Top 5: Greatest Sports Movies

I'm not the first to create this list, and you can bet I won't be the last, but here are my top 5 sports movies of all time:
(In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention there are a TON of classic sports films I've not seen...pretty much anything released before 1975 will not be mentioned...nothing good was created before that time anyway, right?)

1. Raging Bull (1980)
It seems kinda unfair to compare this film to other films in the sports genre as it is so much more than a "sports movie," but then again, I guess the same can be said of all great sports movies. DeNiro is at his DeNiro best (there is a reason this is the guy all the Matt Damons and Leo DiCaprios want to be). The film is really about passion and pride and jealously and redemption, but the boxing scenes are some of the greatest ever put on film.

2. Field of Dreams (1989)
The speech James Earl Jones gives at the end of the movie pretty much sums it up.

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."

Field of Dreams and the 1998 San Diego Padres are most responsible for my love of Baseball. I have seen this movie probably 100 times and I still get teary. This is the movie I watch to feel good about life and America and Iowa and to remember when Kevin Costner was talented and smokin' hot.

3. Bull Durham (1988)
Kevin Costner should probably stick with baseball movies. This one improved minor league baseball attendance forever. It is my secret wish to grow up and become Susan Sarandon's character and marry a guy who can recite The Speech. Does that make me a ho?

4. White Men Can't Jump (1992)
Sure there are better sports films, but few are as entertaining as WMCJ. Any movie where Rosie Perez can win big on Jeopardy pretty much kicks ass.

5. Rocky (1976)
I only recently saw Rocky for the first time. A friend suggested it when I was feeling a bit blue and I realized why generations of men (and women?) claim Rocky as their all time "feel good" movie. Compared to Raging Bull, the boxing sequences are kinda lame, but this one leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy. Can't believe it beat Taxi Driver for Best Picture, but that is a whole 'nother blog...