Sport and Cinema.com

After years of fighting to get this story of boxer brothers Dicky Eklund and Micky Ward from a hardscrabble town of Lowell, Massachusetts off the canvas, actor/producer Mark Wahlberg triumphed with The Fighter scoring a one-two punch at the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony held at Kodak Theater in downtown Los Angeles Sunday night.

The game’s most storied rivalry in a highly anticipated rematch, two years in the making, now comes complete on DVD. The two most successful franchises in NBA history pick up where they left off in 2008. It is the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA crown.

How was it that a pudgy 20-year-old, Mexican, left-handed pitcher from a remote village in the Sonoran desert, unable to speak a word of English, could sell out stadiums across America and become a rock star overnight?

As part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” film initiative celebrating the network’s 30th anniversary comes this documentary from rapper-turned-filmmaker Ice Cube. The program debuts on ESPN Tuesday at 8pm ET.

Though they took time to warm up, the strength of the Blackhawks Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa eventually eventually found their range.

But in this budding rivalry, Vancouver is capable of putting up points as well, evidenced by the output of Mikael Samuelsson and Daniel Sedin against the Kings.

Capped by a historic (Phil Jackson earns his 10th championship as a head coach, breaking the record he had shared with Red Auerbach) and gratifying (soothe an embarrassing loss to the Celtics in the previous year’s finals) win against the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals to earn their 15^th league crown in franchise history, this package contains all the highlights of the Lakers season.

It was 25 years ago today that the opening ceremonies celebrating the XXIIIth Olympiad began a run that would change the Games forever and one young man in particular.

Beginning tomorrow and running for a week and a half more than 200 films from 30 countries, including sneak previews from major studios and summer specialty releases will be presented in some of the finest theaters in Los Angeles.

Major releases debuting at the festival are “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” from Michael Bay and Johnny Depp starring as the Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger in “Public Enemies”.

The Lakers earned their 15th title on Sunday night in Florida as Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 14 and 15 rebounds in a 99-86 Game 5 win over the Orlando Magic.

For Gasol it is his first NBA ring, for Bryant, the series MVP, it was his fourth and first in seven years and first without Shaq.

On the surface it is two American teams, the Los Angeles Lakers against the Orlando Magic boxing out for the NBA championships, but their roots are deeply spread all over the world.

The 2009 NBA Finals are being broadcast to more than 200 countries in over 60 languages, but the dreams they represent go even deeper