56 thoughts on “Top 100 Sports Movies”

1. ONE THING THAT BREXIT WON’T CHANGE? BRITAIN’S LOVE FOR FEDERER

   ‘After Britain’s parliament again rejected a Brexit deal to withdraw from the European Union on Monday, there was little to encourage House Speaker John Bercow. But there was one exception: a tennis match on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. “Nothing is won tonight. In what do I take comfort? Well, Roger Federer put on a majestic masterclass in Miami last night, so I’m happy about that,” Bercow said

   It’s not the first time that Parliamentary Speaker Bercow has taken notice of Federer during these Brexit proceedings, though. He also used Federer to inject humour into the conversation in March. “I always say the best thing about Switzerland is not its watches or its financial services or its chocolate. The best thing about Switzerland is Roger Federer,” Bercow said.’

   Conservative members of Parliament criticised Bercow last year for “Taking too much time away from Parliamentary business to watch Roger Federer matches.”

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   1. Hey Bob…that is interesting that he would mention Roger during such important times in British history….just shows we all have heroes to follow and look up to. Good stuff.

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2. BRUCE [Part 2 should interest Steve in particular]
   A few months ago on this site some know-it-all taunted me with the claim that “Old Father Time has caught up with Roger Federer,” my own top sports idol. However as one my top modern cinema action heroes Dalton said in Road House “Opinions Vary!”

   FOX SPORTS NEWS 1 APRIL 2019. “Roger Federer isn’t slowing down. In fact, the 37-year-old may be getting better. En route to his 101st career title in Miami on Sunday, Federer recorded a career-best, and also accomplished something he’d only managed five times previously in his career.

   Federer cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 win over John Isner in the final. But like, really cruised. The Swiss maestro, who became tennis’ first repeat champion of 2019 [having collected the ATP Dubai 500 trophy at the beginning of March], won 32 of 35 service points against the outmatched American.
   The three lost points were the fewest he’d ever dropped in a final; bettering a performance from four years ago in Basel against David Goffin, where he lost five points. It was also only the sixth time in 1,460 tour-level matches that Federer didn’t drop a single point on his first serve.”

   THE NEW YORKER SPORTS COVERAGE 1 APRIL 2019
   “Roger Federer, who is now thirty-seven years old, continues to reveal what he means to tennis. At the Miami Open, for the past two weeks, he was the only player who could bring the Stadium Court to life. When Federer played most people, as was clear from the cheers as the players entered, were there to see Federer. There were a lot of tennis devotees on hand, it was clear, but there were plenty of casual sports fans, too, people who wanted to get a live glimpse of Federer, the same way that people with only a passing interest in basketball go to see LeBron James when he’s in town.” [“People will come Ray! People will come!”- Field of Dreams movie 1989]

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   1. Hey Bob…I acknowledge that your knowledge of Roger is way better than mine. I do now that Father Time is undeafeted….and eventually it will take out Roger, Tom Brady (American NFL star) and others that have defied time. My hopes would be that Roger has a wonderful 2019…maybe even winning another Major title….but it would be awesome to see him retire before Father Time catches up to him. Another tennis legend…though not as impressive as Roger…Jimmy Conners had a great late age run…..but after that time ended…he limped to retirement…because he kept playing. I do not wish to see that happen to Roger. On the movie side….Cary Grant retired when he was still on top (his 1960s were statistically one of the best decades of his career)…..after Walk Don’t Run…he never appeared on screens again…..the movie public never saw him age. I think it would be good for Roger to do that too. Good tennis feedback.

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      1. HI BRUCE Thanks for sharing with me some of your own tennis playing experiences. Also your retirement advice is good but I think there is so much money in tennis these days, even for just getting through a few rounds and attracting a certain amount of sponsorship, that many players are tempted to stay on the merry go round longer than they should.

