FirstCuts: ‘The Wire’ Sports Retrospective, Part 1

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 games to gear.
The Wire is that show everyone hounds you about. The show everyone tells you that you should watch, but you never get around to it.
I finally got around to a marathon-style viewing of four seasons before this fifth season started, and I feel privileged to be watching easily the best show I’ve ever seen. It’s as raw and real as any show you’ll ever see. Since the show takes its final bow on Sunday (9 p.m. ET, HBO), I thought we’d pull together the sports-related moments from the best TV drama of my lifetime. (I say we, because I lend a big hat tip to SN’s Jim Ryan, Paul Day and Bethlehem Shoals for some help on this one.) Without further ado (in chronological order):
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Season 1, Episode 3: “The Buys.” In this episode, it’s an old Golden Gloves boxing poster that finally gives Jimmy McNulty and company a face to put with the name Avon Barksdale. The legend of Lester Freamon begins with this find.
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Season 1, Episode 4: “Old Cases.†Father of the year Jimmy McNulty takes junkie/informant Bubbles to his kid’s soccer game.
Season 1, Episode 7: “One Arrest.†Fast forward to the 2:10 mark of this video (what comes before and after is a little NSFW) for this great exchange:
Omar: You go to Edmonson, right? Yeah, you was ahead of me. I remember you was the first brother I ever see play that sport with a stick. Uh … what’s it called?
Bunk: Lacrosse man.
Omar: Fo sho.
Bunk: I was all-metro attack. Prep school boys used to pee themselves when they’d see the old Bunk coming at ‘em.
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Season 1, Episode 9: “Game Day.†It’s our introduction to Proposition Joe Stewart, the king of the east side Baltimore drug trade. Always the hustler, Prop Joe keeps a ringer on the bench until the ante is upped to $100,000 in a bet with the west side crew for their annual basketball game. Prop Joe wins.
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Season 3, Episode 1: “Time After Time.” McNulty and Bunk have their kids at an Orioles game, but with bodies dropping left and right, the Bunk can’t stick around for long. Who leaves their kids with McNulty, honestly? This episode also featured Burrell getting in some golf practice in his office and a little prison baseball with soon-to-be released Dennis “Cutty†Wise, Avon and Wee-Bey.
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More: Check out Part 2 of the retrospective.↵