Top 5: Sports Movies

Tonight I saw the movie The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. It's a well made movie about a washed up wrestler who is struggling with being alone and growing old. Rourke nails his part as the past-his prime wrestler, but I don't feel like I can recommend this movie without some disclaimers. If you would like to know my disclaimers, feel free to ask, this post isn't about the Wrestler.

Watching this movie got me thinking about my favorite sports movies. So I decided to list my top five.

(Disclaimer: I am not listing the best sports movies ever, I have not seen all of the sports movies ever made. I am simply stating my favorite, top-five sports movies. If you disagree, feel free to comment and let me know why.)

Number Five- Rookie of the Year (1993)- Loved this movie as a kid. Classic Disney sports movie. A kid breaks his arm and it heals tight and now he throws 90? It's so far fetched that it worked great! Put this kid on the team everyone feels sorry for, the Cubs, and you have a winner. 

Favorite moment- When Henry accidentally breaks his doctors nose and the doctor yells, "Funky Butt-lovin'!" Thought it was the greatest saying in movie history when I first heard it. (side note: I have used this saying as recently as an intramural basketball game 3 days ago) 

Number Four- The Sandlot (1993) - Classic. Every kid growing up needs to see this movie. It should be mandated by the United States constitution that by the age of 12, every red-blooded American child needs to have seen this movie. It captures the essence of America's past time. The innocence. The pure love of the game. Watching this movie makes me miss my childhood memories of summer time and staying out all day with the neighborhood kids playing baseball. Plus, who didn't want a pair of PF Flyers after seeing this movie?

Favorite moment- When they guys have their sleep over in the tree house. Classic lines happen in this scene. First was the "S'more of what?" line. Great line, still used today. Then the story of the Beast and the line "Foooorevvver" (also, still used today). 

Number Three- Remember the Titans (2000)- If anyone tells you they didn't get chills on the final play of the state title game, they're lying or don't have a pulse. I've seen this movie countless times and I still get chills. Denzel Washington was the perfect actor for this role. Love the story. Love the football scenes (looked real, which is always good). Love the soundtrack (people underestimate the impact a good soundtrack has on a movie. i.e. Eye of the Tiger will forever be connected to Rocky). 

Favorite moment- The state title game. Especially the last play. Chills, end of story. 

Number Two (tie)- Rudy (1993)- The ultimate underdog story. A kid with little athletic ability and a big heart fulfills his dream of playing for Notre Dame. First time I watched this movie I wanted to chase after all of my dreams. This is a very inspiring and incredible movie. Notre Dame is hated by many people, but even the haters had to feel inspired and choked up when Rudy finally gets into the game.

Favorite moment- When the players and fans all start chanting Rudy's name and his sack. Chills and inspiration every-time I see that part. This guy was a walk-on and dressed for one game, played in two plays, ever, and his teammates carried him off of the field. Incredible. 

Number 2b.- Cinderella Man (2005)- I know this technically makes six movies for this list, but hey, it's my list. First of all, Ron Howard is the director, so right away that tells you it's going to be a good movie with at least one tear-jerker moment. This is another inspiring movie about a down and out fighter catching his big break and making things happen for his family. Set in the era of the Great Depression, it's very relatable to today's current economic situation...sort of.

Favorite moment- Russell Crowe's final big fight. Watching his boys sneaking to listen to their hero dad's fight and jumping up and down as he starts to win is one of the most inspiring moments of the movie.

Number One- Hoosiers (1986)- Great, great movie! So many reasons to love this movie. It's about basketball, the underdogs win, it was made the year I was born and I'm pretty sure I wanted to grow up to be Jimmy Chitwood after watching it. (side note: has there every been any better shooter in a movie than Jimmy Chitwood? I mean this guy DID NOT miss! Seriously, check out the title game. I'm pretty sure he hit every single shot he took. The man was a machine.) 

I loved the coaching aspect of it too. I want to be a coach and seeing Gene Hackman taking this small group of rag-tag boys and molding them into winners was awesome. I have seen this movie approx.. 200 times in my lifetime. I love the soundtrack, and the old school setting of the 1950's. Everyone is sporting the old school Chuck Taylor's and short shorts. The good old days of basketball.

