So it's been awhile since my last post, but it's time to bring this thing home – my top 6 sports movies of all time. These rankings are based on my personal preferences on the overall film. I look forward to hearing your feedback. So here goes…

6). Raging Bull (1980), Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci

?????????? "That the thing ain't the ring, it's the play. So give me a stage, Where this bull here can rage,"

?????????? This is not only considered one of the best sports movies of all time, but one of the best movies of all time in general. It's 2 Oscar Awards attest to that. Directed by the awesome Martin Scorsese, this is a dark film about the real-life of boxer Jake LaMotta. DeNiro is incredbile in this film. I don't know that I've ever seen a better acting performance in any film, ever. This is more than a boxing movie, no doubt. This is an intense film, however, not for the faint of heart. It's one of those movies you only want to watch every 5 years or so. But the last scene, that echos Watership Down is one of the best scenes ever.

5). Friday Night Lights, (2004), Billy Bob Thorton, Tim McGraw

??????????????? "I'm gonna miss the heat. I'm gonna miss the lights."???

???????????? This is probably my most favorite football movie ever. It's the true story of a small West Texas high school football team and the lives of the families and the players. It's a gripping movie that, once again, is about more than a sports team. This is an awesome movie that has great sports action and great drama. Love this film. And the T.V. series based on this movie is one of my favorite tv series' ever, by the way.

4). Cinderella Man (2005), Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti

?????????????? "I have to believe that when things are bad I can change them."

?????????????? Another true story account of Boxer James Braddock, who goes from being hurt and washed up to becoming a champion. It's an amazing, inspiring story, to be sure. Russell Crowe is amazing in this film, his accent, his look is really fantastic. Ron Howard directed and is really fascinating to watch. Love this movie. One of the best, bar none.

3). Field of Dreams (1989), Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta

???????????? "This is my corn. You people are guests in my corn."

???????????? This, obviously, is one of the legendary and timeless films of all time. It's a sports-drama-fantasy film that melds three generes into one. I try to watch this one once per year. If you build it, they will come, right?

2). Bull Durham (1988), Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon

???????????? "You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes"

???????????? This is one of the most awesome movies of all time. It's a romantic comedy that depicts the players and fans of a Minor League baseball team – and it's hilarious, inappropriate, and fantastic. Baseball is a game that played by a bunch of Kooks, and this film shows it off. Robbins and Costner have great chemistry on camera and it's great to watch. Check it if you haven't.

1) Rocky I-IV(1976, 1979,1982, 1985), Sylvester Stallone, et al.

???????? "You're gonna eat lightnin' and you're gonna crap thunder!"

?????????? I have to lump these all together – because they are so legendary and so awesome in their own way. I see them as one entity. Like LOTR or Star Wars. They are the LOTR of sports movies, no doubt. Inspiring, engaging, interesting – these movies are where the buck stops. Rocky is the man and these sports films will never be topped. There it is!

So why do I like sports movies? I’ll tell you.

They are emotional, they have hard hits, they have intense competition, they have adversity, they have drama, they have coaches yelling, players bleeding, awesome motivational speeches, and terrible defeats. That’s why.

??

So here is the middle of the pack, 13-7:

13) Any Given Sunday (1999) Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid

?????????????????????? “You find out life’s this game of inches, so is football.”

Forced desegregation of a Virginia high school in the early 1970s, and the power struggle within the newly integrated football team is what this film is about. It’s a classic, it deals with race relations, it’s hilarious, and hit has Denzel Washington in it – Love it.

??

The Top 6 Coming Soon!!

It’s the pinnacle of sports season at this point. Baseball is in full swing (Pun), Pro Basketball is in the heart of the playoffs – as is Pro Hockey. Golf is in full swing (pun), NASCAR is rolling along at 200mph (pun), and Pro Football is revving it’s engines (bad analogy) as well.

So this got me thinking – What are my favorite sports movies? I have never quite formulated a list – and now is as good a time as any. After about a 100 hours of research and multiple dozens of page writing, it’s time for an outlet.

Now mind you, these are my 19 favorite sports movies, not necessarily what i think are best ones. But usually these line up with the best due to my impeccable taste, but you be the judge.

19) A League of Their Own (1992) Tom Hanks
???????????? “There’s no Crying in Baseball!!”

