Memorable Sports Movies

I’m sure you this is the list you have all been waiting for. We all have our favorite movies, either because it’s our favorite sport or takes us back to where we were at that point in our lives. Naturally some of the best movies are true stories about athletes or loosely based on sports figures. But there is also room for those flicks where you just have to suspend disbelief, and of course those memorable lines we all have etched in our minds which make the good movies great. Before we get to our top 20, here are a few that just missed the list:

Raging Bull, Million Dollar Baby, Seabiscuit, Tin Cup, Jerry Maguire

As good as those movies may be, they do not rank as high as these 20 memorable movies:

20. The Sandlot – For me, this reminds me of my nephew saying, “The ball, the beast,” but at one time or another we have all said, “You’re killing me Smalls!” A great movie with a great feel good ending and it always has you wanting s’more.

19. Invincible – One of the coolest sports names around, Vince Papale obtains the status all guys want, a shot in the dark to reach our dreams. It has a great cast with Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear, and something about that forced fumble on the punt gives me the chills. Perhaps this movie is on the list because Elizabeth Banks in her role reminds me of my wife.

18. Remember the Titans – Some of you are going to ask why this isn’t higher, but it is still a great movie. Anything with Denzel Washington is worth the watch. We have all said, “Sunshine!!! Sunshine!!” in a high-pitched almost singing voice. Also, a great sports movie with a great soundtrack makes this film rare.

17. The Fighter – Anytime you have two Oscar winners in a movie, it has to get recognized. Walhberg could become another Kevin Costner with fame and success in sports movies. Throw in the performances by Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams and you have a great film. Mickey Ward is a must-see.

16. 61* - In the only movie on this list that wasn’t in theatres, Billy Crystal directs this diamond in the rough about Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris’ pursuit to one of baseball’s greatest record. It shows baseball at its purest and also shows two teammates with great camaraderie who wore the pinstripes with pride.

15. Caddyshack – This is one of those classics all guys just have to watch. I can’t tell you how many times on the golf course I’ve uttered the words, “Oh Billy Billy Billy” and “Thank you, thank you very little.” You can’t go wrong with Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray.

14. Karate Kid – Again, a movie with plenty of memorable lines, “Wax on, wax off”, “Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything”, and don’t forget my personal favorite, “Sweep the leg!” I think everyone could use a Mr. Miyagi in their life, although I’m not sure I know anyone as weak as Daniel LaRusso. Do people even know that Pat Morita earned an Oscar nomination for this role?

13. Prefontaine – Probably the least watched on this list, but nonetheless true story of a remarkable athlete who was at his beginning. Steve Prefontaine was courageous, charismatic and perhaps a little conceited. But he wanted to win more than anyone and think about this, of the athletes there have been over the years, Nike has erected a statue to only one, Steve Prefontaine. A must-see.

12. A League of the Own – Perhaps the most memorable line in sports movies came when Tom Hanks said, “There’s no crying in baseball!” This is another great cast with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna and many others. Men and women both love this true story about the members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Tell me you wouldn’t want Dottie Henson on your team.

11. Coach Carter – In case you forgot about this one, go buy it today. Samuel L. Jackson gives you one of the more underrated performances in sports movies. This is one of those movies that has one person who makes a huge difference to a team that is used to losing and probably going nowhere in life. Any kid in high school has to see it.

10. The Natural – I think people forget about the cast of this classic. We all know about Robert Redford, but what about Glenn Close, Barbara Hershey and Kim Basinger in her heyday? Another one of those Cinderella stories of a man who pushes the sunset back for one more great moment. The Dodgers should sign Roy Hobbs today, as long as he has his Wonderboy.

9. Bull Durham – Costner’s big sports movies debut was a smash, or should I say Crash? Never before has there been a career minor league baseball player who was loved more than Crash Davis. Also a great cast with Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Robert Wuhl. We all love Bull Durham.