Favorite moment- When Shooter has to coach the boys and draw up the game winning play, "We're going to run the picket fence now boys. Don't get caught watchin' the paint dry!" C'mon, classic line right there. I've actually used that line when I coached a 5th grade AAU team a few years ago. Went right over their heads. Had to educate the boys on what a good movie was all about. 

Well there you have it. My top-five sports movies. (I know, I know, it's really six, but top-five sounds so much better than a top-six. It's a rounder number for the mind to comprehend.) 

I realize that some very solid movies were left off of the list (Little Big League, Rocky, He Got Game, Longest Yard, Blue Chips, Glory Road, Dodgeball, Field of Dreams, The Replacements...ok, maybe not the Replacements.) I mean, there are a lot of great sports movies. But this being my list, these are my top five.

Don't Challenge my Fanhood!

There are few things in life that get me riled up quite like being called a bandwagon fan. Much to my dismay, I get this a lot from friends. My favorite teams are the Duke Blue Devils basketball team, the Boston Red Sox and University of Tennessee Vols football. 

To an average person, that would appear to be a very eclectic and random pick of teams, especially with me being from Ohio. I would like to take this time to explain and validate my reasons for my teams, so without further introduction:

Duke Basketball- This is by far my favorite team. I get the bandwagon comments from liking them the most. My earliest memories of watching the NCAA tournament are watching Duke in the early 90's as a little kid. My family lived in Durham for a few years, my sister was even born at Duke medical hospital so growing up my parents were always watching Duke, so I was always watching Duke.

I guess you can say I jumped on the bandwagon in the early 90's but I never jumped off, and don't ever plan on jumping off. I am a loyal fan, even during rough years (1995, the past four years of the NCAA tournament). I love Coach K, I love the cameron crazies, I love Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley and Wojo, and JJ Redick. If they wear the Duke jersey, I root for them. 

Red Sox- This team is the one where I do not have any family reason to like them. The year I became a fan (1998) they didn't even make the playoffs. So why Boston? Three reasons:

1) My neighbors cousin. My next door neighbor was the same age as me, so needless to say we hung out a bunch. Often his cousin would be over at his house while I was there. His cousin was much older than us and picked on me often. I didn't like him. He liked the Yankees. I chose the Red Sox.

2) Pedro Martinez. Great pitcher in his prime. Loved watching him pitch. Was hooked long term after his 1999 Cy Young year and All-Star game performance. It was a sad day when the Sox let him walk away.

3) Nomar. Loved me some Nomar! He was the batting champ, wore my favorite number, fan favorite, what's not to like? Only winning the World Series in '04 eased the pain of trading him mid-season.

UT Football- Now, being from Ohio (and an hour from Columbus) most people expect me to be a huge Ohio State fan. I am not an OSU fan in the least! The only time I cheer for Ohio State is when they play Michigan, and that's only because I was raised not to like Michigan. 

Many of my extended family members are ginormous OSU fans. My immediate family is not. My parents have always been SEC football fans and growing up the SEC was what our family watched on Saturdays. In the 1990's UT was THE program of the SEC, and Peyton Manning was the man. I loved Peyton, he's why I began liking the Vols. Been a fan ever since Peyton. 

Now if I were a bandwagon fan, I would've jumped off of the UT wagon long ago. But I haven't. I'm loyal. Through good and bad. I stick by all of my teams. 

I guess all I can say is sorry for liking consistently good teams. I've liked them for years and have been a loyal fan for years. 

So you can judge for yourself whether I'm a bandwagon fan or not. But I for one believe bandwagon fans have no loyalty. I do. 

I also realize that many of my friends get on my about my teams because they know I get defensive and will defend my teams until the end. I know this, and it still gets me going. No matter how bad a season one of my teams may be having, I will still cheer for them and make no excuses for why I like them. 

That, my friends, is not something a bandwagon fan would do. 

So be warned, don't challenge my fanhood without being ready to get into an argument. (That'll you'll probably lose)

What's on my mind

The Bisons won the battle of the hottest teams in the Atlantic Sun tonight. By beating Mercer 88-67 the Bison extended their win streak to five games. 

