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HBO Max is a one-stop shop for some of the most thrilling and engrossing sports documentaries that streaming has to offer. Sports docs have become just as fundamental to the streamer’s high-quality content as its prestige dramas and comedies. They take a look at the cultural impact of sports in addition to showcasing real-life narratives that are the stuff of movies. Watch With Us put our thinking caps on and put together a list of five must-watch sports docs on HBO Max right now. Whether it’s basketball, boxing or golf, there’s a sports documentary here that you’re gonna love. ‘Kareem: Minority of One’ (2015) The life and career of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are put on display in this fascinating documentary. Kareem: Minority of One explores moments in this career, both historic and controversial, in addition to his opinions on race and politics, and the current state of basketball. Abdul-Jabbar remains the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a six-time MVP and six-time world champion, and director Aaron Cohen’s film takes a look at the genius of the superstar athlete as well as his life off the court. Abdul-Jabbar is an intriguing subject alone, and the complexities of his life pull this documentary along. Many believe Abdul-Jabbar to be one of the, if not the most incredible player that the NBA has ever seen, while sometimes being more overlooked than some of his contemporaries. Thus, Kareem: Minority of One gives an intimate look at an unbelievable player who doubles as an incredibly compelling interviewee. ‘What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali’ (2019) Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), this documentary chronicles the life and legacy of boxing star Muhammad Ali. The film charts Ali’s rise to heavyweight greatness, through the height of his career as a champion boxer and leading into his later life as an icon and social activist. Through his many challenges, clashes, victories and setbacks, Fuqua paints a portrait of a man who became a legend and ultimately a symbol of humanity and peace. Despite being nearly three hours, the film never feels excessive. Using archival footage, Ali is allowed to tell his own story through numerous interviews, which plainly reveal the professional and personal contradictions of a man who is easy to mythologize, but was ultimately just a man — and one whose ego occasionally threatened to overtake him. Thus, his larger-than-life status is both humanized and immortalized in this engaging story of a captivating life. ‘Tiger’ (2021) Based on the 2018 biography Tiger Woods, Tiger is a two-part miniseries that examines the iconic golfer’s rise, fall and ultimate return to the green. The documentary examines Tiger Woods’ relationship with his father and how it affected his career, as well as his 2009 cheating scandal. Tiger paints a portrait of a gifted athlete whose dedication and craft brought him untold fame and also untold excess, leading him down a dark spiral that he managed to triumphantly return from with his win at the 2019 Masters. Instead of featuring testimony and perspective from the man himself, instead, Tiger utilizes interviews with people in Woods’ orbit. This includes his former caddie Steve Williams, his ex-girlfriend, Bryant Gumbel, Nick Faldo, and even Rachel Uchitel — the journalist and media personality involved in Woods’ cheating scandal. Even though Tiger lacks Woods’ voice, it is no less an exceedingly in-depth and revealing look at the golf celebrity, one that reveals his flaws in a way that exposes his own humanity. ‘Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals’ (2010) Beginning at the 1979 NCAA championship game, star athletes Magic Johnson and Larry Bird established their years-spanning rivalry. After Johnson’s team, the Michigan State Spartans, defeated Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores in 1979, Johnson got drafted to play with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Bird went to the Boston Celtics, eventually clinching the “Rookie of the Year” title. For years, the Celtics and the Lakers tossed the NBA Championship title back and forth between each other. Ultimately, both men’s careers would be cut short by physical ailments: an HIV diagnosis for Johnson and a back injury for Bird. Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals charts the two athletes’ rise to fame and competition with one another to their retirement and current status as real-life friends. The Peabody Award-winning documentary examines their heydays as well as the racial tensions that bolstered the rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers, crafting a riveting story of two men vying for greatness, both ultimately undone by their own vices. ‘Fists of Freedom: The Story of The ’68 Summer Games’ (1999) This sports documentary from 1999 surrounds the 1968 Olympic Games that took place in Mexico City, one of America’s most culturally and socially important moments. With racial tensions flaring from a year that took the lives of both Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy, the games culminated with the historic “Black Power” salutes by winning athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos while on their victory stand. Using rare archival footage in addition to interviews with Smith and other athletes like Lee Evans and George Foreman, plus activist Harry Edwards, Fists of Freedom: The Story of The ’68 Summer Games takes viewers back in time to a pivotal moment in the 20th century, and the events both before and afterwards. In the end, the two men were not welcomed back home after their defiant gesture, and it endures as a revealing portrait of respectability politics and civil rights issues that are still ongoing to this day.
