 70s, the stories and the characters draw you in no matter what.
1.Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
This, while an obvious choice, is one that has to be made. This Netflix documentary series covers the life of New England Patriots tight end Hernandez and is a fascinating insight into the mind of not just a talented sportsperson, but also a complicated human being. This is a series that, while not very sport–related, shows what effect sport can have on people in a negative way.
2. Sunderland ‘Til I Die
This fly on the wall documentary series on Sunderland’s 2017/18 season will scratch the itch of any football fan which, unlike other series of its ilk, like Manchester City: All or Nothing, does not give this polished view of a perfectly run football club. It gives what feels like a real insight into how a football club in free–fall is run and what effect that has on staff and players. If you enjoy it, Season 2 is coming in April.
3. All This Mayhem
This 2014 documentary on the lives of a pair of professional skateboarding brothers may not seem all that interesting, but it is undoubtedly one of the underrated documentaries of all time and gives us a look at the dark side of professional skateboarding in America in the 1990’s and turns into so much more than that.
4. The Battered Bastards of Baseball
This is a true underdog story of the Portland Mavericks, which was an independent minor league baseball team in the 1970’s founded by the actor Bing Russell, father of Kurt, and is a documentary that is an inspiring and fun watch. It shows this team, like their name suggests, to be mavericks and winning while doing it. With a great cast of characters painting the picture of how this team achieved success, it is a documentary not worth missing, even for non-baseball fans.
5. Iverson
This is a documentary which, on the surface, looks like a run of the mill documentary, covering the life and career of Allen Iverson. However, it shows how the undersized skilled basketball player changed NBA culture, and how basketball players could be seen and what they look like. This is a documentary which perfectly captures not just Iverson as a player, but how he overcame so much adversity to even make it on an NBA court.
