BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
The NBA season officially starts on 10/29, but preseason is going strong and the season is ALMOST here. I’m a big fan of football and I can watch baseball when needed, but my favorite non-wrestling sport is EASILY basketball.
I was fortunate enough to grow up a Bulls fan during the Jordan dynasty. This meant I got to see all my little basketball dreams come true. I got to see my favorite players on my favorite team win SIX championships. That’s an awesome feat. The crazy thing is that I’m greedy. I’m not going to be happy until D-Rose, Noah, and this current Bulls crew gets some well-earned jewelry.
Needless to say, your boy Mike is hyped up! I can’t wait to start planning my life around the Bulls schedule. I think I’m just about mentally ready to commit myself to this ride of a season. I think one way to properly prepare is with some basketball related movies. There are plenty of gems, cult hits, and really bad ones. Let’s take a look at my own definitive top 8 list of basketball movies…
First off, I’m going to list movies that ALMOST made the list so you know what I considered, but didn’t make the cut. I didn’t include “Hoosiers”, “Teen Wolf”, “The Sixth Man”, “Like Mike”, “Sunset Park”, “Eddie”, and then almost on the list was “Above the Rim” and “The Air Up There”. I had a hard time not putting “BASEketball” on here too. There were some movies that I’m SURE most people would include in their top list. Not mine!
7.) JUWANNA MANN I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. This movie is one of those films that pops up on Comedy Central and movie basic cable movie channels all the time. Hell, it pops up on the premium channels all the time. I’ve watched it so many times that I’ve just accepted it for what it is. And that is a really good basketball comedy. Miguel Nunez has been in a lot of movies and shows, but he’s the star of this one. He plays Jamal Jeffries, a bad ass Denis Rodman-like player who gets kicked out of the NBA for basically being a dick. So without support from anyone and not being able to play basketball he resorts to madness. He gets into drag and then joins the WNBA. Hilarity then ensues. The performances of Vivica A. Fox, Kevin Pollack, Tommy Davidson, Kim Wayans, and others are all solid and help this silly movie move along nicely. It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, but this is the type of easy comedy that’s perfect for a Sunday morning while drinking coffee and reading the paper.
6.) HE GOT GAMESome people give too much credit to “Hoosiers”. Those are the same people who probably never even consider that “He Got Game” tells a better story. Denzel Washington plays a recently released from prison father whose son is on the verge of going into the NBA and getting out of the impoverished hood he’s from. The player is Ray Allen, which worked out very nicely. It’s a Spike Lee movie so it’s a hit or miss. This one hit and it hit hard. The story is told, but this movie makes it real.
5.) SEMI PRO Will Ferrell has made a lot of sport related movies, but this one really stands out to me. It’s about the ABA and their lower budget games. Will is the owner, player, and coach of his own Flint Tropics of Michigan. The movie focuses on his struggle to keep his business, team, and life afloat. There are some HILARIOUS scenes in this movie. The “jive turkey” poker scene with Tim Meadows is one of the best scenes ever and then the bear? Awesome stuff! Along with Ferrell and Meadows, the movie also gives us Andre 3000, Maura Tierney, and the always great Woody Harrelson. This movie came out in 2008, but it already feels like a forgotten gem.
4.) BLUE CHIPS This movie rocked my little kid world back in the day. We saw Shaq, Penny Hardway, and a white guy kick ass on the court as Nick Nolte plays the college coach trying to recruit them. This movie opened my young eyes to the corruption that goes on behind the scenes of college sports. Those recruitment scenes are among some of the coolest character intros. This is a really underrated sports movie.
3.) CELTIC PRIDECeltic Pride is an underrated gem. For some reason people seem to hate on this movie, but it was a really entertaining basketball comedy from the mid-90’s. It’s a movie about two sad super fans of the Boston Celtics, the awesome Dan Aykroyd and the awesome Daniel Stern, who kidnap the Utah Jazz’s star player, the awesome Damon Wayans, in order to help their team win. It’s such a silly comedy that if you get mad at it being too silly then you’re missing the point. This is one of those scenarios that die-hard fans sit around and drunkenly fantasize about. This movie lives that out in a really fun way. People should reconsider this one.
2.) SPACE JAM This is the best Bugs Bunny related movie of ALL TIME. Seriously. Think about that. I’ve been a fan of Warner Brothers for the duration of my life. I’ve watched the classics and I love me some Bugs, Daffey, Taz, Porky, and the whole gang. But who know who else rocks? Michael Jordan! Take the greatest basketball player of all time and put him in an animated game where he and the Warner Brother characters team up to go against the big monster bad guys, who I think were the real Miami Heat. This movie needs to be celebrated.
1.) WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP I’ve thought good and hard about this one. My favorite basketball movie has to be this Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes classic. The same way old movies would have pool sharks and hustlers, this movie put that spin into basketball. These two unlikely characters are brought together because they’re both good as basketball and are trying to get money. They hustle people and eventually go too far. There is a lot going on in this movie, the performances are great, the jokes are still funny, and there are plenty of things to nitpick, but the genuine appreciation for basketball… and Jimi Hendrix makes this movie awesome.
The fact that Woody Harrelson is on this list twice makes him the best movie basketball player of all time! That’s right, of ALL TIME.
What is YOUR favorite basketball movie?
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