I assume (stupidly maybe) that we have all seen Million Dollar Baby, the best picture winner from 2004. I don't know about you, but I remember Clint Eastwood walking around all curmudgeonly, whispering things under his breath in the way only Clint could. Complaining about how much he hates female boxers.
It was a fun time. The movie was actualy based on short stories written by Jerry Boyd, under the name F.X. Toole, in a book titled Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner. Boyd was actually a trainer and a cutman (he has a show in development on AMC under that title), and Hilary Swank's character Maggie is based on a girl he worked with.
I know some will argue the book is always better than the movie, and that is a debate I enjoy indulging every chance I get. While Rope Burns was published to good reviews, I never really felt a part of any of the short stories. On the other hand, that movie (which seems to be polarizing, some loved it some hated it) really does draw the viewer in. It makes you feel a part of it, where the book does not capture the attention in that way.
No matter how curmudgeonly you are, or how much you hate women's sports, like Eastwood's character Maggie slowly tears away at you until you finally get behind her (spiritually, not sexually). This is two weeks in a row the book has been outdone by the film (Hoop Dreams), and the great sports books need to fight back.
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