'Big Fan' captures the extreme of sports mania

We scream and howl at people we don't know – probably never will know – and we spend good money for the right to do so. Events that have absolutely nothing to do with our lives can send us into an emotional tailspin. Our passions are thoroughly irrational and we couldn't care less.

We are, of course, sports fans. We belong to the same worldwide tribe as Paul Aufiero (or "Paul from Staten Island," as he identifies himself on his favorite radio call-in show), the New York Giants fanatic who suffers a big breakdown over the course of Big Fan, which opens today.

How big a fan is Paul? He gets beaten to a pulp by his favorite player, a fictitious and ferocious defensive lineman named Quantrell Bishop. And once he comes out of his coma, he's the one who feels guilty.

Put yourself in Paul's shoes. You live and die with every Cowboys game. You approach Dallas linebacker DeMarcus Ware at a club and he pummels you within an inch of your life. Then you apologize for creating a Jessica Simpson-sized distraction to the team.

Big Fan writer-director Robert Siegel, a New Yorker who grew up cheering for the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Steelers, conceived of the film as "a tale of unrequited love." It's a condition with which most sports fans are familiar. "Fandom in general is a one-way street," Siegel says by phone. "It's easy to think you have a relationship with players, but you don't. Players talk about fans in the abstract, as in 'the fans were great.' But it's not like they know you're alive."

That's the rub for Paul, played by Patton Oswalt. He lives his life as a regular caller on the airwaves of WFAN, where he wages verbal warfare with rabid Eagles fan Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport), and in the parking lot of Giants Stadium. He never has tickets, so he watches the games on a rickety TV powered by his car. He worships fervently but from a distance.

Reality intrudes when that distance is brutally shortened by his idol's fists. Now what? How to continue the rituals of fandom? How to go back to the way life was? His sports fan's cognitive dissonance – that mental disconnect that allows us to invest overpowering feelings in millionaire strangers – is thrown for a violent loop. Paul's escapist fantasy has become an existential crisis.

Big Fan is hardly the first fictional attempt to explore the fan's psyche. In Tony Scott's The Fan (1996), a deranged loner and San Francisco Giants fan played by Robert De Niro terrorizes a spoiled, Barry Bonds-like superstar (Wesley Snipes) and his family. The slugger has nothing but contempt for the fans. The stalker takes personal offense. The Fan eventually becomes a rote, harebrained thriller, but until then it brings a vicarious jolt to viewers fed up with such easy scapegoats as astronomic salaries and aloof jocks.

But Big Fan's best antecedent comes from the world of literature, not film. Frederick Exley's autobiographical novel A Fan's Notes (1968) is, like Big Fan, about a New York Giants partisan with an otherwise empty life. He lives with "a feeling that football was an island of directness in a world of circumspection. In football a man was asked to do a difficult and brutal job, and either he did it or got out." He finds himself "relying on the Giants as a life-giving, exalting force." Exley's protagonist has demons far stronger than Paul's: He drinks with a sense of perpetual desperation, and he spends much of the book checking in and out of mental hospitals. His self-aware streak also sets him apart from his Big Fan counterpart, and makes him a captivating, and devastating, first-person narrator.

For the sake of disclosure, let me point out that I'm hardly above the fray of sports obsession. I stayed in bed the day after the Giants (baseball, not football) choked away the World Series in 2002. More recently, the sight of the Mavericks coughing up the 2006 NBA Finals put my stomach in Windsor knots for days on end. I consider myself a fairly well-adjusted person. Unlike Paul from Staten Island, I don't live with my mom. I have a life and a career. Doesn't matter. I caught the fan bug early, and I imagine I'll carry it to my deathbed.

Yes, Paul and Exley are extreme examples of a common breed. They use fandom to fill a gaping void. And, as Siegel points out, the salve doesn't always have to be sports. "It's no different to me than people who live through their favorite band or rapper or actor," he says. "I don't think everybody is obsessed, but on some level it's relatable to anybody who lives through things that have nothing to do with their daily lives."

Just don't tell that to Paul. Not after he went and took one for the team. As the song says, love hurts.

