The ‘Big Dance’ of sports movies

Bummed about no NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament this year?

Scott Adamson’s column appears whenever he feels like writing it. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl.

Yeah, me too. Pound for pound, March Madness is my favorite sporting event and having it wiped out just seems weird.

But I’m a weird dude, so on this Selection Sunday I decided to create a tournament bracket featuring my 68 favorite sports movies.

Like the NCAA men’s tourney, there are multi-bid leagues and conferences that probably don’t have any teams worthy of the Big Dance. Unlike the NCAA men’s tourney, the Selection Committee is a committee of one and the one is me.

That being the case, my bracket is bound to be much different than yours. For example, after perusing my list you’ll notice “Ford v Ferrari” is not on it. That might seem like an outrage since it was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Fact is, I haven’t seen it yet. It probably is great and it might well have earned an at-large bid, but I’m only going by what I’ve already watched and “Ford v Ferrari” will have to wait until I catch it on one of my streaming services.

Sports such as cricket, Australian Rules football, hurling and Gaelic football have been left out, too. It has nothing to do with the sports themselves, it’s just that I’ve yet to see a movie focused on cricket, Australian Rules football, hurling or Gaelic football.

Also, for the purposes of my bracket, I’m excluding documentaries. There’s no particular reason for doing this, but if it makes you feel better you can place them in the NIT (“The Battered Bastards Of Baseball” would be the No. 1 seed).

Anyway, here’s what I’ve got, with qualifiers based on sport (and in random seeding order):

BASEBALL

“A League of Their Own,” “Bull Durham,” “Major League,” “Field of Dreams,” “The Natural,” “The Bad News Bears” (original), “Cobb,” “42,” “Damn Yankees,” “Pride of the Yankees,” “The Rookie,” “Eight Men Out,” “*61.”

BASKETBALL

“Hoosiers,” “White Men Can’t Jump,” “Semi Pro,” “Fastbreak,” “Inside Moves,” “The Winning Season,” “Glory Road,” “Hurricane Season.”

BOXING

“Rocky,” “Raging Bull,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” “Cinderella Man,” “The Harder They Fall,” “Creed,” “Chuck.”

FOOTBALL

“North Dallas Forty,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Rudy,” “The Express,” “Brian’s Song,” “The Longest Yard” (original), “Invincible,” “Remember The Titans,” “Big Fan,” “Everybody’s All-American,” “All The Right Moves.”

GOLF

“Tin Cup,” “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” “Happy Gilmore,” “Caddyshack.”

HOCKEY

“Slap Shot,” “Miracle,” “Mystery Alaska,” “The Rocket,” “Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story.”

LACROSSE

“Crooked Arrows,” “Toe To Toe.”

MOTORSPORTS

“The Last American Hero,” “Grand Prix,” “Talladega Nights.”

SOCCER

“A Shot At Glory,” “Damned United,” “Victory,” “Bend It Like Beckham,” “Offside.”

TENNIS

“Battle of the Sexes,” “Borg Vs. McEnroe.”

WRESTLING

“Vision Quest,” “Win Win.”

OTHER

“Invictus” (rugby) “Seabiscuit” (horse racing) “Kingpin” (bowling) and “The Bronze” (gymnastics).

To streamline things, I’ll go ahead and eliminate the play-ins (“Tin Cup,” “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” “Happy Gilmore,” “Talladega Nights”) and go straight to the 64 regional seeds:

REGION A

  1. North Dallas Forty
  2. *61
  3. A Shot At Glory
  4. Million Dollar Baby
  5. Battle of the Sexes
  6. The Bad News Bears
  7. Mystery Alaska
  8. Invictus
  9. Everybody’s All-American
  10. Fastbreak
  11. 42
  12. Grand Prix
  13. Semi Pro
  14. Crooked Arrows
  15. Pride of the Yankees
  16. Kingpin

REGION B

  1. Slap Shot
  2. Major League
  3. Inside Moves
  4. Damned United
  5. Eight Men Out
  6. Seabiscuit
  7. Rudy
  8. The Longest Yard
  9. Cobb
  10. All The Right Moves
  11. Damn Yankees
  12. The Rookie
  13. Glory Road
  14. The Rocket
  15. Toe To Toe
  16. Offside

REGION C

  1. Rocky
  2. Field of Dreams
  3. Victory
  4. Bull Durham
  5. Raging Bull
  6. Vision Quest
  7. Big Fan
  8. Cinderella Man
  9. Remember The Titans
  10. Borg Vs. McEnroe
  11. Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story.
  12. Creed
  13. Somebody Up There Likes Me
  14. The Winning Season
  15. Friday Night Lights
  16. Caddyshack

REGION D

  1. Hoosiers
  2. A League Of Their Own
  3. The Natural
  4. The Harder They Fall
  5. Miracle
  6. Chuck
  7. The Last American Hero
  8. The Legend of Bagger Vance
  9. The Express
  10. Bend It Like Beckham
  11. White Men Can’t Jump
  12. Brian’s Song
  13. Invincible
  14. Win Win
  15. Hurricane Season
  16. The Bronze

How did I determine seeding?