This is a story of a young, hot-shot driver who’s been handed a chance to take the wheel. This movie has a ton of awesome images, but the one of Cruise rolling up on the track on his hog, his hair flowing in the wind is totally awesome. I have never seen this on anyone’s “top sports movie list,” but anyone who leaves this gem off is sadly mistaken.

15) Rudy (1993) Sean Austin
?????????? “You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years.”

This is the great story of diminutive Notre Dame walk-on ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger, who dreams of one day getting his shot on the field. This is another classic. And Samwise Gamgee as a football player is always a fantastic idea.

14) Caddyshack (1980) Bill Murray, Chevy Chase
???????? “Hey, that kangaroo just took my ball.”

It’s certainly a cult classic, and known by many as one of the funniest films ever. This has to be on the list.
The Bill Murray and Chevy Chase combo is incredible, by the by.

13 – 7 to come soon!

Top Ten Signs Your Team Isn't Ready For The NCAA Basketball Tournament

http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/top_ten/

M and I recently watched "Inglourious Basterds," which was a disturbing, brilliant film. Tarantino's movies are just so cool to watch. Their retro influences are really interesting and different. If he didn't get Best Director for this, i don't know what he will get it for. His movies are so odd and unconventional, it might be tough for him to nabb that one. But he should get it some day, he's brilliant. Bill Simmons also made the great point that he also looks just like Jaws from Moonraker – which is disturbing in it's own right.

And we also watched "Philadelphia" – starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. This almost subsides my Denzel kick that i've been on for a number of weeks now. In the past 2 months i've seen, Crimson Tide, Training Day, The Pelican Brief, Man on Fire, Book of Eli, and Deja Vu. Of course "Philadelphia" is about two lawyers. One of which is a homosexual and contracts AIDS (Hanks). Denzel's character represents him in suing the firm he worked for that fired him after they found out. This must have been a gutsy move to take this role. To play a gay man with AIDS has to be a little daunting, as far as a career is concerned. But it ended up being a great film. Hanks went on to win Best Actor for it. Next year he would play Forrest Gump, and win the Oscar for that too. Pretty impressive. Two risky moves that really paid off…

Still on the list of Denzel movies to see is "The Hurricane" and "American Gangster." Denzel is still the man. But so is Hanks.

I am learning about lots of interesting things in class this semester. Here is a brief rundown:

• Exegesis of Johannine Literature: Perhaps John the apostle isn't the "disciple whom Jesus loved"? Perhaps it is actually Lazarus? Interesting thought. We talked quite at length about this in class the other day. It's Ben Witherington, III's idea. I buy it.??
• Marriage & Family Counseling: Self Differentiation – your health in your marriage, or in your family, is determined about how differentiated you are towards them. That is, you are close to them but aren't attached to them so much that they control who you are or what you do. The the more healthy you are, the more you have a "distinct self" – a self that isn't influenced by other family pressures, but is completely you.
• It's about a finding a clear knowledge of who you are, while you are connected to others. It's that balance that is the tricky part.??
• It's about differentiating what you are thinking, and what you are feeling. And learning to communicate that. You can feel, without letting that control you!
• Mission Theology: Read that missions is "the joyous invitation to all peoples to come to a 'feast without end.'" Which is such a beautiful picture of missions. And how God the Father is the initiator of missions, Christ embodied missions for us, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to do it. The Trinitarian view of missions is a really cool picture, to me at least.??
• Also, i learned this cool point: Christianity is the only world religion whose primary source documents are in a language other than the language of the founder of the religion, which contrasts with Muslims who attest that the Qu'ran must only be read in Arabic. This speaks to the unique transportability of the Gospel. Any culture can grasp it.

Just a few thoughts for the day. And if you haven't seen "The Hurt Locker" you should. It's worth it.

COLUMBIA, Ky. ??? A Kentucky sheriff says a claustrophobic deputy has lost his job after accidentally locking himself in a jail cell and trying to shoot his way out of it. Adair County Sheriff Ralph Curry told WKYT-TV that no one was hurt when Charles Wright fired his weapon.

It happened Monday, the first day a new $12.4 million county judicial center was open to the public after more than a year of construction.

Curry says the former deputy has claustrophobia and has agreed to pay for the damage he did to the cell.

He was definitely between a rock and a hard place – he had to make a break. Can't blame him i suppose.