Fuck the Mets, I have a new favorite sport

In case anyone was wondering why this space hasn't been all Tom DeLay, all the time, it's because I spent the bulk of the weekend staring at glowing screens at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC. I'll be reviewing everything I saw (to be posted at Mixed Reviews), but the highlight of the festival had to be the winner of the festival's Audience Award, Murderball. I saw this film after hearing on one of the rare radio newscasts in the area that the Mets had started out the season at 0-4, thus ensuring yet another season of fan abuse; the inevitable outcome of the annual wooing known as Spring Training. Mets fandom has come to seem more like being in an abusive relationship every year, and when confronted with as dysfunctional a relationship as I've had with the Mets for the last 40 years, I really needed a new sport. And now I've found it: paralympic rugby.

Don't laugh. You want to talk about tough guys? Imagine being in the prime of your life and not being able to walk or do some of the most rudimentary aspects of day-to-day living. Then try becoming a competitive athlete. Then do it with a sense of humor. That's what these guys do every day. If you get a chance to see this flick, go see it. You'll never bitch about the small stuff again.

(Side note: another thing you'll find out is that quad guys are chick magnets. Who knew?)

Here are the 2005 Full Frame Festival winners:

2005 Full Frame/Emerging Pictures Audience Award:
The Education of Shelby Knox. (Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt)

Full Frame Audience Award:
Murderball. (Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro)

Grand Jury Award (tie):
Murderball (Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro)
Shape of the Moon (Leonard Retel Hemrich)