Well, I started thinking of my favorite movies and tried to put the best ones in different regions so that they could avoid each other in the early rounds.

And honestly, after about the first 25 films I just randomly seeded them because I started to get tired. At any rate, things get pretty easy from here on in – and mostly anticlimactic.

While a real tournament has surprises (“No. 15 seed The Legend of Bagger Vance stuns No. 2 seed A League Of Their Own in a shocker!”) a Scott tournament plays out exactly how the rankings predict:

SWEET 16

North Dallas Forty
*61
A Shot At Glory
Million Dollar Baby
Slap Shot
Major League
Inside Moves
Damned United
Rocky
Field of Dreams
Victory
Bull Durham
Hoosiers
A League Of Their Own
The Natural
The Harder They Fall

ELITE EIGHT

North Dallas Forty
*61
Slap Shot
Major League
Rocky
Field of Dreams
Hoosiers
A League Of Their Own

FINAL FOUR

North Dallas Forty
Slap Shot
Rocky
Hoosiers

Finally, I had to do some soul searching when figuring out the national champion.

North Dallas Forty is funny and harsh and features Mac Davis in one of the most “real” performances I’ve ever seen.

Slap Shot somehow managed to meld vulgarity and violence into absolute brilliance.

Rocky was, at its core, a love story, but its underdog tale still resonates more than 40 years later.

And Hoosiers managed to transform small town basketball into an ethereal motion picture experience.

If I could spend the rest of my life watching only four sports movies, it would be these four.

But since a tournament can have only one winner, I’ll go with Slap Shot because I absolutely never, ever get tired of it.

Cue “One Shining Moment” and cut down the nets …

The Miracle puck

A version of this column first appeared in November, 2018. I’m reposting it today to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the “Miracle On Ice.”

Like a lot of guys, I have a “fan cave” at my house.

Scott Adamson’s sports column appears whenever he feels sporty. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and Instagram @adamsons60

Walk into the tiny converted attic room and you’ll find memorabilia from the World Football League, the World Hockey Association, United States Football League, XFL – to me they are remnants of days gone by as well as good old days.

One of my most prized possessions is a hockey puck commemorating the 1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team’s game against the Birmingham Bulls of the Central Hockey League.

The “Miracle On Ice” took place on February 22, 1980, and if you’re an American hockey fan old enough to remember it, you most certainly do.

I saw that team on Nov. 8, 1979, when they visited Birmingham, Ala., to play the local minor league club in an exhibition at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum.

Birmingham, which was not part of the WHA’s limited merger with the NHL a year earlier, had resurfaced in the CHL, keeping the “Bulls” nickname but seeing its level of play take a dip. But a Triple A-type league offered just the kind of tune-ups the young U.S. squad needed.

Each team in the CHL played the Olympians that season, with the games actually counting in the league standings.

Birmingham lost to Brooks’ charges, 5-2, in Minneapolis on Nov. 4, and four days later they faced off again in the Magic City. The crowd was announced at 3,696, and pucks were handed out to those in attendance as a way to celebrate and commemorate the occasion.

A little over three months later that puck would be like gold to me when the Olympians became sports icons.

You know the story.

When the Winter Games came to Lake Placid, N.Y., little was expected out of the U.S. in hockey, especially since its roster was made up of a bunch of kids. The medals would likely be divided up among powerhouse teams fielded by the Soviet Union, Finland and Canada, and the prospects of the Americans advancing beyond pool play seemed absurd.

Just days before the Games began, the U.S. was hammered by the Russians, 10-3, at Madison Square Garden. Yet when it was medal time in New York State, goalie Jim Craig turned away 36 shots by “The Red Army” to help the hosts shock the greatest hockey team in the world, 4-3.

For many it was a political victory as well as a sporting one because of the Cold War. I was acutely aware of the “more than a game” overtones, but frankly I was just thrilled to see guys my age pull off a feat that seemed impossible.