All-time greats in the history of the Olympic Games

Nadia Elena Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comaneci is a winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. Comaneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the all-around title at the Olympics. She is also the youngest-ever Olympic gymnastics all-around champion.




Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz gave swimming an unparalleled and unforgettable memory in Munich. A total of seven gold medals, and as many world records, were won by the determined Californian during the Games of 1972, adding to what he described as his "disappointing" haul of five medals in 1968.




Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis won 10 Olympic medals including 9 golds, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were golds, in a career that spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and subsequently retired. He was voted "Sportsman of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee and was also named "Olympian of the Century" by Sports Illustrated. He also helped transform track and field from its nominal amateur status to its current professional status.




Paavo Nurmi
If long distance running was in need of a role model, one would have to look no further than Paavo Nurmi. The legendary Finn smashed an incredible 22 world records, winning nine Olympic golds on the way. Nurmi won a total of 12 Olympic medals across three Games --- 1920, 1924 and 1928.




Jesse Owens
The German head of state had done everything in its power to leave a taste of Nazi propaganda in the mouths of all the competing nations at the 1936 Olympic Games. Jesse Owens, born the son of a slave in 1913 in segregated Alabama, however, left his own mark by winning four gold medals which would turn Adolf Hitler's theory of racial supremacy on its head.




Dawn Fraser
Whether it was due to a modest background, or a refusal to give up swimming even when banned in the early stages of her career, Dawn Fraser's determination led her to battle adversity and ultimately conquer the sprint events at three consecutive Olympic Games -- 1956, 1960 and 1964. Three Olympic gold titles in 1956, 1960 and 1964 in the 100m freestyle eventually brought the daughter of a Sydney docker justified success. She won a total of eight Olympic medals.




Bob Beamon
Robert "Bob" Beamon leapt to world prominence with a stunning long-jump gold in the 1968 Mexico Games. A virtual flight of 8.90m also broke the Olympic and world records, earning the American a deserved place in athletics history. Beamon's mark was not bettered until the 1991 Tokyo world championships when his compatriot Mike Powell jumped 8.95m.




Fanny Blankers-Koen
Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She accomplished this as a mother of two, during a time when many disregarded women's athletics. Her background and performances earned her the nickname "the Flying Housewife."




Michael Johnson
At the Atlanta Games of 1996 Michael Johnson not only became the first athlete to take Olympic golds in both the 200m and 400m, but shattered the 200m world record with an eye-opening time of 19.32sec. In all, he won five gold medals across three Olympic Games.




Greg Louganis
Greg Louganis can simply be described as the total diver. At age 16, he took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where he placed second in the tower event. in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Louganis won gold medals in both the springboard and tower diving events. He repeated his 1984 feat in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, although not without drama. Louganis suffered an injury, hitting his head on the diving board during the preliminary rounds while performing a reverse 2 1/2 pike; he completed the preliminaries, despite a concussion, then went on to repeat the dive during the finals, with nearly perfect scores, earning him the gold medal.




Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two different events. "Sports Illustrated" magazine voted her the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century.




Steve Redgrave
Great Britain's now legendary rower Steve Redgrave pushed his ageing body through more gruelling punishment at the Sydney Olympics as he won his fifth gold medal at consecutive Games - a feat never before achieved in endurance events. After previous victories from Los Angeles (1984) to Sydney 2000, he finally retired from the sport in 2000, and was given a knighthood for his remarkable achievements.




Kristin Otto
East Germany's Olympic swimming champion Kristin Otto is truly unique for the display of talent in three separate styles -- freestyle, backstroke and butterfly -- which brought her six gold medals during the Seoul Games of 1988.




Abebe Bikila
With his win in the marathon in the 1960 Rome Olympics, Abebe Bikila became the first black African Olympic champion. Bikila, who ran the marathon barefoot in Rome ntered Olympic history with a world best time of 2:15:16.2. Bikila also won the gold in the 1964 Games in Tokyo -- this time he ran with shoes and once again set a new world best time of 2:12:11.2.




Olga Korbut
Olga Korbut is a Belarusian, Soviet-born gymnast who won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympics, in which she competed in 1972 and 1976 for the USSR team. At the 1972 Munich Olympics, she became the first person to do a backward somersault on the balance beam in competition. She was also the first to do a standing backward somersault on bars, and a back somersault to swingdown (Korbut Flip) on beam.