With the team playing so well, all I can think about is basketball, specifically the Atlantic Sun tournament. This is my fourth year being on the team and have never been to the NCAA tournament, the way this team is playing right now has me thinking about the big dance.

I can honestly say that I am sick and tired of watching our arch-rivals down the road win the tournament the past three years and I fully expect us to defend our home court this year.

Up next for the Bison is Kennesaw State. I smell win number six in a row.

On a roll

    

Four game in eight days. That's what the Bison faced coming off of two tough road losses. But after those eight days, the Bison have four wins. It started with a beat down of Campbell at their place and ended tonight with a HUGE win over ETSU. Sandwiched in-between those games was an emotional win over our arch-rival Belmont and a 33-point shellacking of USC-Upstate. 

The win tonight versus ETSU was especially sweet. We had lost seven straight games to them, all of them on the last few possessions. Our team is finally looking like the team that I thought we would be at the beginning of the year. We are finally playing team ball and maturing in the process. 

Up next we travel to Mercer to play an equally hot team on a televised Friday night game. For those of you interested in watching, it'll be on CSS Friday night, 7pm EST. 

I'm excited about the rest of this year and the conference tournament that we host. We seem to be clicking at the right time of year and heading into the home stretch of the regular season I still feel like our team can get better. 

Check back later this week to see if the Bison can continue our hot streak.

The Bison and Hockey

Valentines day. Singles awareness day. Depressing day. It is a day that has many names and for me this year it was a great day of sports. 

To begin the day coach Sanderson cancelled our shoot-around for our afternoon game (which I believe is our first afternoon game this year) so I got to sleep in. After sleeping in, I woke up and went to our pre-game meal, which today was Cracker Barrel! Delicious! To top off my afternoon the Bison played a great game and blew out USC-Upstate by 33 points. Michael Teller and Adnan Hodzic both played great. 

This game is our third win in a row and two days after an emotional and hard fought win against our arch-rival Belmont. Our team is looking like it is maturing and Adnan Hodzic is becoming an un-guardable force down low, which is freeing up our outside shooters who are starting to consistently hit their shots. Next up is another big game, this time against ETSU, who we had beat at their place and let the game get away from us in overtime. 

I fully expect another inspired and hard fought game from the Bison come Monday night in Allen Arena. 

Following the Bisons victory I had made plans to take three kids I babysit to a Predators game. The tickets we had were their families season tickets and great seats, having been to a pre-season game last year I was excited to get to experience the NHL in person again. 

I am like a typical American guy, I don't like hockey. If it's on TV, I don't watch, even the playoffs. I have a hard time following the puck and don't understand the rules. That being said, I have come to love watching hockey in person. The speed, intensity and athleticism seen up close is a totally different experience than watching hockey on TV. 

The game tonight was great. The Preds played the Boston Bruins and won in a shootout. The crowd was awesome! There were so many people there and it was loud and energetic the whole game. It caught me by surprise, especially with it being valentine's day.  I think everyone should experience an NHL game live at least once in their lives, from my experience you'll leave with a new appreciation for the game. 

I ended the day with a trip out to a friends house where many close friends were still having their valentine's day party. The only regret I have is that I missed the NBA 3-point competition and the slam dunk contest. I cannot give my opinion on these contest until I have caught up with the highlights. All I know is who won, nothing more. 

Outside of missing some NBA action I can chalk this day up as one that I loved. (yes, I did just use a cheesy valentine's day-ish joke, deal with it.) As this new week begins, so does another full slate of sports action. Check back later this week for more of my thoughts.

Steroids

Once again, steroids is dominating the headlines. Yesterday A-Rod admitted to taking steroids from 2001-2003 while with the Rangers. I can't say that I'm surprised. Having grown up during the "steroids era" of baseball, where some of the most prolific offensive numbers in the history of the game were put up, I want to think, "is it really so bad that pro athletes use performance-enhancing drugs?" 

