I pause for only a few sport events. Those being the Olympics, the World Cup, Wimbledon and Walt Disney's Sport Goof series of cartoons created back in the 1940's. Here's a few for your viewing pleasure.
Ok, so maybe there's going to be more than a "few" here, but you'll have to admit, they're addicting. There's almost too much to say about these and I meant to say so much already... The number one takeaway for me is the priceless narration. The voiceover is amazing, but the narration in tandem with the animation is perfect. In the children's book world we talk about this a lot, how the illustrations should do something different or add to the words instead of merely reflect them. Since this is a Goofy cartoon the narrator takes on an extremely stuffy, serious tone, while Goofy's actions/situations are the opposite of serious. Whatever is stated as fact is shown in fiction, but perhaps the fiction is closer to reality.
I also love the way every character in the group sports videos is a goof. They all wear the universal goofy face but vary in body and attitude, the first video, Basketball for example. Also, the costume changes that the animators made for Goofy throughout these animations are so good, fitting perfectly into the symbolic stereotypes of each character and sport. Most of all though I think these set a beautiful precedent to not take things too seriously. As a layman outside of the animation/media world of today, it seems to me that a lot of it is very guarded and every possible viewpoint is considered as not to hurt feelings, I could be wrong, and I certainly don't wish to hurt anyone either. Maybe, as a rule, sport-folk can be made fun of with impunity and I'm ok with that. I'll take my cues from Goofy and the great outdoor sports writer Patrick F. McManus.
Also, shoutout to the Bancroft Brothers, two former, old-school Disney animators, Tom and Tony. They have a podcast called The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast. It's incredibly insightful and they bring on many professionals working in animation. They're the reason I started diving into this old Disney animation.
One last thing that I love about the general concept of Sports is Chris Koelle's Sportsball Supply Co. Check these brilliant designs out at: https://sportsballsupply.co/
