Murderballers finally take home the gold

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Times film editor Tim Swanson contributed this post to the Big Picture blog: Most people in Hollywood probably remember ‘Murderball’ -- the terrific Oscar-nominated documentary about quadriplegic rubgy players -- as the film that was beaten by ‘March of the Penguins’ at the Academy Awards in 2006. But that loss of the gold didn’t mean squat compared to what the guys felt back at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. As captured in the documentary by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Shapiro, Team USA experienced a heartwrenching defeat to archrivals Canada in the semi-finals and had to settle for the bronze medal. But that was then and this is now. I am happy to report that Team USA won the gold today, beating Australia, 53-44. They were seeded No. 1 in Beijing this year and had been feeling the pressure from all comers. I was able to get my good friend and veteran quad rubgy player Mark Zupan on the horn at the Paralympic village (I helped Zupe write his book ‘Gimp’ a few years ago ...), and he was in a celebratory mood, knocking a few back with family and friends. As Zupan said, they didn’t go to China just to play in the gold-medal game. They came to win the gold. And they did. Well done, gentlemen.