And The Bracket Goes To...

For the most part, it seems sports movies (unless they're about boxing) usually get overlooked when it comes to Oscar nominations.  Sure, every once in a while you get a Sandra Bullock winning for The Blind Side, but how many sports movies have been just flat ignored by the Academy?  So, in honor of Hollywood's annual party (aka the Academy Awards) tomorrow night, I've decided to rectify that problem.  I'm proud to present the "Brackets" for the best in sports movies.

Best Actor

• Gary Cooper, The Pride of the Yankees-The original gold standard in sports movies, The Pride of the Yankees is still one of my favorites, as well as an all-time classic.  Gary Cooper's portrayal of Lou Gehrig was brilliant.
• John Cusack, Eight Men Out-This is one of the most underrated movies ever.  It's even underrated among sports movies.  Regardless of your thoughts on the Black Sox Scandal, John Cusack makes Buck Weaver a sympathetic, tragic figure.
• Robert DeNiro, Raging Bull-Robert DeNiro's a brilliant actor, and this might be the best role of his career.  He won an Oscar for this movie.
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus-If you've actually seen it, you'd probably agree that Invictus is really more of a political movie, but sports is the backdrop, so it counts.  And Freeman's Nelson Mandela was so convincing I forgot it was actually Morgan Freeman halfway through the movie.
• Kurt Russell, Miracle-Possibly one of the most underrated sports roles ever, Kurt Russell was amazing as Herb Brooks.  Easily the most realistic portrayal of a real-life coach ever in film (beaten only by Dan Lauria in the Broadway play Lombardi).

And the Bracket goes to...Robert DeNiro

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale, The Fighter-Yes, The Fighter is a good movie.  Yes, Mark Wahlberg was great in it.  But Christian Bale was better.  I think it's possible he'll win the Oscar.
• Charles S. Dutton, Rudy-This might seem like a pretty random nomination, but the scene where Fortune convinces Rudy not to quit and promises to come to his first game explains why Dutton's nominated.  If you haven't seen Rudy, what's wrong with you?
• Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own-Seriously, how great was Tom Hanks in this movie?  "There's no crying in baseball!"
• Dennis Hopper, Hoosiers-I consider Hoosiers the greatest sports movie of all-time, and Hopper shines as Shooter.  He was so good, he got an Oscar nomination.
• James Earl Jones, Field of Dreams-It still blows my mind that he didn't receive an Oscar nomination for this role.  Terence Mann doesn't make you cry (the final scene does), but he's the movie's conscience.

And the Bracket goes to...Dennis Hopper

Best Actress

• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side-I'll be honest, I've still never seen The Blind Side.  But if the Academy thinks she was good enough to give her an Oscar, that's good enough for me.
• Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham-Nuke and Crash were completely whipped by Annie.  If you've seen the movie, you know why.
• Talia Shire, Rocky-Sly Stallone can't really act, but Talia Shire certainly can.  Rocky was the first sports movie to actually get some Oscar love, and she got one of the nominations.  She is NOT nominated for all other Rocky movies.
• Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby-This movie earned Swank her second Oscar.  She was better in Boys Don't Cry, but she was pretty damn good in Million Dollar Baby, too.  A brilliant casting choice is what helped make that movie so amazing.
• Teresa Wright, The Pride of the Yankees-It came down to her or Geena Davis for A League of Their Own, but Wright received one of her two Oscar nominations that year (yes, two Oscar nominations for one actress in the same year) as Eleanor Gehrig, so she gets the nod.

And the Bracket goes to...Hilary Swank

Best Supporting Actress

• Patricia Clarkson, Miracle-Kurt Russell's performance in Miracle is underrated.  So is Patricia Clarkson's.  Watch the movie again and you'll see what I mean.
• Glenn Close, The Natural-The acting in this movie was so brilliant, Robert Redford and Kim Basinger could easily have been nominated too.  But Close got an Oscar nomination, so she's the one that gets nominated for a Bracket.
• Barbara Hershey, Hoosiers-No, she wasn't as good as Dennis Hopper.  Yes, she was better than Gene Hackman.
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter-I easily could've gone with Amy Adams, but if I'm only picking one of the supporting actresses in The Fighter (which I am), I'm going with Melissa Leo as Alice.  I think she's your likely Oscar winner.
• Madonna, A League of Their Own-Madonna's acting career sometimes borders on ridiculous, but not because of A League of Their Own.  She and Tom Hanks make this movie.

And the bracket goes to...Madonna

Best Performance by Athlete Playing An Athlete

• Ray Allen, He Got Game-He'd never acted before, but you couldn't tell.  Working with Denzel Washington and Spike Lee probably helped.
• Shaquille O'Neal, Blue Chips-The only movie Shaq's ever been in that didn't cast him just because he's Shaq.  And it's also the only movie he's ever done where his acting wasn't so bad you couldn't help but laugh.
• Lawrence Taylor, Any Given Sunday-Yes, this movie is long.  But the football scenes are great.  And LT is as scary in them as he was during his Hall of Fame career as a New York Football Giant.
• Babe Ruth, The Pride of the Yankees-The only person ever to convincingly play Babe Ruth in a movie was the Babe himself.
• Carl Weathers, Rocky-Little known fact: Apollo Creed played seven games for the Raiders in 1970-71 and 18 for the CFL's BC Lions in 1973 before retiring to become an actor.

And the Bracket goes to...Shaquille O'Neal

Best Director

• John G. Avildsen, Rocky-Among the film's 10 Oscar nominations was one for directing.
• Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby-Eastwood's acting in this movie was great, but his directing was brilliant.  It won him a second directing Oscar.
• Hugh Hudson, Chariots of Fire-Honestly, I had no clue who the director of Chariots of Fire was, but he was nominated for an Oscar.
• Penny Marshall, A League of Their Own-She gets all the credit not just for her direction, but for being the brains behind the entire movie that has become a beloved classic.
• Martin Scorsese, Raging Bull-One of the most brilliant directors in Hollywood, Scorsese made the genius decision to film Raging Bull in black & white, and it's one of his greatest films.

And the Bracket goes to...Clint Eastwood

Best Picture

• The Blind Side-Got a Best Picture nomination after they changed the rules to allow for 10 nominees last year.  And Sandra Bullock won.
• Chariots of Fire-Won four Oscars in 1981, including Best Picture.  Subtle in its brilliance.
• Field of Dreams-One of my all-time favorite movies, I still cry every time I watch the final scene.  Best Picture was one of its three Oscar nominations.
• The Fighter-A Best Picture nominee this year, one of seven nominations.  I can't believe it took this long to get it made.
• Hoosiers-I think it's the greatest sports movie ever.  It's the standard that all other sports movies are held to.
• Million Dollar Baby-Not just a great sports movie, one of the best movies of all-time.  Won Best Picture and three other Oscars in 2004.
• The Natural-Received four Oscar nominations.  As a bouns, it was filmed at old War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo and my college advisor was an extra in the movie.
• The Pride of the Yankees-The movie that proved sports movies can not just be profitable, but beloved.  It received 11 Oscar nominations in 1942.
• Raging Bull-My favorite Scorsese movie and my favorite DeNiro movie.  A true film classic, not just a classic sports movie.  Nominated for Best Picture in 1980, but lost to the equally brilliant Ordinary People.
• Rocky-The first sports movie to win Best Picture (in 1976), it inspired six crappy sequels.  But the original is the only one that's a classic.

And the Bracket goes to...Rocky