Sport is so much more than games or matches. The stories behind the athletes can be infinitely more compelling that what happens on the playing field.
Or in the ring.
Boxing has become less than an afterthought in America. No casual fan can name the contenders in each weight class, and those who are willing to plunk down $50 for a heavyweight championship are inevitably disappointed.
And yet fascinating and moving stories can be extracted from the sport's hallowed past and lackluster present.
Ken Burns' "Unforgivable Blackness" and Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" are very different films, but each director starts with a story about boxing and takes us somewhere much more meaningful.
"Blackness" is a four-hour PBS documentary detailing the life and death of Jack Johnson, the world's first African-American heavyweight who faced down oppression with a gold-toothed smile and infuriated white America by doing what he wanted when he wanted.
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"Baby" is a bare-bones drama about the loving relationship formed between an aspiring female fighter and her crabby old trainer.
Boxing is the backdrop in both cases but simply serves to establish stories about much more than sports.
This is especially true in Johnson's case. Here was a man so reviled, newspapers called for his blood in print. He was arrogant and flamboyant, a 1900s Dennis Rodman.
As he pummeled his opponents he would carry on conversations with fans in the front row. And he would destroy the men he met in the ring. He finished one title fight with a punch so hard he flew over the other boxer's body and had to pick teeth from his glove.
But while the boxing in "Blackness" may be the initial draw, it's more of a framing for Johnson's poignant and important story.
He had a taste for white prostitutes and didn't hide that from the racist, bloodthirsty media. White America hated him.
After he knocked out Jim Jeffries, white America's last hope to end the "Ethiopian's" reign of terror in 1910, riots ensued all over the country, and black people were killed in the streets.
Johnson's life was privileged because of his fortune, but he couldn't escape tragedy. His first wife committed suicide in their home, and he later had to flee the country after the American government called for his arrest on the phony charge of transporting his next wife across state lines before they were married. Johnson escaped the police by posing as a member of a Negro league baseball team.
"Million Dollar Baby" isn't quite so framed in fact, but it's a remarkable journey for any fan of sports or movies. The film is so well-made that its every attempt to tug our emotions is a smashing success. It moves from funny to inspiring to devastating without a single moment wasted.
Eastwood directed the film and stars as the grizzled trainer Frankie, who initially refuses to train Hilary Swank's Maggie Fitzgerald. He comes around and takes her to the pinnacle of female boxing before something terrible happens, and we learn how deep their feelings for each other actually run.
The other central character in the film is Scrap, played by Morgan Freeman, who says repeatedly in his narration, "boxing is an unnatural act." The point doesn't truly resonate until we learn Frankie and Maggie's fate. Then we're left to wonder if there's anger behind it - if Scrap and Frankie feel a lifetime spent in boxing is a lifetime wasted. They're like logs being pushed through a wood chipper.
The feelings behind both films couldn't be more real. It's terrible to watch the stills and video clips of Jack Johnson's knockout at the hands of Jess Willard, the true "great white hope" who validated every racist fan's disgusting belief that Johnson was less than a human being and unworthy of holding the heavyweight title. The music and narration packaged with this scene make it the most effective point in Burns' masterpiece.
"Million Dollar Baby," is equally stirring. It's a movie that draws you in and then breaks your heart.
But that's how sports can be.
"Unforgivable Blackness" premiered on PBS over a week ago but is being rebroadcast every few nights. It's worth looking for.
"Million Dollar Baby" finally came to Albuquerque this weekend and is up for seven Oscars.
