What’s good? Welcome back to the round two of the Sportcodex Sports Movies brackets, today being the final day of Round Two. After this, we are down to the final sixteen. As always, let’s check out yesterday’s results before jumping into the new matchups.
First up we had yet another tiebreaker with the 56th seed Kingpin tying up with the 41st seed Coach Carter. Because it is the higher seed, Coach Carter will sneak into the next round.
This one wasn’t as close. The 23rd seed Remember The Titans smoked the 55th seed For Love Of The Game, with a vote total of 72.7%. If I’m not mistaken, Kevin Costner only has one movie left in this entire bracket.
The next one was even more lopsided, with the 43rd seed Happy Gilmore taking down the 11th seed Love & Basketball with 80% of the votes.
Finally, in what I thought was the toughest matchup of the night, the 44th seed White Men Can’t Jump easily dispatched of the 53rd seed Any Given Sunday with 77.8% of the votes.
Let’s get on to tonight’s matchups.
13. Warrior vs 45. Invincible
Warrior
Stars: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton
Directed by: Gavin O’Connor
RT Score: 87.5%
Path So Far: Beat 52nd seed Ali with 53.8% of votes.
Invincible
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear
Directed by: Ericson Core
RT Score: 72.5%
Path So Far: Beat 20th seed The Way Back with 75% of votes.
This is an interesting matchup. For starters, Warrior is undoubtedly the better movie of the two, yet it only just squeezed past a low seed, whereas Invincible comfortably beat the 20th seed. Funnily enough, that movie it eliminated, also directed by Gavin O’Connor. Revenge match for Warrior perhaps?
14. Slap Shot vs 46. Talladega Nights
Slap Shot
Stars: Paul Newman, Strother Martin
Directed by: George Roy Hill
RT Score: 87%
Path So Far: Beat 51st seed Victory with 60% of the votes
Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Stars: Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen
Directed by: Adam McKay
RT Score: 72%
Path So Far: Destroyed the 19th seed Rudy with 80% of the votes
Both of these movies are comedies so quite similar in that sense. They also both feature Academy Award nominated directors in George Roy Hill and Adam McKay respectively. Really the only differences here are the time in which they came out. Will recency bias play a part or will a classic win?
15. Field Of Dreams vs 47. Blades Of Glory
Field Of Dreams
Stars: Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta
Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
RT Score: 86.5%
Path So Far: Beat the 50th seed Lords of Dogtown with 53.3% of the votes
Blades Of Glory
Stars: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder
Directed by: Josh Gordon & Wil Speck
RT Score: 69% (nice)
Path So Far: Shockingly beat the 18th seed The Hurricane with 58.3% of the votes
This one could go either way. Field of Dreams is a classic and might’ve been the most famous baseball movie until Moneyball and Brad Pitt’s handsome face showed up. Whereas Blades of Glory is a fun, silly comedy that got new life breathed into it after Kanye West sampled it in one of his songs.
16. Miracle vs 17. The Karate Kid
Miracle
Stars: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson
Directed by: Gavin O’Connor
RT Score: 85.5%
Path So Far: Beat 49th seed Tin Cup with 60% of the votes
The Karate Kid
Stars: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
RT Score: 85.5%
Path So Far: Beat 48th seed Above The Rim with 75% of the votes.
Well, matchups don’t get much closer than this. The two consecutive seeds, with the same exact RT score, only being separated by Miracle’s slightly higher audience score. I’ve mentioned Gavin O’Connor’s impact on sports movies with Miracle, Warrior and The Way Back all appearing, but John G. Avildsen still has two films in the bracket as well, The Karate Kid and Rocky. This one is gonna be a battle.
There we have it guys, the final matchups of Round Two. As always, follow along by following The Sportcodex on Twitter. There are some tough matchups coming up in the next round, let me tell you.
Anyways, until next time… PEACE!