With the outlandish salary's that today's pro athletes make, especially Alex Rodriguez, and the high prices of tickets just to see these millionaires play, is it so bad that they "juice up" so they can put on a show? I know they don't use these drugs for the fans, but the pressure they are under to perform day in and day out forces many of them to take a route deemed unethical by many. 

In 1998 I was mesmerized, as was the whole country, by the Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire home run record chase. I can remember being at a high school football game and they announced that McGwire had just hit his 56th home run, the crowd went nuts. When news came out that they were suspected of using steroids many felt the that the summer of '98 was tainted. I on the other hand still cannot deny the magic that I experienced that summer. 

Was that chase a result of steroids? Perhaps. Most likely actually. But that summer rejuvenated the love America has for her past time. 

In football, there hasn't been a report like the Mitchell Report that came out for baseball, but you would have to be naive to think that pro football players don't use performance-enhancing drugs. But do fans refuse to buy tickets to watch these men play? No. Even in hard economic times stadiums are still full, TV ratings are still high and America still loves sports.

So I ask, is steroids really that bad for sports? Fans complain about it's use and say it's unfair, but I think that if it had be readily available back at the turn of the 20th century, athletes would've used it then too. 

So as long as American sports fans are willing to pay high ticket prices and watch games on TV at record numbers, then there will always be athletes feeling the pressure to win now and use performance enhancers. It's the sports culture we live in, like it or not.

Duke vs Clemson running blog

Well here we are again, Duke is playing at another top-10 team, aka the ACC schedule. I thought I'd give you an experience of what goes through my mind as I watch a Duke game.

Pre-game- I'm watching ESPN waiting on the game to start and every-time I see Steve Lavin I cannot help but stare at his hair. I mean how much gel does this guy use? Also, he needs to stop using cheesy tag-lines during game highlights. (Example- "There he is from deep, and tickles the twine!" He might as well just use "Boom goes the dynamite!" just as cheesy but at least there's some comedic value to it)

Yes! Mike Patrick is calling the game as the play-by-play announcer and Jay Bilas is doing the color commentary! I'm really happy that Dick Vitale is not calling this game, that guy bugs me. 

19:32- Bilas points out that Scheyer is shooting 29% in ACC play....ouch! 

16:38- Mike Patrick update, "Wake Forest is getting wacked by Miami." Well, that's discouraging, a team that just beat us is getting "wacked" by the team we're playing next. 

14:23- Media timeout, so far Clemson has forced a couple Duke turnovers and are up 11-9. I hope this isn't another ugly, fight to come back (a la Wake Forest) type of game. 

Does anyone else think that Vonage is really getting much business? I mean I'm sure there are some people out there who still use a land line  but no one that I know. I just feel like they don't get much business.

14:23- Making his first appearance of the game, the 7-foot waste of space, Brian Zoubek! 

11:23  -2nd media timeout, Duke has made a few more plays, only down 2, 15-13. Zoubek's been in for almost 2 whole minutes and hasn't fouled yet! This must be a personal record! (Can you tell I'm not a Brian Zoubek fan? I mean you're a 7-footer and average 6 points and 4 rebounds? If you aren't going to be a scoring threat at least rebound.)

11:01-close up of Oliver Purnell and his ORANGE blazer. Where do you even find an orange blazer?

10:31- Zoubek with his first foul. Shock.

10:20- Booker just had a huge dunk on Zoubek and Singler, no switching up top caused that dunk. Clemson- 19, Duke-15.

Commercial break- the classic "You just won the super bowl, Ben Roesthlisberger and Santanio Holmes, what are you going to do?" 

- "We're going to disney world!"

Sportscenter Right Now update- there is evidence that Barry Bonds did steriods. No?! Really? Thank you Sportscenter Right Now for that breaking news.

7:30- Heather Cox is tonight's sideline reporter, makes me sad that Erin Andrews isn't there. For the record, I'm pretty sure I'd marry Erin Andrews in a heartbeat. 

6:27- Game is final, Miami-79, Wake Forest-52. YIKES!

6:20- Another Duke turnover. These turnovers are killing us! Clemson hits a 3-pointer as a result, Clemson up 26-17.

