The Omnibus

Issue date: 11/4/04 Section: Sports

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It is getting colder outside, and the ability to participate in outdoor activities will drastically diminish as daylight lessens and the temperature descends. For those snowbound months to come, what better way to get some physical activity than by watching movies with physical activity. Ignore the lists compiled by Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com; they are made by old men who have forgotten how to laugh, cry and enjoy great movies. Here is a realistic evaluation of some of the best films of the sports genre, with brief mentions of the worst.

Football: "Left side! Strong side!" Remember the Titans blows the competition away. Tackling the issue of public high school desegregation in the 1970's is no easy task, yet this film accomplishes this and still manages to be an awesome sports movie. Honorable mention here goes to Rudy, a classic underdog story about a boy's deepest dream - to play football for Notre Dame. Worst of football: Varsity Blues or any movie about professional football.

Soccer: The hands-down favorite in this category is the recently released Chinese movie "Shaolin Soccer." The synthesis of Matrix-esque special effects and the world's most popular sport creates a hilarious movie, especially when watching the dubbed English version. For the younger fans, The Big Green is certain to baby-sit children well.

Baseball: How many million baseball movies are there? Emerging from the crowded heap, The Sandlot and Field of Dreams are simply a cut above the rest. Ironically, they also contain an anemic amount of actual baseball. For those who spent their childhood playing Nintendo or hunched over a piano, The Sandlot is what you missed out on. For those who wrestled between their parents' dreams and their own ambitions, watch Field of Dreams. Honorable mention goes to The Natural, The Bad News Bears and A League of their Own. Worst: Bull Durham or Rookie of the Year.

Basketball: Hoosiers has no legitimate competition. While other good basketball movies exist like Space Jam, Pistol Pete and Teen Wolf, no other matches the tension and Cinderella story of Hickory, Indiana's state champion basketball team. Worst: Like Mike or anything with Shaq.

Hockey: The Mighty Ducks trilogy, ranked in order of release, is the sole reason for the "two-minute power play" of hockey popularity in the 1990's. Worst hockey films: "Lock-out: NHL 2004" or "25 Years of Blues Playoff Failures."

Track-and-Field: Chariots of Fire is a must-see movie. It tells the stories of Eric Lidell, a 400-meter Olympic Gold medalist who refused to run on Sunday, and Harold Abrahams, a Jewish athlete struggling to overcome prejudice. This movie, along with its famous soundtrack, would suit a rainy day perfectly. Of note, the Olympic champion Lidell quit track-and-field to serve as a missionary in China where he later died in a Japanese prison camp during World War II.

Skateboarding: Whether it is a legitimate sport or not, Dogtown and Z-boys is an amazing documentary about the early days of 'boarding'. This is not a misprint; I just recommended a documentary about skateboarding. Worst: Any fictional skateboarding movie.

Miscellaneous: Cool Runnings is the best bobsledding movie ever made. I dare you to argue with that one.

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