         Roger not only gets massive sponsorship – he is the most sponsored sportsman of any description on earth at the moment – but his appearance fees are also enormous, he earns good prize money and he runs his own sports management company which organizes lucrative tennis events all over the place. Consider also the following information –

         “Roger Federer will look back on this summer of 2018 as enriching. In July, after two decades as a Nike endorser, Federer signed a 10-year, $300 million deal with Japanese clothier Uniqlo—with a clause ensuring that the 37-year-old will continue to be paid even after he stops playing tennis. Here are the top 10 athletes by endorsement income for 2018. (Source: Forbes Rich List)

         1. ROGER FEDERER/$65 MILLION
         2. LEBRON JAMES/$52 MILLION
         3. CRISTIANO RONALDO/$47 MILLION
         4. STEPHEN CURRY/$42 MILLION
         5. TIGER WOODS/$42 MILLION
         6. PHIL MICKELSON/$37 MILLION
         7. RORY MCILROY/$34 MILLION
         8. KEI NISHIKORI/$33 MILLION
         9. KEVIN DURANT/$32 MILLION
         10. USAIN BOLT & JORDAN SPIETH/$30 MILLION”

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3. MALE PLAYERS WITH MOST SINGLES TITLES IN THE OPEN ERA OF TENNIS
   Jimmy Connors/109
   Roger Federer/100
   Ivan Lendl/94
   Rafael Nadal/80
   John McEnroe/77
   Rod Laver/74
   Novak Djokovic/73
   Bjorn Borg/64
   Pete Sampras/64

   RICHEST TENNIS PLAYERS –NET WORTH IN USD-BOTH GENDERS
   Roger Federer/450million – gets massive sponsorship via unprecedented popularity
   Novak Djokovic/180 million
   Serena Williams/180 million
   Andre Agassi/175 million
   Rafael Nadal/160 million
   Pete Sampras/150 million
   Maria Sharapova/135 million – a lot comes from modelling work
   Venus Williams/100 million
   SELECTED OTHERS McEnroe 60 mil/ Borg 29 mil/Connors 12 mil

   Others have currently larger fortunes from tennis than even Roger has built up but they have accumulated those fortunes by using tennis simply as a springboard for branching out into Howard Hughes type “tycoonery”. For example Ion Tiriac has a reported net worth ofUSD 2 billion – although he wasn’t a brilliant singles player, the Romanian was more successful in doubles, winning 22 career titles including the French Open in 1970. After retiring from tennis, Tiriac got into business and became the first Romanian to be included in the Forbes list of billionaires in 2007. He now owns the Madrid Open and other businesses in the banking, insurance, auto and travel industries.

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   1. Hey Bob….looks like I should have stuck with tennis…lol. One summer during my college days at ODU….I went 37-1 n singles competition (I kept a log). I thought I was the bomb….until I played the guy that beat me……he was so much better than me……I actually played very well against him….but his talent was so great…I could only manage to win a grand total of 7 games in three sets….and took a loss of 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. At the end of the match…he shook my hand and told me….”I like playing you….you make me run more than I am used to.” this was said while was covered in sweat and he looked like he had just come out of an air-conditioned room.

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      1. Hmmmm….the edit button is NOT WORKING AGAIN! I strongly dislike this new UMR forced on me theme. The above comment should say…37-1 in singles competition.

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4. Movie over Rocky! Have you started to eat your words yet Teach? Just as The Master sought to demolish one of my movie idols I thought I detected a certain relish in your proclamation the other week that “Father Time was catching up on” one of my sporting idols, Roger Federer.

   However yesterday Roger [38 this year] made history for the umpteenth time by being only the 2nd male player in the tennis Open Era history to win 100 titles overall. The previous one to reach that benchmark [equivalent to crashing the fabled Cogerson 100 million dollars barrier!] was Jimmy Connors and that was a quarter century ago away back in the early 90s. Jimbo texted Roger saying “Welcome to the 100 club. It was getting lonely in here!”

   To win that title yesterday Roger had to beat a top 10 player 17 years his junior, Stefanos Tsipsipas the latest professional tennis tour sensation from Greece who had been on a great run of wins recently.

   Please see Part 2 which might be of passing interest to you as (1) a statistician (2) a former tennis buff. As the other Brucie chided his beaten adversary in 1993’s Striking Distance “Who’s got the upper hand now?”

   Even The Master if he were around couldn’t pour cold water on Roger’s achievements if Hirsch thought that he, Joel, knew everything about sport as well as movies [and indeed it wouldn’t surprise me he did he did think that!]

   Seriously though I hope that Team Cogerson are all well on the way back to full health

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5. Here you go Bruce – the top 50 Sports Movies according to Vulture, along with mini-reviews. Do you agree with their top 10? How many have you seen amigo?

   https://www.vulture.com/article/best-sports-movies-ever.html

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