Sunday, March 05, 2006

Sport movies

In honor of the Oscars I thought I would take a survey of 1) your favorite sport movie and 2) the movie you want to see made.
I realize the first part isn't really a new concept. You can check out E!Online's top ten here.
Or Sports Illustrated (organized by sport) and ESPN's respective countdowns here and here.
My favs do not fall on these lists though. Not suprising considering how testosterone-filled these lists are. My list also includes documentaries, though.
Here are my top picks. I'll get back to you about the best sport movie not-yet-made (right after I pitch it to Paramount!)
ken's favorite sport movies (in no particular order)
1. A Hero for Daisy: an amazing documentary about the early days of Title IX.
2. Hockey Mom--a little known but very sweet Canadian movie about female hockey players.
3. Girl Wrestler: documentary that follows one teenage girl as she attempts to enter the male-dominated sport of wrestling in the very patriarchal state of Texas.
4. Love and Basketball: I could watch this movie every day--ok maybe not every day but at least once a week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seriously, you omitted the Cutting Edge? And it was on the other day, too!

E-Online's list was very middle-aged-man. Though Breaking Away is timeless and has universal appeal. The ESPN/SI lists was a little more diverse. It even included Personal Best as a runner-up.

My top picks (INP0)
A League of Their Own
Field of Dreams
Bend it Like Beckham
Remember the Titans
The Cutting Edge
Rudy

ken said...

it's interesting that you chose Cutting Edge (Part 1) given that you frequently dismiss figure skating as not so much a real sport. It's Moira Kelly right? That scene where she's all sweaty doing bicep curls (admittedly with very little weights). Yeah, that gets me too.

Anonymous said...

Actually, under the new scoring system, I am more accepting of figure skaing as a "sport" (which in my mind required the ability to compare performances by some objective measure) rather than an art form that's value is subjectively determined.

To be clear I don't dismiss the level of athleticism, risk, and effort that goes into figure skating. It's definitely harder to master than hockey. I could never do it! But when the outcome of the competition doesn't appear to correlate to anything one can measure and compare, I have a hard time calling it "sport."