I have been watching sports related movies lately (darn you Netflix!). Any way, the variety does not make for the best, just makes for... well... a variety of sports related movies out there. That's why I find myself liking documentaries more and more, and of course documentaries about sports even more. But I thought the other day, if I had a snow day... okay, maybe I should be careful what I wish for... but I digress... what five sports related movies would I pick to sit at home and watch (and hope the pizza delivery guy makes to my house okay)?
Then I thought, there are sports movies that are pretty good, but actually kinda soft when it comes to the actual sport and more heavy on the drama surrounding the sport. So I thought, what actual sports drama movie... I mean where the sports is the drama... would I pick as my top five. I have to admit, I juggled the list a bit several times and even now I struggle with what I came up with. So here is my semi-somewhat final selection:
5. Eight Men Out - I know the sport is not as highlighted as perhaps movies like "For Love of the Game" (an original pick for me at number 5), but like I said, I believe the sport is part of the drama in this movie and pretty well represented, so I settled on this as my one and only baseball movie.
4. The Greatest Game Ever Played - this movie is so good and golf does not take a back seat to the peripheral back story of the young man struggling with his relationship with his father. In fact, the golf scenes are so good, it makes you forgive the back story and yearn for more golf related scenes.
3. Glory Road - this is a fantastic basketball movie and the sport is really highlighted well. I could have gone with Hoosiers and not looked back, but there is something about Glory Road that just gets me excited to watch the next hoop, the next dribble, the next pass. Well done. Still, had I gone with Hoosiers, I would not been disappointed.
2. Cinderella Man - this is a hard pick to make because I admit I love this movie and Giamatti's performance is a gem. I could have gone with Raging Bull or Rocky (the first one that ironically did not have a number to it), but in the end, it was Cinderella Man that kept me wanting to see more and more the fights that this man was having to fight.
1. Miracle - or as my wife says "THAT MOVIE! AGAIN?!?!". Having lived through that whole scene while living as a bachelor in my first year out of college, I remember so well sitting by my small little television set eating a burger and fries while the telecast was going on and then running out of my apartment only to catch a wild mob of celebration going on in the streets near me. I caught a ride with a stranger who was honking his horn and headed to Westhiemer Street, where hundreds of others were driving up and down the street shouting "USA, USA, USA!" That was a great feeling... and this movie does not short sell the hockey action, it promotes it to the star of the movie (alongside Herb Brooks).
So there is my top five... I know there is a vast amount of movies I left out and perhaps movies like Bull Durham, The Natural, and others have more of a true highlight of the "sport" in your mind. So let's have it. Post your top five here!
