If you are a die-hard sports fan like me, this has been the hardest time in your life. The complete absence of live sports has left sports fans utterly bored and sad. No MLB opening day, no March Madness, no NBA playoffs, no NHL season, no college baseball, and there isn’t even golf or tennis to watch right now. The sports world has come to a complete halt and during this tough time where people are housebound, we can’t even watch the sports we love.

However, there are ways for sports fans to get their fixings. Whether it’s reruns of live games, watching your favorite sports movies, or watching new or old documentaries, there are programs that can keep sports fans like me sane during this giant pause.

On Netflix/Disney+:

If you have either of these two streaming services, you are in luck as some of the best sports movies live on these two streaming platforms. To start off on Netflix, the greatest hockey movie of all time is “Miracle.” The movie is based on the true incredible story of the U.S. hockey team taking down the Soviet Union, the best hockey team in the world at the time, and then going on to win the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics. The movie highlights the greatest underdog story of all time as the U.S. team was filled with college players and newly graduated players that had yet to turn pro (the average age of players on the team was 21) and the Soviets beat the NHL All Stars easily earlier that year. 

Netflix also features a movie called “Gridiron Gang” which stars Dwayne Johnson as Shawn Porter, a probation officer at a juvenile detention camp. The camp is filled with young gang members and Porter decides to start a football team at the camp. He recruits the youth to join and teaches them discipline and leads rival gang members to become friends and allies, while also leading the team to the championship game for their league.

One of the most viewed sports documentaries ever, “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez” is a Netflix original that dives deep into the mind of former NFL Tight End Aaron Hernandez who was found guilty of murdering his sister’s boyfriend. The series is very intriguing and once you start it, you won’t be able to stop. 

On the Disney+ side, you can watch the greatest sports movie of all time: “Remember the Titans,” based on a true story. The movie stars Denzel Washington as Herman Boone, a black high school football coach who comes to Virginia to take over T.C. Williams, a newly integrated school, in 1971. The team goes through a rough patch at the beginning, as they have to go to camp and learn how to embrace each other as teammates and forget about race. The team bonds and becomes very successful.

Another great sports movie on Disney+ that’s based on a true story is “Rookie,” a baseball movie that stars Dennis Quaid as Jimmy Morris, a high school baseball coach in rural Texas. Morris was the son of a military recruiter, so he always moved around when he was younger. He was a pitcher and was always very good. His dad led him to give up on his dream of becoming a pro ball player. One day when Morris was throwing batting practice to his team, his players noticed how hard he threw. His team was not a particularly good team and they make a deal with him that if they win their district, he has to go to a Major League tryout. The team wins their district and 40 year-old Morris goes to a tryout, where he impresses scouts with a 96 miles per hour fastball and earns a spot in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization. 

NFL Draft:

The annual NFL Draft is one of the most highly anticipated events for football heads around the country. With the absence of live sports, this is the only live event for sports fans in the near future. Because of the current Pandemic and restrictions that prohibit an in person draft like normal, the draft will be fully virtual. The draft begins this Thursday at 7 p.m. CST with the first round, continues on Friday with rounds 2 and 3 at 6 p.m. CST and concludes on Saturday with rounds 4-7 at 11 a.m. CST. You can watch the draft life on ESPN, ABC and NFL Network, but you can also follow live updates on the ESPN app. 

ESPN:

The most highly anticipated sports documentary ever, “The Last Dance” features Michael Jordan and the moments that lead up to him leaving the Chicago Bulls for the MLB during the prime of his career. The documentary started airing on ESPN this past Sunday with episodes 1 and 2, and will continue this trend until all the episodes have been aired. If you missed the first 2 episodes, you can stream them from the ESPN app. 

ESPN has also been showing game reruns on ESPN 2, ESPN News and ESPNU, for the past several weeks. You can watch these games live, or in the app. The sports include, pro football, college football, pro baseball, pro basketball, and college basketball.