LATE IN NORTH DALLAS FORTY, the 1979 film adaptation of former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent’s roman à clef, actor Mac Davis is washing down unprescribed painkillers with Budweiser while recounting a community-service visit with a YMCA team: “I give ’em my usual bullshit,” he tells a teammate played by Nick Nolte. “Y’know, football, character development . . . all that crap.” Davis might as well have been summing up the modern sports movie. In real life, sports are about passion, hatred, winning, and above all, suspense. We huddle in bars, grip the steering wheel too tight, or explode with tension on the couch because we don’t know how it will end. But when sports go to the multiplex, every team is one of…
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