5:06- If you go by the Clemson crowds reaction they have not fouled Duke yet this game. They are booing every foul called against them. Let it go people, at this point you have 1 more foul than Duke, the refs have been calling a tight game all night both sides.

4:22- Come on! 9th turnover by Duke, who averages 13 a game! The 1st half isn't even over yet. 

3:50- Turnover #10, I just yelled at the TV.

2:00- Internet just froze, I have a slight freak out moment, but luckily it starts working again. Close call.

1:18- Clemson goal tends a Duke shot, no call. Clemson up 33-21. Duke is looking horrible. 

:15.9- Clemson timeout. Minuets away from being mesmerized by Steve Lavin's hair.

Halftime. Duke down 33-21. Clemson looked good, Duke did not. 

Interview time with Oliver Purnell. Either Heather Cox is really tall or Purnell is short because she was looking down at him during that interview. 

Lavin just said "Scamper like a hampster." Wow. 

Coke Zero commercials, some of the best on TV.

Edge shaving cream, some of the worst commercials on TV.

More Lavin-ism's- "Torching it up." "Bottoms of the net." "Kicks it back for the big man. Bottoms of the net." 

For the 2nd half I have moved back into my room from the living room to watch it on our big TV.

19:45- Singer has 2 points and 3 turnovers. Not a good sign. Clemson bucket, Duke down 35-21.

18:37- Bad Call! Singler called for a blocking foul, Clemson player completes the and-1. Singler's 4th foul. My roommate laughs at me for yelling at the TV.

17:44- foul called on Lance Thomas, replay shows it's a jump ball. I yell once again.

17:03- Another Duke turnover, Henderson saves a dunk but is whistled for the foul. I get three facebook chat messages, two making fun of how Duke is playing, one is a fellow Duke fan (shout out- Jenna Bartsokas) sharing her frustration.

15:29- Henderson gets hacked, crowd boos. Duke down 17. 

State Farm's LeBron playing for the Browns commercial airs, causing Browns fans in Cleveland to cry.

Matt Hasselback (seriously, the 40 year old, bald, washed up Seahawks QB) just did a commercial for EAS! Wow!

15:29- Duke has 13 turnovers and 10 field goals. Unbelievable.

14:45- My roommate and his girlfriend are talking about the universe and black holes. I feel like a black hole watching this game, Duke down 20, Paulus just got dunked on. ouch.

ESPN's bottom line just showed LeBron's stats vs the Knicks, 52, 10, 11! So in back to back games the Knicks have given up 61 points to Kobe and now a 52 point triple double to LeBron. Stinks to be a Knicks fan. 

12:52- Zoubek has back to back good plays! A put back and then on the other end he took a charge. 

12:43- Two Henderson free throws. Duke down 48-32. Still venting to whoever will listen.

11:41- Media Timeout. I can do nothing but hold my hands on my head. I'm annoyed. Down 21.

Ok, Pizza Hut, did you really go all the way to Italy to have Italians try your lasagna? I highly doubt that. In no way does that commercial convince me that Pizza Hut makes a quality lasagna. 

10:45- My roommate conveniently points out that through 30 minutes of the game Duke is averaging just above a point a minute. Thanks MT. 

Media timeout. Lead cut to 17. Teammates are sending text messages and facebook chat messages giving me a hard time about Duke. I'm taking the high road. No response.

9:05- Singler hits a 3. But not before stepping out of bounds. 15 turnovers. Almost cursed.

8:07- Booker gets another dunk, I yell in frustration subsequently scaring my suit mates' girlfriends dog. 

6:30- Zoubek bails Clemson out with a stupid foul. Shooting free throws. Down 23.

4:47- Bilas comments on how there's going to be "some blood on the floor at Duke's next practice." Clemson now up 70-43. I'm embarrassed. 

This may be the first and last time I do a running blog of a Duke game. Duke is getting their butts kicked. 

Awkward Viagra commercial. If not for this blog I definitely would've turned the game off by now. 

Oklahoma is struggling with Texas A&M, how would that be for a night? The #2, #3 and #6 teams potentially being upset. 

1:57- Oglesby (little white dude who's hitting everything he's shooting) just missed his 2nd dunk. I had a nice little chuckle. Only good thing that's happened for me this half. 

