Me time...

So, after almost 5 hrs of OA prep I came home, made a meal, and watched all of Cinderella Man with the computer off and the cell in the other room.

BEST DECISION EVER

As it turns out, Cinderella Man may challenge Rudy as the #1 sports movie that makes me cry. To be fair, though, Rudy literally makes tears come down my face...at TWO points in the movie. Cinderella Man just made me glassy eyed for a few minutes and put a lump in my throat. Very few movies can do that to me. What is it about boxing movies with underdogs? Now I haven't seen all the Rocky movies, but is he an underdog in EVERY movie? After Rocky 3, wouldn't he be the favorite? But I digress...

Sports movies really do get the best of me. Field of Dreams, Rudy, Cinderella Man, The Rookie, Million Dollar Baby, etc. In fact, I have blogged before on my favorite sports movies:

(originally posted June 27, 2006)

10) Kingpin - ever wonder about the world of professional bowling? Bill Murray is absolute genius.

9) Dodgeball - "No one makes me bleed my own blood."

8) Million Dollar Baby - caught this one about 10 minutes in on HBO late one night and stayed up to watch the whole thing. Made me want to cheer, scream and cry all within 2 hours.

7) On Any Sunday - if you thought that dirtbikers have it easy just sitting on their bikes, you don't know anything. Mert Lowell is a god.

6) Seabiscuit - see above but replace "dirtbikers" with "jockeys" and "bikes" with "horses." Jeff Bridges is astounding.

5) The Rookie - for people who love underdogs and baseball.

4) Jerry Maguire - a chick flick based on sports, perfect! TONS of cameos and great lines, "I love the black man! Show me the money!"

3) Cinderella Man - just a fantastic movie all around. Great music and Paul Giamatti is superb

2) Field of Dreams - "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come." This one goes in my top 8 favorite movies, sports or not.

1) Rudy - I cry every time I see this movie, twice. When he gets accepted to Notre Dame and then at the end. I could watch this movie once a week from now until eternity.

*note: I haven't seen Raging Bull, Bull Durham, Tin Cup, all of Rocky (or any sequels), Slapshot or The Natural. I hear that these movies would be on my list if I had seen them.

I just love sports, to quote Dana Carvey on SNL, "the precarious balance between infield and outfield suggests a perfect symmetry: the exhilarating tension between being and becoming." I just LOVE sports! I was thinking about the Jazz game yesterday (as I am wont to do) and I basically attributed the good night that I had to the fact that Carlos Boozer had 41 points and 16 rebounds, making him the first Jazz man to score 40 since Karl Malone did against the Magic back in '03. PLUS it put the Jazz in the playoffs for the first time since.... '03. (there were some other things that made it a good night, but that's for another blog). It really just made me happy. I think I have an unhealthy obsession with sports and with the Jazz in particular, my house keys are Jazz keys for crying out loud!! I have a Jazz shirt on RIGHT NOW!! I have been to a Jazz away game...in Chicago!!

I don't know what happened to this blog, I just wanted to talk about Cinderella Man and how it makes me want to cry...


"Did that blow your mind, because that just happened"