Reality television is all the rage in entertainment today.
Shows ranging from “Joe Millionaire” on Fox to “Sorority Life” on MTV receive some pretty respectable ratings from the viewing public.
As a matter of fact, according to CNN.com, the finale of “Joe Millionaire” had more than 40 million Americans tuning in at one time or another.
While reality TV is often intriguing and sometimes just downright hilarious, I am of the opinion that sporting events should be the reality TV that most people view.
I mean I don’t think there is anything on television better than watching Jamal Mashburn of the New Orleans Hornets sink a buzzer beater to defeat the Detroit Pistons on the road. That is reality TV at its finest.
But sports also presents us with another form of great entertainment, and that is in the shape of a sports movie.
The sports movie is obviously my favorite genre of cinema. To that tune, I have decided to grace the LSU students with my Top 5 favorite sports movies of all time, although I might remind the readers that I have not seen every sports movie (this includes “The Natural” and “Bull Durham”).
And do not worry, “The Bobby Knight Story- The Season on the Brink” will not be anywhere near my Top 5. What a doozy.
5. Hoop Dreams- I talked about reality TV earlier. Well, when it comes to movies, “Hoop Dreams” is as real as it gets. This movie is a documentary revolving around two high school basketball players, William Gates and Arthur Agee, who are trying to make it to the level of Division I college basketball. It is indeed a struggle. The two teenagers from Chicago’s inner city deal with many different aspects of life, from dealing with crime to the drug addiction of Agee’s father. The most moving thing of all is the movie is absolutely real and was taped over a six-year span of the young men’s lives.
4. Major League- What a movie! The premise of a team winning an American League pennant solely off the motivation of defying its non-baseball loving witch of an owner who wants to move the Cleveland Indians to a warmer climate is incredible. The group of rejects, including Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Wesley Snipes, fit their roles perfectly, ranging from Berenger as the father figure in the waning years of his career to Sheen as the hotshot young pitcher nicknamed “Wild Thing”, who is the heart throb of a majority of the women in Cleveland. From last place to first in a matter of months– hey, it could happen.
3. Field of Dreams- Some people may be miffed by the sight of “Field of Dreams” as low as No. 3, but I believe this Kevin Costner classic is right where it belongs. Everyone knows the line, “If you build it, he will come,” and he came. Costner uses the building of a baseball field at his farm in Iowa to conjure the spirits of baseball outcast “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and others who yearn to relive the purest form of sport, baseball.
2. Hoosiers- This choice was tough, but in the end “Hoosiers” received the honor of second on my Top 5. Despite what certain people may say, for a high school which is barely large enough to field a basketball team to beat the state power of Indiana is beyond inspirational. Even though the quality of basketball in the movie leaves something to be desired, the fact that the story is actually true throws all basketball inabilities by the actors out the window.
1. Caddyshack- No contest here. Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield in their prime. Bushwood Country Club was the setting, and even though this movie may be considered a comedy by movie critics, it contains enough golf action for me to put it in my list. Some of the best speeches in cinematic history were spawned from this movie, including Murray’s famous Dhali Llama spiel.