How sports venues have inspired artists

Football stadiums pose a particular challenge to architects. With its 95,000 seats, Africa's largest stadium is located in the Soweto district of Johannesburg in South Africa. It's known as Soccer City. With a bit of imagination, the stadium is reminiscent of a traditional African gourd used for drinking. The venue was built in 1989, but underwent a two-year renovation ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

The plot: There are 70,000 fans in a stadium. A passenger plane, overtaken by terrorists, is headed straight for the site. Just before the collision, the airplane is shot down by the German military. All 164 passengers are killed, but the 70,000 fans are saved. Will the military pilot who shot down the plane be charged in court? At the end of the play, the audience decides for themselves.

In 1932, 70,000 Schalke fans gathered at their local stadium in the middle of Germany's industrial Ruhr region. Einhoff captured the moment on canvas. From 1920 to 1933, he painted hundreds of local studies, giving a touch of color to the gray backdrop of the coal and steel heartland. The Nazis deemed his works "degenerate." Now, the LVR Industrial Museum in Oberhausen features a large collection.

It's an erotic thriller set under the sun on the Côte d'Azur. Romy Schneider and Alain Delon play a couple who receive a visit from a friend and his beautiful daughter in their luxurious vacation home. Behind the facade of friendship, hate and jealousy develop - resulting in a murder in the pool. The film is a psychodrama set against a gorgeous backdrop.

Martina Navratilova, one of the most successful tennis players of all time, dedicated herself to writing crime stories after retiring from the court. Along with Liz Nickles, she invented the professional tennis player and sleuth Jordan Myles, who constantly finds herself embroiled in murder cases. It's not highbrow literature, but it offers interesting behind-the-scenes insights.

After World War II, it was difficult to play soccer in Germany. Many men had been killed or were prisoners of war, and football clubs had been disbanded due to their Nazi ties. Soccer fields were used for other purposes - like planting crops. Instead of kicking the ball, friends would gather to play board games. This one, pictured in 1947, was also available in English for the Allies.

This famous scene from the1982 film represented nothing less than the birth of the BMX hype. When scientists chase after Elliott, who has the tiny alien tucked into the basket on his bike, and his friends, E.T. uses his powers to help them fly. The film "BMX Bandits" starring Nicole Kidman picked up on the trend the following year.

Sport photographer Laci Perényi strives to capture more than just a moment. A former swimmer himself, he spent years photographing major sporting events worldwide. Besides his natural talent for catching just the right moment, he also tries to inject his sense of aesthetics into his images. The one he's standing with - "Synchronized Swords" - was named Sport Photo of the Year in 2012.

In the 1996 film that mixes Looney Tunes cartoons with live action, Bugs Bunny pays a visit to basketball legend Michael Jordan, who has recently retired. The Looney Tunes gang is being threatened by a bunch of aliens, which have turned themselves into monsters. Jordan trains the cartoon characters and prepares them for their big decisive game with the "Monstars."

Hemingway's short novel about the struggle between an old Cuban fisherman and an indestructible marlin could stand for the story of extreme swimmer Diana Nyad. It took 36 years and five painstaking attempts for her to swim from Cuba to Florida - which she finally managed at the age of 64. The 170-kilometer (106-mile) route took 52 hours. She started at Havana's Ernest Hemingway Nautical Club.