In sports, we love our Top 10. ESPN even dedicated a portion of its nightly sportscast to the top 10 plays of the day - you know back when sports were being played daily.
Those were the good old days.
I have seen sportswriters list their top 10 NCAA tournament games, top 10 all-time players in various sports, and even the top 10 names of sports personalities either players or coaches they've ever seen. We love our Top 10s.
We're not the only ones.
Beauty pageants cut down the competition to the Top 10 before putting the contestants through some of the more grueling portions of the shows.
So, below I have given you a peek into my Top, well, 11 sports movies of all-time, in no particular order. Ironically, half of my favorites were based on true stories or actual events.
And a discussion with a friend of mine revealed that most top 10 sports movie lists will include films that tug at the heart strings from courage, loss and death as much as perseverance, winning and success.
HOOSIERS (1986) A coach with a past takes over a small-town basketball team in Indiana, and many characters are able to overcome their own obstacles as the team builds and relies on each other.
MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004) A female boxer determined to make it to the top enlists a hard-nosed trainer in this drama with extremely well played parts of the two leads Clint Eastwood and Hillary Swank. I've seen the end, and I usually turn this one off with a few minutes left.
BULL DURHAM (1988) I don't know many lists that don't include some Kevin Costner baseball movie, and this one is my choice. Despite the language and debauchery, some of the banter and delivery of the dialogue is priceless and extremely quotable in this type of rom-com about baseball in the minor leagues.
WE ARE MARSHALL (2006) A plane crash devastated a town and killed almost the entire football team of Marshall University in 1970, but there were a few who refused to let the program die, despite many hurdles and obstacles.
BRIAN'S SONG (1971) A friendship endures between Chicago Bear teammates Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, who were unlikely friends to begin with from race and background differences. Piccolo is diagnosed with a deadly cancer. Keep a box of Kleenex for this one.
GLORY ROAD (2006) Don Haskins takes over the Texas Western College men's basketball program in El Paso, and the Miners go on to win the 1966 NCAA national title while making a statement on the basketball court. The game would never be the same again.
THE NATURAL (1984) Roy Hobbs is the 40-year-old rookie who finally has his chance to shine on the baseball diamond, after events sidetracked his career when he was younger. Though fictional, it feeds the dreams of baseball fans with its story of resurrection.
THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED (2005) This biographical golf movie chronicles Francis Ouimet and the 1913 U.S. Open, which Ouimet won to become the first amateur to win the title. He claimed the trophy in a playoff over two of the favorites.
THE EXPRESS (2008) Jim Brown is a more well-known name than Ernie Davis, who replaced Brown at fullback at Syracuse and then was drafted to be teammates with Brown in Cleveland. Davis was the first black man to win the Heisman Trophy, but his career in the NFL never came to fruition as he was diagnosed with leukemia.
TIN CUP (1996) A carefree or careless golf pro from West Texas can never seem to get to get anything right, until he qualifies for the U.S. Open and ends up leading during the final round. Kevin Costner plays the lovable loser in his rom-com, which has a scene where a close friend of mine's mother is highlighted during the film. You don't play for par.
RUDY (1993) A story of an undersized football player who only wants to suit up one time for Notre Dame after giving four brutal years to the practice squad. The jersey scene gets me and most guys I know every time.
Whittling my list down to even 11 was much more painful than I expected. I am a big sports fan. I am a big movie fan. I am a huge sports movie buff.
Everyone has their own list and for their own reasons. Feel free to share yours you might be surprised at the responses you receive.