Let me just say, I would not want to be a player for them the next day at practice. It's going to be ugly. 

ESPN shows the graphic about how it's been 11 years since Duke last lost by 20 points. Awesome. 

0:00-Students rush the court. Clemson's first win vs Duke since 1997. I'm mad. Already looking forward for the game vs them at Cameron. 

Next up for Duke doesn't get any easier as we have to play a Miami team that just throttled Wake Forest by 27. Needless to say I won't be doing a running blog of that game.

 

What a game

The super bowl was an average football game until the fourth quarter, and what a fourth quarter it was! I was pulling for the Cardinals in this one and had predicted an Arizona victory but the Steelers pulled out a drive for the ages! The Cardinals defense was great all night long, they had three goal line stands. Three! That's very impressive to do against a smash mouth team like the Steelers. And what to say about Larry Fitzgerald. That man is a freak athlete and an amazing receiver. I also have to give my appreciation for the Super Bowl MVP, Santanio Holmes. He had big plays after big plays and made one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history to win it. I was disappointed in the outcome but not in the excitement of the game. 

I did have a few thoughts on the game from where I was sitting (which happened to be a Hampton Inn in Fort Myers, Florida). 

1) Was it just me or did the refs look like they were trying all they could to make sure the Steelers were going to pull this one out? I mean three unsportsmanlike conduct calls on ONE drive!? All of those penalties were questionable too. On the last play of the game when Kurt Warner was stripped and fumbled the ball I thought it at least deserved a second look from the refs, but they decided that the play was an easy call, which it wasn't. 

2) Kurt Warner has played in three Super Bowls, holds many passing records for Super Bowls and has played in three of the most exciting championship games in the history of the Super Bowl. His first trip there the Rams win by a yard, in his second trip to the big game the following year the Patriots win at the gun on a field goal. Now in his third trip to the championship he gets beat with :35 to go, on an incredible catch, after leading a huge fourth quarter comeback! When this guy plays in the Super Bowl, you need to watch! If not for an amazing Holmes catch (and that HUGE interception at the end of the first half, Warner's only hiccup in the game) Warner would be walking away with his second MVP award. 

3) Half-time was great....if you were over 35 years old. The Super Bowl half-time has turned into a mini-concert, and the only one that I can remember watching recently and saying, "Wow! That was great!" is the 2002 Super Bowl with U2. Maybe I just don't appreciate the music like some older folk do but last night I knew only one of Springsteen's songs, Glory Days. I wasn't a fan of the show, but I digress. 

4) The commercials weren't too bad. The winner of this years commercials was the Doritos ad with the magic ball, which was funny and made by two unemployed brothers. I thought the animal commercials were a little over-kill this year and not as funny as in years past. My top five favorite were: 1) Talking flowers insult valentine; 2) the Dorito's crystal ball; 3) Bud Light's first commercials where the accountant gets thrown out the window; 4) Pepsi's McGruber and 5) Coke's classic remake of the mean Joe Greene commercials done with Troy Polamalu.

Moving on to basketball. 

Lipscomb lost another close game, this one to Stetson in overtime. With the loss Lipscomb dropped to 0-6 all time at Stetson. Mike Lusk played great in this game, hitting big shot after big shot and ending with 22 points, 13 of them coming in overtime. The story of the game (really, the story of the team so far this year) was the inability to finish. Silly turnovers, porous defense and dumb fouls down the stretch. 

By my count that is eight games that we have lost in the last three minutes of either regulation or overtime after having the lead late. I realize this team is young, and next year will definitely be a great team, but we have yet to see a complete game on both ends of the floor by this team. 

Next up is a game vs Florida Gulf Coast, prediction for this game- 80-76 Lipscomb victory.

In more encouraging news, Duke once again played great coming off a loss, dismantling an over-matched Virginia team 79-54. Duke's defense was again impressive, forcing the Cavaliers into 23 turnovers and scoring 29 points off of those turnovers. 

Next up is a tough stretch of games vs Clemson and Miami before the big game against North Carolina. 

Well, those are my thoughts and opinions, like 'em or not, they're probably right.