8. Rudy – I only played one year of football as the kicker on the JV team. But watching this movie and seeing Rudy sack the quarterback at the end, I still get chills every time. You’re not going to root for anyone harder than little Rudy Ruettiger. He’s taken a beating lately from the likes of Joe Montana and others about his legacy, but Rudy is still a classic.

7. Major League – Even my grandmother says, “Just a bit outside,” although no one can say it like Harry Doyle. So what if Rickey “Wild Thing” Vaughn was on steroids? He could care less about the Hall of Fame. Has there ever been a cooler ending than the bunt beat out by the aging catcher Jake Taylor and Willie Mays Hayes scoring from second base? Too many R rated lines to put here. Ok, “Win the whole f***ing thing.”

6. Field of Dreams – So hard for me to not put this movie higher. My favorite movie was made into real life when my wife and I made the trek out to Dyersville, IA. Another movie with another one of those memorable lines, “If you build it, he will come.” The film has legendary cast of Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster. Who wouldn’t want to come out of the corn fields and play with Shoeless Joe Jackson?

5. Miracle – Most people will say they saw the real thing so why watch the movie? Answer: for Kurt Russell’s speech prior to the game against the Soviets. I’m telling you, that speech is unmatched. I was too young to remember the game live, but even my mom talks about it to this day. I think Miracle captures the feel of every American leading up to and after the monumental game.

4. We Are Marshall – Perhaps a surprise to people that it is this high on the list, but you pretty much cry from beginning to end and love it at the same time. Never has Matthew McConaughey been better. It is a true story of the devastating event to the Marshall University football team and athletic department. If you haven’t seen it, remember, “my shoulder’s fine.” This movie belongs in the top 5.

3. Pride of the Yankees – Another movie I am not afraid to say I shed some tears to, Gary Cooper nails his role of Lou Gehrig. Most of the young crowd probably has never heard of this movie, but go watch it tonight. Get past the fact that it’s in black and white and remember you get to see Babe Ruth portray himself.

2. Hoosiers – “Strap, put Ollie on your shoulder, measure it from the rim, Buddy? 10 feet. 10 feet. I think you’ll find these exact measurements in our gym back at Hickory.” It just doesn’t get better than that. Gene Hackman should have won an Oscar for his role of Coach Norman Dale. The lines, the story, the finish. And think about this, it is a basketball movie with no dunks, and you know what, who cares? They had Shooter, Jimmy Chitwood and the Picket Fence. Enough said.

1. Rocky – Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay and wouldn’t hand it over unless he got to play the starring role based on the life of boxer Chuck Wepner. How many sports movies have the title role lose in the end? And yet, it still won the Oscar for Best Picture. Hands down, Rocky is the best sports movie ever.

I just don't understand....

There are many reasons we love sports. Team sports, specifically. You have two sides, and for the most part, the best team is decided on the field, court or ice. However, there are some things that just don’t make sense. Certain aspects of the games that just make you shake your head. Most of these idiosyncrasies can go unnoticed, but some just stare you in the face and make you wonder. With that in mind, here are just a few questions I have regarding sports:

Why do they call it a foul pole, yet when a ball hits the pole, it’s ruled fair?

Why do they refer to the baseball skipper as a manager but most other sports have a head coach?

While we’re on the subject of managers and head coaches, why does the manager in baseball wear a jersey and the head coaches of other sports wear street clothes? Can you see Phil Jackson or Bill Belichick wearing a team jersey while arguing with a referee?

Why is an umpire known for having a wide strike zone or perhaps a high strike zone? You never hear anyone refer to a referee in football as having a wide sideline or deep end zone?

Also regarding umpires, why does the home plate umpire get to ring up a batter on a called third strike with fervor and hype? Can you picture a hockey official signaling goal while dancing or sliding all over the ice?

