By Chris Littmann
Sports don’t start and end with a referee’s whistle. FirstCuts, a blog dedicated to sports culture, will cover everything outside the lines, from the games to the gear. Look for expanded FirstCuts content after the New Year.
Let’s be honest, there’s barely time to buy anything worth giving for the holidays, but don’t sweat it, I’ve got a few ideas from the world of TV and movies you can grab to satisfy the sports fan in your life.
A few of these ideas will require a little bit of a covert operation, possibly stealing your friend or family member’s iPod so you can download TV shows for them, but here goes:
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, “The Gang Gets Invincible†For the uninitiated, Sunny is about four friends running Paddy’s Pub in Philadelphia. The second episode of the Season 3 premiere broke into the world of sports (although it wasn’t the first time, because who can forget Mac’s idle threats to break Tom Brady’s arm).
In this episode, inspired by the movie Invincible, Mac, Dennis and Dee each decide to attend the open tryouts for the Philadelphia Eagles. The highlight is a toss-up between Elvin from The Cosby Show posing as Donovan McNabb or Charlie -- on an acid trip -- dancing around in his “Green Man” spandex suit. Toss in the inbred McPoyle family, and it’s a good time:
FirstCuts: Last-Minute Sports TV/DVD gifts
Download this one on Amazon Unbox for $1.99, or grab the whole season for $23.99. If you want more sports from this twisted crew, go check out the “Hundred Dollar Baby†episode. It’s got steroids and boxing with none of that Mitchell report fuss.
Seasons 1 and 2 are also available for $24.99 from Amazon.
These shows deserve honorable mention…
Friday Night Lights, Season 1 on DVD ($19.99) and Season 2 on Amazon Unbox ($1.89 per episode). You can’t go wrong with a little bit of Coach Eric Taylor and the Dillon Panthers during the holidays. It’s one of the best shows on TV.
Nimrod Nation. It’s the documentary following the life and times of Watersmeet and the oh-so-memorably named Watersmeet Nimrods. You might remember them from a SportsCenter commercial that asked “Without sports, who would cheer for the Nimrods.†It’s currently running on Sundance Channel, but you can get the series on iTunes if you click “Videos” on the Sundance site.
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Chris Littmann is an associate editor for Sporting News.
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
