By Kim J. Harmon

Why do we like sports movies?

Listen, people love the underdog and almost all sports movies – with the exception of such moody character studies as Raging Bull – are about the underdog. Actress Halle Berry once said, “There’s a place in me that can really relate to being the underdog. I’m always fighting to overcome the obstacle. I can really understand what’s that about.”

Our hearts bleed when the underdog fails … early in the movie.

Our hearts swell when the underdog succeeds … at the end of the movie.

And we gladly ride the rollercoaster through the middle of the movie, which is always a protracted set-up for the conclusion and even though we know how it is going to end, there are always gasps and tears.

Now, everyone has a top 10 list of the best sports movies of all time. Most of them have lots of movies in common. And lots of them have one or two anomalous movies, the head scratchers. This is my top 10 list … not of the best sports movies of all time, but of my favorite sports movies of all time.

Feel free to criticize me.

1). Hoosiers (1986) – starring Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper (directed by David Anspaugh). I knew the story before I saw the movie, but watching Coach Norman Dale get a small group of players – not to mention their parents and the rest of the close-knit community – to think his way and to do things his way is inspiring. And come on – was there a bigger underdog than the 1954 Milan, Indiana, boys’ basketball team. A far, far better movie than Glory Days or Coach Carter.

2). Major League (1989) – starring Tom Berenguer, Wesley Snipes, Corbin Bernsen, Charlie Sheen and Dennis Haysbert (directed by David S. Ward). It’s a baseball movie about the ultimate underdogs – the sad sack Cleveland Indians, who hadn’t won a pennant since 1954. It’s not a spoof about baseball, but it’s funny.

3). Caddyshack (1980) – starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O’Keefe and Bill Murray (directed by Harold Ramis). One of the classics, absolutely, with an underdog – Danny Noonan – winning the caddy championship for a chance at a college scholarship and then throwing it away to help his friend, Ty Webb, defeat the Bushwood C.C. president in a grudge match. There are so many classic bits in this movie and the best was Carl Spackler (Murray) doing a running commentary as if he were playing in the Masters at Augusta all the while he is tearing up a flower bed with a golf club. The only problem is a lot of the movie seems like it’s moving from one bit to the next. And it seems a little stale 27 years later, but still worth going back to.

4). The Longest Yard (1974) – starring Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert and James Hampton with a wonderful cameo by Bernadette Peters (directed by Robert Aldrich). A great football movie about an underdog team of prison inmates overcoming a semi-professional team of prison guards. Lots of funny stuff and it does what should be almost impossible to do – making a bunch of hardened criminals (murderers, rapists) into sympathetic characters. There were a number of pro football players in the cast and Reynolds once said the final scoring scene – the one done in slo motion – had to be shot over and over again because the NFL guys wouldn’t let him score.

5). The Rookie (2002) – starring Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths and Brian Cox (directed by John Lee Hancock). This is one of my guilty pleasures. I find it hard to get choked up about a guy who takes a chance on a tryout camp, gets a minor league contract and then pitches his first major league game (for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays!) at the age of 35 – especially when he pitches 21 games in his career, finishing with an 0-0 record and a 4.80 earned run average. But this movie does it. Every time I watch it and every time Jimmy Morris calls home to tell his wife he’s been called up, I get a tear in my eye. I can’t help it!

6). The Bad New Bears (1976) – starring Walter Mathau, Tatum O’Neal, Vic Morrow and Jackie Earl Haley (directed by Michael Ritchie). I was only 13 when I saw this for the first time and it was so … raunchy. A bunch of misfit kids swearing and making obscene gestures all over the place while being coached by an equally misfit minor league has been who freely smokes and drinks in front of the kids (try and get away with that now!) had us laughing for weeks. Thirty-one years later, the movie stands the test of time.

7). Rocky (1976) – starring Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young and Carl Weathers (directed by John G. Avildsen). This one has, arguably, the most recognized theme song in the history of cinema and it’s a great story about the underdog boxer who gets an unbelievable shot to fight the champ – and then vows to win the bout! The only thing is, it takes a long time to like Rocky Balboa as a person. I still don’t like Adrian or Paulie.

8). Eight Men Out (1988) – starring John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, David Straithairn and D.B. Sweeney (directed by John Sayles). Like Hoosiers, I knew the story because I love reading historical accounts of baseball. Plus, I’m a Strat-o-Matic fanatic and have the 1919 Chicago White Sox team in my collection. I wanted to see the players in some semblance of flesh and blood and see the scandal play out as it did and the movie did a very nice job of it.

9). Rollerball (1975) – starring James Caan, John Houseman and Moses Gunn (directed by Norman Jewison). When this one came out, it was so futuristic … yet so ‘70s. It offered a view of a bleak and violent future where wars are no longer fought and people satiate their blood lust through a murderous sport known as rollerball. Being 12, it kind of scared me.

10). Mystery, Alaska (1999) – starring Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, Burt Reynolds and Lolita Davidovich (directed by Jay Roach). Another one of my guilty pleasures, it doesn’t appear on anyone’s top 10 list. But I like hockey and I love the underdog story about a town hockey team hosting the New York Rangers on an outdoor rink in a festival that is the highlight of the town’s existence. Plus, it’s the only movie where the underdog doesn’t surprisingly win or surprising lose at the end. It’s surprisingly ties!

Bull Durham, Remember The Titans, Brian’s Song (God help me!), Slapshot and Miracle almost made this list – but didn’t. Now get in the car (or get on the internet) and head to your favorite DVD provider. Or, better yet, watch your own favorite sports movie.