Phil Verchota scored three times in the Games and added two assists, while Rob McClanahan had five goals and three assists in seven matches. I bring their names up because they were the stars of the United States’ 6-4 victory over the Bulls.

Often lost in the euphoria of the victory over the Soviets is the Gold Medal match against Finland, which took place on Feb. 24, 1980.

Heading into the final period the United States trailed 2-1. But the Americans scored three unanswered goals in the third period in a too-good-to-be-true finish, claiming a 4-2 conquest and putting the final touches on one of the most unlikely sports stories ever written.

I sure am glad I decided to keep that old puck.

Pro baseball’s senior moment

Since I’m a “man of a certain age,” I find myself cheering for athletes who continue to excel beyond their perceived expiration dates.

Scott Adamson’s sports column appears whenever he feels sporty. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and Instagram @adamsons60

As a New York Jets fan I’m morally obligated to despise the New England Patriots, but I can’t help but admire 43 year-old Tom Brady.

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura is 52, Atlanta Hawks guard Vince Carter is 43, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara is 42 … professional sports is considered a younger person’s game but occasionally experience – and skill – eclipse trips around the sun.

Perhaps the sport that does the best job of keeping older guys in the game is golf. The Champions Tour has helped some 50-plus players make more money than they ever did on the PGA Tour.

But my favorite over-the-hill competition was the Senior Professional Baseball Association, which unfortunately had an extremely short shelf life.

Formed on May 31, 1989, it was designed to give big name stars age 35 and over a chance to keep on shining.

“This will be competitive baseball with a touch of entertainment,” SPBA founder Jim Morley told the Gannett News Service during the league’s introductory news conference.

Teams would be placed at existing spring training sites in Florida, with plans to expand to Arizona and California in the future.

The Northern Division featured the Bradenton Explorers, Orlando Juice, St. Petersburg Pelicans and Winter Haven Super Sox while the Gold Coast Suns, Fort Myers Sun Sox, St. Lucie Legends and West Palm Beach Tropics comprised the Southern Division.

The season started on Nov. 1 and consisted of 72 games with tickets running in the $5 range.

“(Fans) are going to pay $5 to see some of their idols play,” All-Star third baseman Graig Nettles said.

And there were idols aplenty, from players such as Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers and Dave Kingman to managers Earl Weaver and Dick Williams. Curt Flood served as commissioner.

Considering modest fan support was all that was needed to stay afloat, the SPBA seemed like something that could become an offseason baseball staple.

“The people in Florida have a dollar to spend, and they don’t want to see Goofy all the time,” Pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee told Gannett.

I was excited about it but – since I didn’t live in Florida – never made it to a game and couldn’t watch it because the league’s modest TV contract didn’t extend much beyond SPBA cities.

Still, I looked forward to any highlights that occasionally popped up on ESPN and combed the newspapers for box scores every day.

For fans in the stands, however, the novelty quickly wore off.

While attendance was solid in the very early stages, it plummeted as the season wore on. By the time the Pelicans defeated the Tropics 12-4 in the one-off championship game, the SPBA was already on shaky ground.

All things considered the quality was decent – day-to-day players like Ron Washington and Mickey Rivers had a few innings left in them, and Milt Wilcox, Joaquin Andujar and Pete Falcone showed they could still throw strikes even if their heat wasn’t quite as hot.

Yet Florida-based baseball fans obviously preferred spring training ball to what they seniors were giving them.

When the SPBA regrouped for year two, only four of its original franchises remained and the league lineup fell from eight to six teams.

The circuit did, in fact, add franchises in Arizona (Phoenix) and California (San Bernardino), but after just a couple of months of play the wheels fell off.

Ownership and investor disagreements within with the Fort Myers team in December, 1990, forced the cancellation of that club’s remaining games, and the five other teams then voted to cancel the rest of season.

“Most of the time in this situation the reason is financial,” Morley told the Associated Press. “This isn’t financial. Fort Myers is far and away the wealthiest franchise. They have an internal partnership problem.”

The last day of the SPBA was officially December 26. Morley vowed that a new an improved version of the league would return in 1991, but it never happened.

Big league senior baseball was dead.

The window for a league like this was a small one, and I’m guessing it’s closed forever. With colleges starting in February and the World Series cutting into November, baseball is already practically a year-round sport anyway. I can’t imagine a real appetite for senior pro baseball.

If one ever pops up again, though, it’ll have my support.

As the late, great Satchel Paige is credited with saying, “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”