As part of Sportsnet magazine’s upcoming sports movie package we’re seeking to determine the greatest fictional athlete in film history. And we need your help to do it.
“Greatness” is open to interpretation. Some of the names appearing in the bracket overcame extreme adversity, others single-handedly took their team from laughing-stock to champion, while a select few were flat-out dominant in their respective sports.
Each day this week on sportsnet.ca we’ll be asking you to cast your vote, with the final results appearing in the next issue of Sportsnet magazine. But with a seemingly endless list of worthy candidates and a rule that only one athlete from a movie can be represented in the 16-athlete bracket, first we’ll need your help to whittle the list down.
Still time to vote on the following matchups: Amanda Whurlitzer vs. Kelly Leak; Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed; Willie Mays Hayes vs. “Wild Thing” Rick Vaughn
Which brings us to our final play-in game, in which two best friends and sporting pioneers put their legacies on the line:
Joe Cooper, Milwaukee Beers
From an unemployed 23-year-old to a living legend in the span of just five years, Coop not only invented the sport he’d come to dominate but retired as one of the most clutch Baseketball players of all-time. His most iconic on-field moment came at the 1997 Denslow Cup, when, after replacing child workers with adults at a factory manufacturing his own clothing line in Calcutta, he helped the Beers erase a 16-point deficit in the seventh inning to hoist the trophy — and get the girl.
Doug Remer, Milwaukee Beers
Co-founder of the sport along with Coop, Remer boasted a much flashier game (as in: flashy enough to land Victoria Silvstedt, Playmate of the Year) and was the architect of some of the greatest Baseketball moves of all-time. When it comes to psyche-outs, nobody is better.