FanNation - The Republic of Sport

This is going to be one of those blogs that I am going to occassionaly write which is only going to have a cursory connection to sports, if any at all (hence the "renaissance" of my blog title, meaning Renaissance Man, sports is only one of my loves).

Now, whomever reads this, please feel free to offer your opinions. Call me an idiot, agree with me, post your own lists, tell me WHY my list is great or why is sucks. This is one of those lists that is never going to be 100% right to everyone, but that's the point. Some people are more drawn to comedies, so Caddyshack and Bull Durham is going to be high on their lists, while other people are more drawn to dramas, so movies like Hoosiers or Miracle is going to be high on their lists.

Also, while reading my list, remember the objective of sports films are to inspire or too reflect our society back to ourselves. Our memories of real - life sports are made up of the inspirational moments we've seen, read about, or heard.

But here is my Top 10 list. And while I wholly realize that there are more than 10 great sports films, lists need to have a terminator, you know? Otherwise they become like those crappy AFI Lists which crimally rate films like The Searchers outside the Top 10. And, by the way, this is a list of FILMS, not documentaries. So sorry Hoop Dream fans and the insane people who love Yankeeographies. And my apologies to all Scientologists and ladies, but Jerry Maguire is NOT a sports film.

Just missing this list is Tin Cup, The Greatest Game Ever Played (what is it about golf movies?), Remember the Titans, Happy Gilmore, The ORIGINAL Longest Yard, Rocky Balboa, Slap Shot, Pride of the Yankees, Brian's Song, North Dallas Forty, Breaking Away, The Natural, and Rudy.

10. *61: This movie really got the emotion, humor, and reality of the summer of 1961, and it didn't hurt that Yankee Superfan Billy Crystal is the writer / director of this engaging look at the M&M Boy's summer of legend. Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane are pitch perfect as Maris and Mantle, and former John Hughes favorite Anthony Michael Hall adds levity as Whitey Ford.

9. Bull Durham: Kevin Costner's speech about the things he loves in life is awesome. His beaten down attitude as Crash Davis hits home for those of us who've touched our dreams once, only to have them snatched away.

8. Hoosiers: How many times do we pass the ball before we shoot? More so than Rudy, the Hickory High team are a great bunch of underdogs. Gene Hackman was just on a career roll in the 1970's and 80's, between this movie, The French Connection, The Conversation, and Reds, he was the go to guy for tough, complicated guy's guys.

7. Eight Men Out: Any film with John Cusak is going to be good (don't believe me, go and watch 1408 and Grosse Pointe Blank), but add sports and it's a definate winner. Charlie Sheen and DB Sweeney make appearances. Just a topical kind of story (gambling, throwing games, greedy owners, greedy players) which can resonate with even the most modern sports fan. It's interesting to see (especially in regards to Bud Selig and Roger Goodell) that the 8 Men were not convicted in their joke of a trial, yet the Commissioner suspended them for life anyway "for the good of the game." Does anyone out there think Bud Selig would ever suspend Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire for life without 100% proof? Has Bud Selig done anything in his puppet-like career for the "good of the game?" We know Roger Goodell cares about the good of his game, too bad Puppet Bud Selig doesn't. Great film.

6. Miracle: "Do you believe in Miracles? YES!!!" I defy any of y'all to watch this movie and NOT sit on the edge of your couch as the clock ticks down from 10 minutes in the final period of THE game in this film. Even if you already know the outcome (and who doesn't?), I guarantee you'll be white-knuckling it. Kurt Russell gives the performance of his career as Herb Brooks, and for not being actors (accept for the guys who play Craig and McClanahan), the rest of the guys are good, too. The story itself sells the movie. AGAIN!!!

5. Rocky: The only movie on this list to win the Best Picture Oscar is ranked 5th because although it is a great film, it just doesn't beat out my top-4. The great story of the underdog, the million to one shot (his whole life was a million to one shot) juxtaposed with the sweet romance with Adrien before she became a soul sucking shrew in Rocky's II - IV (Rocky V does not exist). In all actuality, Stallone really made two good Rocky films. This one and Rocky Balboa. You could watch them back to back and fully believe them as two parts of one story without needing to watch the other three movies. Rocky II is a mess, and the Rocky in Rocky III and IV is more akin to a superhero than the punchy boxer from Philly we loved in Rocky. That Rocky from the middle films were a product of the 1980's, and just doesn't fit with the first or last movie. I prefer the Rocky grounded in reality. The punch-drunk guy, not the oddly intelligent (when did he get smart?) 1980's Rocky who pranced in the surf with Apollo Creed like a sissy.

4. Friday Night Lights: The most realistic sports movie ever made, from the technical aspects of the game itself to how football affects the lives of the kids, the parents, and the town. While Varsity Blues kind of rips off this premise (The book Friday Night Lights came out before the film Varsity Blues), it is just a pale caricature when compared to Friday Night Lights. Everyone knew a Booby Miles in high school, that kind of jackass you just KNOW is going to get his come - uppance at some point in his life. Everyone who went to high school can remember those exhilarating Friday nights when your team won the game against your rival against all odds. Points to the movie for keeping the ending real, and not going for the cheap win.

3. Caddyshack: It's the snobs vs. the slobs, a Cinderella story. Not only is this a great sports movie, it seriously contends with Young Frankenstein for greatest comedy ever. Ty, Carl, Danny... these are not characters in a movie, they are trusted friends with whom you shared a hundred laughs. Does the golf in this movie really matter? Not really. Does that matter? Not really. If you are a man and cannot quote at least 3 lines from this movie, then you are no man at all. But on your deathbed, you will recieve total conciousness, so at least you have that going for you.

2. Raging Bull: DeNiro owns this film. He owns the character of Jake Lamotta. While the movie tries to stay as close to fact as possible, Lamotta is really more of a character than an actual person in this film, but DeNiro makes you believe that he IS Lamotta. He transforms himself in dangerous way to become Lamotta. You have to give him props for that. Could the fighting be better in this film? Yes, but Scorsese was going for a highly stylized "ballet" of boxing, more than an exhibition of actual fighting.

1. Field of Dreams: "If you build, He will come." "Ease His pain." "Go the distance." Baseball. Fathers and sons. The ability to change your greatest regret, right your greatest wrong. This movie has it all. I mean, this movie has it ALL. Women love this movie. Guys love this movie, and for totally different reasons. This movie has Burt Lancaster as Moonlight Graham and James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann, who gives the greatest single monologue in the history of film, "People will come, Ray." This movie reminds us that baseball, although it has been perverted by the Bud Selig's, the Mark McGwire's, and the Barry Bond's of the world, will eventually right itself once those fools are dead and buried and gone forever. This film makes us believe again the magic of baseball, of how a father and a son can say everything they need to say to each other over a game of catch without really having to say any actual words. The greatest sports movie of all time.