And while we’re speaking of fervor and hype, why does a football player go nuts after making a simple tackle? Not a forced fumble or a tackle for a loss, but just an ordinary tackle, sometimes even on a kick-off. Don’t tackles happen on virtually every play in football? Isn’t that supposed to be your job? Can you picture Albert Pujols dancing down to first base after blooping a single to right?

Why are there ties in hockey games and yes, Donovan McNabb, even in some football games? Shouldn’t there always be a winner and a loser in a team sport?

Why does a field goal count for three points but a safety only count for two? Isn’t a safety rarer and much harder to come by? What’s easier, a 30 yard field goal, or stopping an offensive player in his own end zone? You would think a safety would be worth more.

And on the subject of football calls, why does an NFL game have a defensive pass interference penalized at the spot of the foul yet whenever pass interference is called on the offense, it’s only a 10 yard penalty?

Back to baseball, has anyone noticed the unfair advantage American League teams have in winning the wild card? Sixteen NL teams are fighting for the division, three will win, which means one NL wildcard team will outlast twelve other teams. In the American League, the wildcard winning team will only outlast ten other teams. How is that just?

Speaking of division winners, the NL Central has six teams in the division. Every year the division winner has to finish ahead of five other teams. Meanwhile, in the American League West, a division with only four teams, the division winner has to finish ahead of only three other teams. How is that fair?

Why does an NFL receiver have to show possession of the ball and two feet in the end zone to score a touchdown, while a quarterback or running back can just hang the ball over the very beginning of the goal line for a split second? How does that make sense?

Here’s one for the stat rats: Baseball has the sacrifice fly, when a batter hits the ball in the air with less than two outs and after it’s caught, the runner from 3^rd base tags up and scores. The at bat does not count against the hitter’s batting average. However, when a batter hits a ground ball to an infielder with less than two outs and gets thrown out at first, the at bat counts against his average but yet the runner can still score from 3^rd base. What’s the logic behind that?

And finally, soccer is a great team sport, the best in world according to most outside the United States. Why would you decide a match of a great team sport, especially a championship match, with something so individual, so one-on-one as penalty kicks? What is so wrong with sudden death?

He's Clutch, He's Class, He's the Captain

Do you think that when the New York Yankees’ clubhouse manager gave out the #2 jersey to a young shortstop during the 1995 season, he knew what he was doing? Later that year, that clubhouse manager gave the #6 jersey to newly named manager Joe Torre. Call it fate, call it intuition, call it whatever you want but remember this: Other than #2 and #6, all the single digits are retired by the New York Yankees, including numbers 3, 4, 5 and 7, worn respectively by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. I imagine that every time Derek Jeter puts on those pinstripes along with his #2 jersey, those players with those jersey numbers enter his mind, perhaps since his debut with the big club. He homered on Opening Day 1996, won American League Rookie of the Year and helped the Yankees to their first World Series Championship since 1978. Derek Sanderson Jeter had arrived and over the next decade and a half, he played the game the way it should be played. He, along with Mr. Torre, as Jeter would refer to him, began to change the image of Yankees. Most athletes in any sport would be happy with a rookie season like that, but it was apparent very early on that Derek Jeter was only getting started.

Jeter just reached a baseball plateau very few get to. He became the 28^th player in history to get 3000 hits in a career, and is also the 4^th youngest in history to do so. That mark typically ensures an automatic berth in Cooperstown, Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. This should hold true for Jeter. However, even though Derek has played in virtually every October since 1996, there are plenty out there who would be quick to say that Derek Jeter is good, not great, and perhaps even overrated. I still shake my head when I think of the people who try to tell me that. Let’s first try to set a map or guideline as to what a team expects from a great player or what a team needs from a shortstop.

A shortstop should first and foremost provide stability at his position, playing solid defense and be the coach on the field. Jeter has won five Gold Gloves at shortstop and has never looked out of position in any situation.

While a shortstop should think defense first, most quality offensive shortstops hit near the top of the order and produce runs any way possible. Not only has Jeter reached 3000 hits, which is the most by a shortstop in history, he also has a lifetime average of .312 and is currently 24^th all-time in runs scored. By the end of next season, Jeter could easily be in the top 15 in both runs and hits all-time.

