Sport Chumpions

Sport Chumpions is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.
== Title ==
The title is a play on "sport champions."
== Plot ==
An outlet highlights on sports champions and sporting events, "bringing you lowlights in the world of sports":
*Archery: A marksmen shoots six bullseyes by being directly up close to the target.
*Billards: A pool shark breaks a starting match, but when the cue ball hits the fifteen balls, the triangle ricochets through the pool table and onto a hole in the top left.
*Ping Pong: A monotonous match is shown where people's eyes follow the action until a point is scored.
*Skiing: The highest ramp is about to jumped by Pavo Nervy, although the skier slows down near the end and jumps directly from the end of the ramp to a low ground.
*Track: The 120 high hurdle race shows that the runners must climb over large hurdles instead of jumping.
*Swimming: The women's national championship winner happens to be a mermaid, while several swimming strokes and dives are demonstrated. One of the "dives" the narrator recommends happens to be the restaurant Sloppy Joe's.
*Crew Racing: A group of canoeists rows a canoe in varying rates, including one member having just a single rowboat paddle.
*Bicycle Racing: A monotonous race around a bike track for eight laps; the group stops at one point to point out it being "monotonous, isn't it?"
*Baseball: Gabby Hairnet is the catcher for a baseball game, where he is pounded back twice when he catches.
*Football: The Avery Memorial Stadium hosts a football match. The umpire is caught in the middle of the feud. The narrator also tries to show a diagram of the current match, leaving a complex mess.
*Auto Racing: Several racecars passes a finish line, including a midget car. The winner stops at a motion blur position and when is told to have a word with the narrator, the winner imitates a car engine sound.
==Caricatures==
*Jerry Colonna - "Monotonous, isn't it?"
*Artie Auerbach - "Mm, could be."
*Gabby Hartnett
==Availability==
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-3-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 3, Side 7
===Streaming===
Lt warner bros discovery ride.png|Warner Bros. Discovery RIDE (2021 - 2023) (restored)
==Notes ==
*The "Avery Memorial Stadium" is a reference to Tex Avery. Since Avery was still alive at the time of this cartoon's release, the "memorial" part could be a reference to how Tex Avery was fired from Warner Bros. following the controversy behind the original ending to "The Heckling Hare".
*This is the final cartoon to use the yellow-orange rings.
*The scene of the football players piling on top of each other is recycled from "Screwball Football".
*The scenes involving Gabby Hairnet catching a baseball is recycled from "Porky's Baseball Broadcast", and in return would later be recycled in "Baseball Bugs".
**Co-incidentally, all three sports-themed cartoons are directed by Friz Freleng.
**Gabby Hairnet voice is similar to that of Daffy Duck, albeit minus the lisp. Co-incidentally, they're both voiced by Mel Blanc.
*This cartoon entered the public domain in 1969 after United Artists (successor of Associated Artists Productions) failed to renew its copyright in time.
*MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of this short on Toon In with Me. However, the restoration has a fake cutaway at the very start of the cartoon.
*This cartoon was originally intended to be included on the Mr. and Mrs. Smith Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray release as a bonus feature, but was swapped out with "Holiday Highlights" at last minute.https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=34412
==Gallery==
ChumpionsLobby.jpg|Lobby card
==References ==
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:1941
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Owen Fitzgerald
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Public domain films
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Robert C. Bruce
Category:Spot Gag Cartoons
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons