Site Admin
Larry Murphy
Nov 19, 2014
Published in
The Athletes
In the 70’s and 80’s, there were a lot of good Made for TV movies, one of which starred Peter Strauss, as Larry Murphy, a convicted felon with the gift for middle distance running. Essentially, it is shown that he is good enough to make the United States Olympic team, and is even given a trial to prove it, only to have it puled right from under him. He never did get a chance to prove he could be the best, unless you count what he did against a stopwatch.
The Bullet Points:
TV Movie Appeared:
The Jericho Mile (1979)
Actor:
Peter Strauss
Why You Should Vote For Him:
It was a great story, and was one of the most respected TV movies of its day.
Why You Should Not Vote For Him:
Technically, we never saw him compete.
Lance Sullivan
Nov 19, 2014
Published in
The Athletes
We have to say this about Morris Chestnut: we have no problem believing completely that he was a star Running Back, which puts him already ahead of several other fictitious football players. In “The Best Man” we learn that his character, Lance Sullivan was a star Running Back in College and in the sequel made fourteen years later, we saw him break the Rushing record as a professional with the New York Giants. On the surface it seems like a certain surefire contender right? Not exactly.
In the first film we never saw him play, and when he broke the Rushing record in the sequel it was more of a tribute to his dying wife. Basically, the fact that he was a star Running Back, could have easily been transformed into star musician, or just a generic player so to speak.
The Bullet Points:
Movies Appeared:
The Best Man (1999)
The Best Man Holiday (2013)
Actor:
Morris Chestnut
Position Played:
Running Back
Played for:
The New York Giants
Why You Should Vote For Him:
He did break the NFL Rushing Record after all
Why You Should Not Vote For Him:
Football is so far down on the list of the themes in this pair of films.
{youtube}SicQgdN-tZo{/youtube}
Johnny Walker
Nov 19, 2014
Published in
The Athletes
Although most people labeled Mickey Rourke as nuts when he gave up Hollywood for boxing, he was an accomplished amateur boxer and natural for the role of Johnny Walker (don’t you alcoholics love that name?), a movie he took three years before he temporarily gave up acting. Rourke just fit as the man one punch away from serious brain damage, exhibiting the kind of brooding sympathy that only he could deliver in the late 80’s. In retrospect, this was almost training for what would be his comeback role as Randy “The Ram” Robinson from “The Wrestler”, another nominee here, but this is a performance that while forgotten, might be worth a thought.
The Bullet Points:
Movie Appeared:
Homeboy (1988)
Actor:
Mickey Rourke
Why You Should Vote For Him:
Seriously, we are all in for the character name alone.
Why You Should Not Vote For Him:
Boxers on the nominee list are flooded here. Did this character stand out enough? Probably not.
Jamal Wallace
Nov 19, 2014
Published in
The Athletes
This one almost escaped us. From the brilliant Gus Van Sant film, “Finding Forrester” we have a film about friendship when a reclusive writer Sean Connery) befriends an inner city kid (Rob Brown) who is adept at poetry as he is in Basketball.
Jamal Wallace (Brown) has a chance to receive a full scholarship based on both his academics and hoops skills and through his new friendship with Forrester (Connery) they learn from each other. Realistically, Basketball plays a small role here, but this is a great film to watch.