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One of the Greatest Sports Scenes in Movie History Came in a Non-Sports Movie: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Every single thing about the 'Swingers' NHL '93 scene was perfect

Jimmy Traina

1. During this time with no sports, you're going to see lists and bracket tournaments to determine the greatest sports movie of all time (even though every website and blog has done this a million times already).

The usual cast of characters will be debated: Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Hoosiers, blah, blah, blah.

However, one of—if not the greatest—sports scenes in movie history came in a non-sports movie: Swingers.

I recently watched the 1996 classic during a quarantined Saturday afternoon and was reminded of how perfect the NHL '93 scene was from start to finish. Allow me to break down all the ways this scene beautifully captured the way a game between two friends would go down in real life: 

• Friends arguing over which team they chose to play with. This always happened when you played NHL '93 with your buddies.

• Constant, never-ending trash talk. Always a staple when you played NHL '93. There was no point in playing if there wasn't going to be trash talk.

• One friend annoying another by doing play-by-play. (This was always my speciality.)

• The guy who scores a goal taunting his opponent by making him watch an instant replay. Classic move.

• Relentless bickering.

• Discussion about how much it sucked that the makers of the game got rid of fighting.

• Unpausing the game on the sneak after your opponent paused the action.

Of course, the highlight of the scene was Vince Vaughn's character vowing to make Wayne Gretzky's head bleed and dropping the lines, "There it is, Mikey, check it out. His head's bleeding. Mikey, check it out. Little Wayne's legs are shaking all over."

I will put this scene up against any scene in any sports movie ever as the greatest of all time because there has never been a sports scene more realistic than this one.

2. It won't get the kind of hype the The Last Dance is getting, but ESPN's E:60 documentary, Project 11, on Alex Smith's recovery from a gruesome leg injury suffered 17 months ago, airing this Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, looks like a must-watch.

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3. Here's a pretty wild stat about Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

4. Good Morning America reporter Will Reeve was caught without his pants on this morning. Reeve caught some flak on Twitter, but we're not going to fault anyone for going pantsless while quarantined during a pandemic. This is on the camera person.

Reeve handled the funny incident like a champ.

5. This is a phenomenal Jeopardy! moment from Monday night's show.

6. Sopranos stars and the hosts of the new Talking Sopranos podcast, Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, joined the latest episode of the SI Media Podcast. We went in-depth on many aspects of the show: the writing, whether things were ad-libbed, the deaths of Bobby and Christopher, Pine Barrens and much more. The guys also defended the Knicks and James Dolan.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: This Jerry Seinfeld bit about going to the supermarket hits even harder during this time.

8. SPORTS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: I love this clip of Tom Glavine throwing pitch after pitch at Dale Murphy until he finally hit him, and then just walking off the mound like no big deal after he gets ejected.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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