For those of you hoping this is about the band, I feel you. I want nothing more than a movie explaining how Mark McGrath and the rest went from originally being a mod band to releasing a generic single like "Mean Machine" to hitting big with a completely different style with "Fly". But no, this post is about a Sugar Ray Leonard biopic. According to Variety, the boxer's life story will be made into a film by actor Kevin Pollak. Pollak will produce with his company, Red Bird Cinema, and is thinking of casting himself in the title role. Yeah, just kidding there -- he's good at impersonations, but not that good. Pollak isn't writing the film either, despite having just written a screenplay for another sports movie, 3 Nights in August, which is about 2003 baseball series between the Cardinals and the Cubs. The interesting thing is that that movie is based on a book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning sports journalist Buzz Bissinger (Friday Night Lights), who will now be scripting this Sugar Ray movie. Producing with Pollak are his Red Bird partners John Loar and Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa,

I've never been a boxing fan, nor do I care much for most boxing movies, so I can't offer too much excitement here. As a kid, Sugar Ray Leonard was just a guy who was heavily advertised on HBO while I was waiting for BMX Bandits or some other cable-TV staple of the '80s to come on. I also know that he's the person Sugar Ray named their band after. I didn't even understand as a kid why guys like Sugar Ray never fought guys like Mike Tyson, who was the only other boxer I'd heard of growing up. But despite my lack of sports knowledge, I do know Sugar Ray was a great boxer, being one of only two guys to win world championships in five different weight classes, and he had his ups and downs and went in and out of retirement a few times. I'm not sure of how dramatic his life will be on screen, but I guess he'll provide enough material for a by-the-books biopic at the very least. Now, if only Pollak can secure Sugar Ray to do the soundtrack.

Less than six months have passed since Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized, and he's already headed to the big screen. Peter Berg, the man behind Very Bad Things and Friday Night Lights, is going to helm and produce a feature adaptation of Gone Like the Wind -- his cousin Buzz Bissinger's Vanity Fair article about the many attempts to keep the horse alive. Talk about depressing premises -- a movie about the struggle to keep a horse alive, and ultimately failing. I can't wait to see how they plan to spin it to make the inevitable end more bearable. This marks the second time Berg will bring his cousin's writing to the big screen -- Buzz wrote the article that Lights was based on, so that bodes well for the film. The director already has a few projects on his plate, however, so I imagine it will be a while before we see what he makes of it.

These days, If there is any horse story that people well beyond the world of thoroughbred racing would know -- it's Barbaro's. Last year, he was an undefeated horse heading into the Kentucky Derby. He won the race with ease, won the hearts of horse fans and headed to the Preakness Stakes as the big favorite. After a false start, Barbaro was led back to the gate, the race began, and he quickly shattered his right hind leg. That's serious but manageable for humans, but it's pretty deathly for horses. For a while, however, it seemed as if he might make it -- there were a number of surgeries and things seemed to be going well. Then serious complications arose in January of this year, and Barbaro was euthanized. The end. As great as the advances in horse care are, accomplishments that let him fight as long as he did, I really don't see how they can provide enough to keep moviegoers from diving for the razor blades.

Variety reported this morning that Indie production company Palm-Star Entertainment and the newly-created (I assume -- there's not a single google reference to the company) Red Bird Cinema will collaborate to bring a fictional version of Tony LaRussa to the big screen. Seriously, they really are. The companies have acquired the rights to Buzz Bissinger's surprise best-seller 3 Nights in August, which offers a detailed exploration of how the St. Louis Cardinal boss managed a crucial mid-summer series against the hated Chicago Cubs in 2003; Kevin Pollak is writing the screenplay.

If you're wondering who, exactly, decided this book would make a good fiction film (As a rabid Cardinal fan I'd see the thing, but who else would even care, outside of LaRussa's immediately family?), here's a clue: In addition to Pollak and John Loar, the other partner in Red Bird Cinema is one Tony LaRussa. Jeez. You don't think he wants to play himself, do you?