# Which Athlete Would You Most Like To See In A Biopic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885 "2014-08-19T10:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/41 "2014-08-20T12:32:11Z")
[Sir Peter Blake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Blake_%28yachtsman%29). Though maybe he doesn’t count as an athlete. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/42 "2014-08-20T14:49:55Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > It’s not impossible. Case in point: **Raging Bull**. It’s arguably Scorsese’s best film but the main character, Jake LaMotta, is such a thoroughly unpleasant asshole he ends up alienating everyone around him. I haven’t heard that Joe DiMaggio had a reputation of being a Ty Cobb-level ass. Heck, Cobb’s reputation was so toxic that even in Field of Dreams they make a joke about it. ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/43 "2014-08-20T16:25:07Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I haven’t heard that Joe DiMaggio had a reputation of being a Ty Cobb-level ass. Heck, Cobb’s reputation was so toxic that even in Field of Dreams they make a joke about it. Did DiMaggio have a reputation of being racist? The reason I ask is because obviously Ty Cobb is known for being a huge racist. Although I don’t think Cobb was as racist as people think…EDIT…I read your post wrong, I thought you said that DiMaggio had a Ty Cobb reputation. I heard a story once about DiMaggio’s family being held by authorities during WW2 while Joe was serving because they were Italian. I think the government even seized property of the DiMaggio family. Some have said that is what made Joe DiMaggio a bitter person. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/44 "2014-08-20T16:42:18Z")
Rick Ankiel comes to mind. And Wataru Misaka. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/45 "2014-08-20T20:40:04Z")
Rod Carew, only because he and I were born on the exact same day. But I’d be more inclined to watch Kareem Abdul Jabbar. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/46 "2014-08-20T22:10:56Z")
Another vote for a Moe Berg movie. I’d watch a movie about [Glenn Curtiss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Curtiss). Today he is best remembered as an aviation innovator, if he is remembered at all. In his day, he was known as a bicycle racer, motorcycle racer, and airplane racer. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/47 "2014-08-20T22:13:03Z")
For some reason I’d like to see Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in a biopic of Dave “Superdave” Osbourne. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/48 "2014-08-20T22:44:21Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > They’re actually making a biopic of **Robin Friday** , I think they’ve just started to film it. You’ve just made my day. And my Day has included me hitting a car on my bike so I was starting from not the best place. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/49 "2014-08-20T23:10:19Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > I remember when it came out and I think it lasted maybe 2 weeks at the most in theatres. The movie was filled with lies about Ty Cobb too. I’m kinda curious on why you thought Cobb was a good movie. The black guy in the movie, I’m guessing was suppose to be Cobb’s caretaker. In the movie it showed how the black guy hated Cobb but in reality, Cobbs real caretaker who was black, got along with Cobb greatly. I had no knowledge of Ty Cobb, so factual innacuracy about his character wasn’t any more relevant to me than it was watching _Braveheart_ or _I, Claudius_. It’s an interesting character study. You have an author debating over the morality of presenting a baseball hero as the public would like to see him, versus how the author sees him. And you have an old bastard who is aware of his personality flaws but wears them with pride and thinks he has every right to be crotchety as someone has a right to be a flag burning hippie, and who is also haunted by his upbringing and desparate to leave behind an image of himself as a great man. It’s basically a modernized Richard III. The main character doesn’t need to be likable, so long as he’s an interesting piece of work. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/50 "2014-08-21T02:24:24Z")
A quarterback out of a Division I-AA team is undrafted. He later gets picked up as a backup by a NFL team, who hasn’t had a winning season in 10 years. Their starting QB goes down to injury, he steps in and has a record-breaking season, winning the NFL MVP. The team rises out of nowhere and wins the Super Bowl! Then several years later, his skills apparently decline. After two teams no longer want him, a historical doormat picks him up (1 winning season in 25 years) as a backup. He then leads that team to the Super Bowl! Did I mention he started his pro football career in the Arena Football League? What hack wrote the Kurt Warner story? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885/51 "2014-08-21T03:08:59Z")
Joe Greenstein comes to mind. The scene where he sees a meeting of American Nazis, buys a baseball bat and busts up the joint could surely be made cinematic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-athlete-would-you-most-like-to-see-in-a-biopic/695885.md?page=2)