A shortstop should be the team’s leader and represent the franchise in a positive way. Jeter was named team captain in 2003. He has also been named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 2009 and won the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to the Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team, as voted on by baseball fans and members of the media.

What else has Derek Jeter accomplished in his prolific career? Five World Series rings, four Silver Slugger awards (given to the best hitter at each position), nine times hitting over .300, seven times accumulating at least 200 hits in a season, and more hits and runs scored in postseason history. While he had the help and good fortune of playing on good teams, teams who always had the resources to get the best players money could buy, this organization has at times been very unstable. From the failure to hit in the clutch egomaniac Alex Rodriguez, to the steroid ridden roster of ARod, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, and others, the meddling and controversial owner George Steinbrenner followed by his sons Hal and Hank, Jeter has been one of the few constants in the Yankee organization to show up day after day and help the team win. He has also done things never before seen in Major League Baseball history. Jeter is the 1^st and only player in history to win MVP of the All-Star game and World Series in the same season. He was the 1^st player to homer in the month of November, winning Game four of the 2001 World Series. And who could ever forget his flip to nail Jeremy Giambi at home plate, keeping his Yanks alive while down 2-0 in a best of five series? Let’s not forget that he has more hits than anyone ever in a Yankee uniform. THE NEW YORK YANKEES. He has more than all of them. Also, other than Albert Pujols or Ken Griffey Jr, what other everyday player over the last 10-15 seasons has been this successful and this great and not linked to steroids? It’s easy for people to say that he’s finished, his best years are behind him, he can’t play shortstop anymore, and he doesn’t deserve his contract. What more can he do? What do people want from him? Do you want him to be so pumped with HGH that he becomes superhuman and cartoonish like the Barry Bonds’, Mark McGwire’s and Sammy Sosa’s of the world? Or do you want a star that has a natural ascension and dissension throughout his career?

Derek Jeter is one of baseball’s all-time greatest players and he is among the sports world’s all-time greatest athletes. He has a Joe Montana-like quality, cool and calm under pressure, rising above the so-called intensity and desiring that big moment. Jeter also has some Wayne Gretzky in him, a gentleman who represents his sport with grace and class. And for the balance, Jeter has a bit of Kobe Bryant in him as well, a killer who you don’t want to see at the plate with the game on the line, because he will find a way, even if he has to step on you, to help his team win. Interestingly enough, those three athletes also share another thing with Jeter, multiple rings.

Did Derek Jeter hit as many homeruns as Ernie Banks? No. Did Derek Jeter have the durability of Cal Ripken? No. Did Derek Jeter play a defensive shortstop like Ozzie Smith? No. But never has there been another shortstop that could do it all consistently and with such poise as Derek Jeter. Never has there been a baseball player who quite balanced success on and off the field in the media driven city of the Big Apple with virtually no negative publicity. Never has there been a ball player who put his team and winning before himself more than Jeter. Never has there been a player who prefers to celebrate with his parents before his teammates after another World Series ring. Never before has there been a Derek Jeter. And there never will be again.

This One's For the Girls

In accordance with the start of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, I figure it’s about time we give a shout out to the ladies of sports and point out the very best of our era. Like the blogs in the past, our era means the past 30 years, 1980-present. Popularity doesn’t always count, it’s the wins, championships, dominance over a stretch and also just as important, it’s the way each athlete elevated their sport’s popularity throughout the world. 

Before we get to the top 10, let’s list the ladies who just missed the cut:

Michelle Akers, Cynthia Cooper, Janet Evans, Chris Evert, Shannon Miller, Picabo Street

And here it is, the top 10 female athletes of our era:

10. Cheryl Miller, basketball: “Anytime someone said I played ball like a man, I dug it!” That was just one of the things boasted by the dominant female basketball player. Cheryl Miller’s legacy began in high school when she scored 105 points in a single game. At USC, she won college basketball player of the year three times, while finishing 3^rd all time in the NCAA in rebounds and 5^th all-time in points. Had she had the chance to play in the WNBA instead of just coach, Miller would probably be in the top five of this list.

