I guess it’s opening day for baseball. You’ll recall I don’t love baseball, and I don’t consider it a sport. And it’s not just me. Baseball bills itself as “America’s Pastime”. Your words, Baseball, not mine.
I am a great fan of World Cup and the Olympics, so since I can only muster interest in sports approximately every 2 years, I have to have some way to pass the time while my vuvuzuela is in repose. There is one thing sports-related that I am a connoisseur of, and that is the sports movie. The sports movie is often better than the sport itself. I will even argue that so boring a pastime as baseball has produced the most delicious crop of sports-ish (I’ll go that far) movies.
Best “Sports” Movies from a Pastime
- The Natural
- The Bad News Bears
- A League of their Own
- Field of Dreams
- A River Runs Through It (if baseball counts, so must fly fishing)
- Seabiscuit
- Victory
- Breaking Away
- Remember the Titans and We are Marshall*
- Friday Night Lights
- Bend it like Beckham (girl power and British!)
*These 2 are conflated in my head. I think they are essentially the same movie.
- Hoosiers
- Rocky
- Million Dollar Baby
- Brian’s Song (haven’t seen it)
Decidedly not on the List
- The Legend of Bagger Vance**
- Caddyshack***
- Moneyball (I could tell this was a much better book)
- Raging Bull
- Chairots of Fire
- Blades of Glory
- Nacho Libre
Snooty Call 
you have hurt me, Madam. Baseball, not a sport? Nope, not gonna jump off-sides, everyone has the right to an opinion, even one that is really, really bad! 🙂
You need to see Raging Bull, that movie is crazy good.
Again, baseball bills itself as a pastime. Take it up with the commissioner. I did see Raging Bull, and it apparently didn’t leave an impression. I have no memory of it.
It was pointed out to me that I overlooked The Big Lebowski and Dodgeball. These are my fans.
Ah, “The Big Lebowski”…only movie I know of personally where people see it the first time, hate it, and then somehow are forced to watch it a second time and love it forever after. (I was an early adopter and loved it from the start)
George Carlin does a wonderful routine on the difference between baseball and football that is up your alley (In football, you tackle…in baseball, you tag).
I see that there were no sports-related books on your list. Have you ever read the not-nearly-famous-enough-but-incredibly-funny “The Smell of Astroturf in the Afternoon”?
Yes, a shameless plug, but a co-author’s gotta do what a co-author’s gotta do.
I am all for shameless plugs.