Briton Pendleton wins sprint gold

Victoria Pendleton won Britain's sixth track cycling gold of the 2008 Olympics with victory over Australia's Anna Meares in the women's sprint final.

The 27-year-old was in a class of her own, winning the first two races of the best of three, with relative ease.

She led out in the first race before outsprinting her opponent and then gave Meares the chance to lead in the next but the result was even more emphatic.

China's Guo Shuang beat Netherlands' Willy Kanis to take bronze.

Pendleton said she was delighted to be part of the successful British cycling team at the Beijing Games.

"It hasn't sunk in yet. After the success of the team is it too much to ask if I don't get a medal? I'm so glad I'm part of it now."

The three-times world sprint champion then paid tribute to the team psychiatrist who lifted her spirits after she failed to win a medal at Athens 2004.

"Steve Peters started working with me in Athens and I feel completely different now," she added.

"I'm lucky to have so many good have people around me."

Pendleton, who studied at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, first made her mark in cycling in 2001 when she won one bronze and three silver medals at the British National Track Championships.

There followed three fourth-placed finishes in sprint competitions - at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 2003 and 2004 World Championships.

Courtesy BBC NEWS

Britain's Chris Hoy clinches historic third gold

Britain's Chris Hoy clinched a superb hat-trick of gold medals after beating team-mate Jason Kenny in the sprint.

The 32-year-old becomes the first Briton in 100 years to win three golds at the same Games, after his earlier success in the team sprint and keirin.

The Scot was pushed to the limit in the first race by his 20-year-old opponent, edging the first duel in the best-of-three by half a wheel's length.

Hoy dominated the second race, giving a victory salute as he crossed the line.

"I cannot tell you how it feels - it is amazing," Hoy told BBC Sport.

"When you cross the line, all the pressure that has built up, the expectation and the self doubt evaporates just like that. Kenny has come through the ranks and he is the man who will win in London 2012

Hoy becomes only the second Briton to win three golds at the same Games after swimmer Henry Taylor did likewise in London in 1908.

And he added: "I was vaguely aware of the history, people tell you about it. But I tried to make it the furthest thought from my mind.

"And that's why the emotions come out at the end. You bottle it for so long that it just erupts at the end."

Hoy has now won gold in four separate Olympic events - he won the now-defunct 1km time trial at Athens in 2004.

Kenny's silver adds to his impressive showing in his first Olympics, where he also picked up gold in the team sprint - alongside Hoy and Jamie Staff.
Hoy was quick to pay tribute to Kenny, and tipped him to become the dominant force in cycling in the next few years.

"Kenny has come through the ranks and he is the man who will win at London 2012," said Hoy.

"Beating him was really tough - it was probably the hardest race of my life."

The bronze medal went to Mickael Bourgain of France after he dominated Germany's Maximilian Levy in a third-leg decider.

Courtesy BBC NEWS

GB take gold in the men's team sprint cycling

Great Britain flew past long time rival France to win their first Men's Team Sprint Olympic gold medal on Friday, opening five days of competition at the Laoshan Velodrome.

The German team pipped Australia by 0.008 seconds to claim bronze thanks to a stunning final leg by Stefan Nimke, the only returning member from the Olympic champions in Athens 2004.

France had beaten Great Britain in three consecutive world championships, but an emotional final-leg showdown between Men's Sprint rivals Chris Hoy (Great Britain) and Arnaud Tournant (France) fell in favor of the British.

After topping both qualifying rounds, Great Britain sprinted to victory in 43.128 seconds with France settling for the silver medal with 43.651.

Great Britain were the fastest on all three laps, with Jamie Staff setting the tone ahead of Gregory Bauge in the first lap.

Jason Kenny held the gap against Kevin Sireau in the second lap, before Hoy sealed the victory.

The French team removed veteran Tournant in favor of Mickael Bourgain in the first round, a decision that almost backfired, with France only edging Germany by 0.046 seconds to pass to the gold medal round. Tournant was back in the rotation for the gold medal race.

Courtesy : BBC