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Raheel Ramzanali: 4 other present day sports movie sequels we need

Raheel Ramzanali: 4 other present day sports movie sequels we need
The success of Cobra Kai should spur more sequels. YouTube.com

YouTube Red hit it out of the park with the critically acclaimed series Cobra Kai. The series follows present day Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence and how they’re dealing with the fallout of the legendary Crane Kick. I highly recommend you watch it not only for the nostalgia, but because it’s a really good show on an emotional and storyline level. While I was watching it this weekend, I started to wonder about some of my favorite sports movies growing up and how the characters would be doing in 2018. So, here are four movies I want to see done in Cobra Kai style with a sequel:

  1. Mighty Ducks - Emilio Estevez is a young 55 right now and has to be in this present day sequel as the commissioner of a local hockey league that is struggling to find teams because kids are more interested in playing Fortnite and not an actual sport.  It’s an age old, “kids are too lazy, but we can’t let the sport die” plot. In a moment of inspiration, Gordon Bombay creates a Facebook account despite all the threat of losing his data and friends the entire roster from the first movie. In a tragic turn of events, Coach Bombay finds out that his star Charlie Conway passed away in a freak scuba diving accident while off the coast of Mexico during a summer trip. Charlie left behind a 12-year-old son that lost all hope in mankind, but when Coach Bombay messages him, he finds new hope. Coach Bombay ends up mentoring the kid, they have the typical fight because Coach wants Charlie Jr. to be more like his dad, fast forward a few minutes and they end up becoming friends again when Coach Bombay gives Charlie Jr. his dad’s hockey stick. The kid ends up recruiting a bunch of kids to the hockey league and they save it. The end.

  2. The 6th Man - I watched this Marlon Wayans classic at least once a month growing up. A&K ALL THE WAY! Few movies capture the heartache and love of brotherhood like The 6th Man did for me. However, the sequel isn’t as fun and loving as the original. After the Huskies won the national title, we find out that Kenny Tyler was actually diagnosed with schizophrenia when he tried to tell everyone about seeing his brother Antoine. Kenny spent the next 20 years trying to convince everybody that he really did see Antoine, but nobody believed him. In fact, he was put into a mental hospital and on a heavy dose of medicines. There’s actually no silver lining to this movie. It’s a dark and uncomfortable look at the dependency of medicinal solutions to mental problems in our country. Think Requiem for a Dream meets The 6th Man.

  3. Above The Rim - I always considered this movie to be the Allen Iverson story so it’s only right that Kyle Watson went on to lead the 76ers to the NBA Finals with a D-league team. Kyle is now 42-years-old and trying to find a new purpose in his life. He tried playing in a 3-on-3 league, but was always late to show up and sometimes didn’t show up to the games. In a moment of self-realization, Kyle decides he needs to mentor the youth. Kyle still has a nice relationship with Shep so he creates an AAU team featuring the best New York City ballers. This is where the movie picks up because Kyle and Shep find out about the dirty underbelly of the AAU circuit. They go on a quest of mentoring young kids and cleaning up the summer basketball circuit that once made them happy to play the sport they love so much. The final scene is them cutting the ribbon on the brand new Birdie and Buggalo Community Center.

  4. Rookie of the Year - Henry Rowengartner experienced success at such an early age that he, like many child stars, had to deal with the consequences of said fame. Unfortunately, that “dealing with” came at the cost of a crippling addiction to drugs. One night Henry was so wasted that he had a dream of being in a table receiving shots from a faceless doctor. The dream felt too real. It wasn’t a dream, it was his life. We keep seeing flashbacks to this dream and piece-by-piece we find out that his rocket arm wasn’t because of some lame thing like his tendons being “a little too tight” after the cast came off - it was because he was the subject of some illegal government testing on kids. With every clue he gets closer to finding out who did this to him and eventually the faceless man has a face: It was his mom’s boyfriend Jack Bradfield. Henry eventually hits his mom’s ex-bf with a 100-mph fastball and gets a congressional medal for shedding light on these illegal experiments.

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The Astros beat the Phillies, 2-1. Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images.

Cam Smith hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to give the Houston Astros a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

The rookie's second hit of the game came off Orion Kerkering (5-3) and gave the Astros their fourth straight win.

Brandon Marsh tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the top of the inning to end the Phillies' 26-inning scoreless streak.

The Astros took a 1-0 lead on Yainer Diaz’s RBI single in the second inning. They only managed three more hits off Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez, who struck out 11 with zero walks over six innings. Sanchez has not issued a walk in three straight starts.

Hunter Brown lowered his league best ERA to 1.74 by scattering three singles over seven shutout innings, with nine strikeouts. He did not allow a runner to reach second base.

Bryan Abreu (3-3) struck out Trea Turner to end the eighth, and then struck out Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, and Nick Castellanos in the ninth.

Abreu joined Julia Morales after the game and talked about his impressive performance!

Rafael Marchán had two of the Phillies' four hits. Bryson Stott reached base twice and scored the Phillies' lone run.

Key moment

Smith’s RBI.

Key stat

Brown’s 1.74 ERA is the fourth best in Astros history through 16 starts and the best since Justin Verlander posted a 1.60 ERA through 16 starts in 2018.

Up next

The Astros open a three-game series against the Cubs on Friday with LHP Brandon Walter (0-1 3.80 ERA) on the mound.

The Phillies open a three-game series at the Braves on Friday with RHP Mick Abel (2-1 3.47 ERA) against Atlanta RHP Bryce Elder (2-4 4.77).

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