Scoresheetwiz picks:

1. Seabiscuit – drama, color, suspense, a beautifully told old story
2. Raging Bull – haven’t seen it in a long time, so judgment may change
3. A League of their Own – a deftly told secret
4. Chariots of Fire – its beauty and warmth knocked me out when it came out
5. The Great White Hope – haven’t seen in a long long time
6. Bull Durham – fun and intelligent
7. Rocky – although, one was enough
8. M*A*S*H – not a “sports movie”, but deserves 2B here for its sports scene
9. Slap Shot – the hockey team and movie soared with the Hansons
10. Damn Yankees – impressed me as a kid – would probably look silly today

The Sting would be no. 1 or 2, but it’s more of a stretch than M*A*S*H as a sports movie.

Some mcscoresheet readers liked The Absent Minded Professor (the original Flubber – Fred McMurry) for its sports scene, too. Then they were reminded of another entertaining early 60s nutty professor type sports movie It Happens Every Spring with Ray Milland. Bad News Bears (the original, I assume), Remember the Titans (Denzel Washington in a true story), and Grand Prix (a young James Garner in a John Frankenheimer movie) were also mentioned as favorites in that group.

Disclaimer – there are some reputedly good sports movies I haven’t seen such as Million Dollar Baby, The Cinderella Man, The Longest Yard (either version), The Hustler (either version), Pride of the Yankees ... I saw parts of the latter, but it was too boring to watch the rest. Two movies which were supposed to be excellent, but I found excruciating: Bang the Drum Slowly and Field of Dreams.

Toronto Star’s Chris Zelkovich’s top 10 sports movies

1. Raging Bull – some critics like it better than any movie
2. Bull Durham – Tim Robbins actually ended up with the girl (Susan Sarandon)
3. The Great White Hope – James Earl Jones’ greatest performance?
4. Slap Shot – oh come on, it wasn’t this good!
5. Field of Dreams – OK, I guess it was meant to make us sleepy?
6. The Natural – saw ending: dreamy like Field of Dreams except with drama
7. Cinderella Man – most recent entry – another Rocky copy, except true
8. Hoosiers – with Gene Hackman, so can’t be bad
9. Breaking Away – popularity of sports bikes nearly bankrupted Schwinn
10. Eight Men Out – these bottom two were good, just not quite in my top 10

Zelkovich’s honourable mentions: The Hustler (supposedly a classic), Bang the Drum Slowly, It Happens Every Spring, Rocky, Seabiscuit, Heaven Can Wait (he must be referring to the original, because the Warren Beatty just wasn’t funny – only Diane Cannon was worth anything in the latter version), The Harder They Fall (50s boxing flick with Bogart and Steiger as well as famous boxers Max Baer and Jersey Joe Wolcott).

      Toronto Star’s readers top 10

1. Bull Durham – Costner was actually good in this one
2. Slap Shot - remember, these are Torontonians voting
3. Remember the Titans -readers’ only top 10 movie from the last 15 years
4. Hoosiers - 1986
5. Field of Dreams - so many Kevin Costner movies – excluding Tin Cup
6. The Natural – Redford plays legends
7. Major League - this was enjoyable
8. Eight Men Out - Charlie Sheen again
9. Rocky - boxing and baseball most represented? + football scenes
10. Raging Bull – most powerful, but aren’t movies more for enjoyment?

The reader’s honourable mentions: Friday Night Lights (Billy Bob Thornton as Texan high school football coach), Caddyshack (the humor seems dated now), The Longest Yard (they must be referring to the original), For the Love of the Game (Kevin Costner again!), Hoop Dreams (charming documentary).

Did any of these movies match the post season Yankee-Red Sox games for drama? Tune in, they are at it again this weekend for likely the final play-off spot – unless Cleveland defers to them.