9. Bonnie Blair, speed skating: It’s simple; she won more gold medals than any other American female in the Olympic Games, summer or winter. Bonnie Blair won 5 gold medals, spanning three different games, including three in the 500 meter race. She was also the first American, male or female, to win six medals in the winter Olympics.

8. Serena Williams, tennis: While her 27 grand slam titles are impressive, we are going to focus on Serena’s 13 grand slam singles titles placing her 4^th all time. Serena Williams combines success on and off the court with her dominance in women’s tennis along her with clothing line. Serena has also been the world’s No. 1 on five different occasions and is the all-time leader in career earnings on the WTA.

7. Lisa Fernandez, softball: While Jennie Finch may be the most popular softball player ever, there is no doubt the greatest is the pitcher/3^rd baseman from UCLA and Olympic softball glory. In all, Fernandez won and dominated with three college softball player of the year awards, three gold medals, and two NCAA championships. Her peak may have been her senior season when she led the nation in batting average with a .510 mark, not to mention leading the nation with a 0.51 earned run average.

6. Lisa Leslie, basketball:  First woman to dunk, that in itself may be worthy of this list. Lisa Leslie has exemplified that women can play professional team sports and have a successful career. Three times she was named WNBA’s Most Valuable Player, twice her Los Angeles Sparks won the title and four times she has won a gold medal. Leslie is the WNBA’s career leader in points as well as many other categories.

5. Annika Sorenstam, golf: With 90 tournament wins, ten majors and being the career leader in money winning on the LPGA, very few have dominated their sport the way Annika has. Sorenstam is also the only woman to shoot 59 in a round and has won player of the year an astounding eight times.

4. Mia Hamm, soccer: Has there ever been a female athlete in team sports who won more than Mia? She won four NCAA championships at the University of North Carolina, two World Cups and two gold medals. But with Mia Hamm it was more than that. She elevated her sport’s popularity on the national and international scene. Perhaps her biggest accomplishment was her “anything you can do I can do better” Nike campaign with Michael Jordan. Hands down, Mia Hamm is the most successful female athlete in team sports.

3. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, track and field: People forget that Jackie Joyner was a four year starting forward for UCLA’s women’s basketball team. By then, however, she had also won the silver medal in the heptathlon in the 1984 Olympics. In all, Joyner-Kersee won medals in four straight Olympic Games, including three gold medals in the heptathlon, the most grueling Olympic event for women. In 1999, Sports Illustrated for Women Magazine named her the top female athlete in history.

2. Martina Navratilova, tennis: The numbers are mind-boggling, 167 career singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, nine Wimbledon singles titles, a 74 consecutive-match winning streak. All of those are tops in her sport. Martina took elements of tennis in the past and ushered it into the recent era. Her serve and volley approach, her incredible rivalry with Chris Evert and her unmatched longevity, Martina Navratilova won nearly 87% of her singles matches and is a sports legend.

1. Steffi Graf, tennis: There was never a question as to which female athletes were number one and number two on the list. Fraulein Forehand dominated women’s tennis the way no other female ever has in their sport. She had perhaps the greatest year in sports by male or female in 1988, when she won all four Grand Slam events as well as the gold medal in the Seoul games, a feat unmatched by any tennis player in history. She won twenty-two grand slam singles titles, 2^nd all time. She is the only woman to win all four majors at least four times. And while winning nearly 89% of all matches, here is the main reason Steffi edges Martina. While Martina would have a very slight edge on grass, I would take Graf on any surface. If I had to pick one woman to win one crucial match, without a doubt it would be Steffi Graf, the greatest women’s tennis player ever and the top female athlete of our time.