Bleacher Report has a list of the 40 greatest sports movies. I looked at it, but I’m not really familiar with most of the movies on it.

I have never really liked movies about sports. First, most of them seem to be variations on the theme of “underdog defies odds to win”, which is boring and predictable, in my opinion. Second, they feel artificial because there are usually a host of extra factors introduced to provide the drama. This is necessary, because by itself a fictional or fictionalized sporting event contains very little dramatic potential. There needs to be something else involved, but it usually feels contrived.

I’d like to see a movie about a sports team that was just utterly dominant all the time. A team full of spotless personalities that consistently shredded the “loveable underdog” competition. The only question is: how could you get drama out of that? It could only work as a comedy, I think, and then only because of its contradictions with the expected.

Or maybe such a movie already exists. I wouldn’t know. I don’t like sports movies.