Today we tackled the issue of how celebrity is depicted in the Sports Film. To follow up on our discussion of sports stars’ fractured personae, here‘s an article in which Pittsburgh Steeler’s quarterback Ben Roethlisberger blames his recent behavior on “Big Ben.” Key quote:
“Big Ben just kept building up. It ended up coming off the field. It kept taking over. Superman kept taking over Clark Kent and you just never saw who Ben Roethlisberger was any more,” Roethlisberger told KDKA-TV. “At the time, I didn’t see it. I was gaining everything but I was losing a lot of who I was raised to be. It got so overwhelming, it consumed me.”
Following up on When We Were Kings, the No Mas crew (who will be back next week when we screen “Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No”) commissioned several videos and artworks to commemorate the Rumble in the Jungle. I didn’t realize what James Brown’s rhinestone-studded “GFOS” stood for before. Thanks, James Blagden!
Finally, in anticipation of tonight’s NBA Finals Game 7, we have a clip of Kobe Bryant’s cameo on Modern Family:
