Top Basketball Movies (14 & 13)

14. Love and Basketball (2000)
Starring: Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Dennis Haysbert

Half chick flick, half basketball movie. What’s better than that? Well 13 movies I will name later, but Love and Basketball is a classic. Monica Wright was on my top females list earlier and Quincy McCall is much sweeter than the Eric Foreman I have to endure on Monday nights. Throw President David Palmer into the mix and it’s not half bad. Monica and Quincy grow up together as good friends and star bball players in high school. They finally get together and then go off to college at USC. They then inevitably break up, but then Monica comes back to play him in one-on-one for his love. The dude obviously wins, but they get back together anyway.

Favorite Character: Quincy McCall
Least Favorite: Coach Davis
Quote: “Double or nothing,” Quincy.

13. Semi-Pro (2008)
Starring: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin

So there’s this guy Will Ferrell who has made a few comedy pictures in his day. Well one of them was Semi-Pro. Although it is not one of the elite Ferrell flicks, the basketball player in me laughed hysterically at most of the bball scenes. The very first basketball game is classic, with Jackie Moon taking over as the star with Coffee Black not out to the court yet. Jackie posts up, demands the ball, kicks it out and demands it again over and over again. He then continues to take eight steps on his way to a sky hook and then gets extremely mad at the ref when a travel is called. Not to worry when Coffee Black enters the game, he takes over, and after dribbling through the entire opposition multiple times, he swishes a three from the corner. While the entire team is hugging and celebrating the basket, you can see the visitors scoring a fast break layup at the other end. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

Favorite Character: Jackie Moon
Least Favorite: None
Quote: “In the annals of history people are going to be talking about three things: the discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and the Flint, Michigan Mega Bowl,” Jackie Moon.

Top Basketball Movies (18 & 17)

18. Like Mike (2002)
Starring: Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki

Ok this movie was so bootleg that they couldn’t even use the Clippers as the other team in LA, they had to be the Knights. But it makes it on here for a few reasons. The amount superstars is great, with Kidd, Iverson and the like all having lines. But nothing beats when Dirk comes up to Like Mike and asks for an autograph for his niece or sister or somebody. Like Mike asks Dirk what her name is and he stalls and goes…“Uhh…Dirk.” Classic. Also this movie was the origin of my brother’s name. When I was in a big nickname giving mode, with gems like Case the Base and Big Tom, Tim got the moniker T-time after I had watched Like Mike do the same to his boy Tracy Reynolds.

Favorite Character: Dirk Nowitzki
Least Favorite: Stan Bittleman
Quote: “Uhh…Dirk,” Dirk Nowitzki

17. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Starring: Arthur Agee, William Gates

The only documentary to make the list, Hoop Dreams tells the story of a couple of young kids in inner-city Chicago trying to become basketball superstars. William Gates and Arthur Agee both attend the private school that their idol, Isaiah Thomas, went to. Agee doesn’t make it past the first year and returns home to public school. Neither one ends up making it in basketball, but Agee does get a small part in the basketball movie, Passing Glory in 1999.

Favorite Dude: Arthur Agee

Female Movie Characters: 10-1

10. Lucy Whitmore- Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates












9. Jules Harbor- Amy Smart in Varsity Blues

















8. Padme Amidala- Natalie Portman in Revenge of the Sith

















7. Emily Friehl- Amanda Peet in A Lot Like Love

















6. Becky Jackson- Julia Stiles in A Guy Thing












5. Rosalee Futch- Kate Bosworth in Win a Date With Tad Hamilton

















4. Claire Cleary- Rachel McAdams in Wedding Crashers












3. Nancy Hayes- Sara Foster in The Big Bounce

















2. Rachel Jansen- Mila Kunis in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

















1. Andie Anderson- Kate Hudson in How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days

Female Movie Characters: 20-11

20. Julianne Potter- Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding

















19. Cassandra Wong- Tia Carrere in Wayne's World

















18. Polly Prince- Jennifer Aniston in Along Came Polly












17. Kate Veatch- Christine Taylor in Dodgeball

















16. Isabel Fuentes- Salma Hayek in Fools Rush In

















15. Elizabeth Swann- Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean

















14. Theresa Jones- Zoe Saldana in Guess Who

















13. Cher Horowitz- Alicia Silverstone in Clueless

















12. Sara Thomas- Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity


















11. Sara Melas- Eva Mendes in Hitch

Judging Idol

Thoughts

Before I get to all of my complaining about this show, let me preface it with the fact that I enjoy shows that I get angry with. A prime example was how much I hated Mary from Las Vegas. Vegas was definitely one of my favorite character driven shows and hating everything that Mary did made it fun to scream and yell when she did something else that I couldn't stand. That's the way I've been feeling yet again with Idol this season.

Kara DioGuardi is one of the worst additions to a television program in history. I never thought that I wouldn't be able to stand someone more than Paula, but Kara makes Paula refreshing. Kara is the absolute WORST. She blabs and blabs like she thinks she knows what she's talking about. At least Paula knows she's an idiot. Kara is kind of closer to Randy in that sense, she takes the worst parts of Randy and Paula and has created one uber-terrible judge.

I definitely enjoyed the less airtime for auditions this year. I am not one of those people that enjoy watching millions of terrible auditions. It gets old real fast. I feel the change in format for the semi-finals is a good change of pace, it kind of dragged the past couple of years. As a bonus we don't end up with an equal number of guys and girls. Because if you know anything about me, you know that I think guys are better at most things, including Idol.

Quick Summaries

Group 1: Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey (right) and Michael Sarver made it through. Wow early terribleness from America. Sarver, really? Gokey was the best in the group but I agreed with Simon that it was nothing special. Alexis was barely the best girl, none of them were very good in this group.

Group 2: Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta got through from this group. I enjoyed all three of these. Lambert showed a lot of talent in his first performance, but was kinda of crazy at times.

Group 3: Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre and Jorge Nunez won this round. Very good group in which I disagreed wholeheartedly with the choices by America. God did the judges praise Lil Rounds (being in the last spot, the producers obviously want her to win). I wasn't impressed. She showed talent but there was nothing special. Blind Scott was not good and Jorge was good but uncomfortable to watch afterward with all his Spanish thinking. I guess in the end I would've gone with Rounds, Ju'not Joyner and Von Smith (but Von greatly disappointed in the wild-card so good job America).

Wildcard Round

Jessica Langseth: wow was this performance bad.

Megan Joy Corkrey (right): also bad but not quite on Jessica's level. Talked through the entire song. Obviously the judges praised her because they need to increase their number of females in the finals.

Matt Giraud: I liked this performance of Who's Loving You. The judges have said it a million times but this was a much better song choice for him and he definitely did enough to make the finals.

Von Smith: Like I said before, he blew it. On Tuesday he was great, switching back and forth from his falsetto do his normal voice but tonight he almost tried to do the whole thing in a high pitch and it didn't work for me or anyone.

Jasmine Murray: She comes out with a powerful Christina Agulaira song and did very well. Randy and Kara are completely idiotic again. Randy says song was too big for her. No, her thing is big songs, she has a big voice just not great control. That's why the Sara Bareilles song last time didn't work. Kara goes "I didn't know you had this big voice." How dumb are you Kara? You all criticized her in week 1 for picking a song that didn't show off her big voice. That's all you knew about her. Wow.

Ricky Braddy: A decent job, but he's just too forgettable.

Tatiana Del Toro: She sings the exact same song she did in group 1. Are you joking? Repeating songs is one thing but in back to back weeks during your first two times in front of America? Soo dumb and the judges criticized her for it. It was a decent performance though.

Anoop Desai: This guy is just being so dumb. He has a big fan base, a big voice and a big personality and he is killing himself with these song choices. He has done two songs in the first two performances that feature a chorus sung completely by backup singers. He adlibs throughout the performance and doesn't get a chance to actually sing. It kills me because he could be real good, I feel.

So they end up taking four from the wildcard instead of three. Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray, Megan Joy Corkrey and Anoop Desai. I agree with everything except there was no need for Corkrey.

Finals predictions

13. Michael Sarver
12. Megan Joy Corkrey
11. Kris Allen
10. Jasmine Murray
9. Matt Giraud
8. Jorge Nunez
7. Alexis Grace
6. Anooop Desai
5. Scott MacIntyre
4. Allison Iraheta
3. Lil Rounds
2. Danny Gokey
1. Adam Lambert (right)

Combining Lists

I don't know how I could live with myself if I didn't take all of these top ten lists I've been compiling and put them to good use. Let's see who ended up as the consensus top character based on the lists I used. Also I will be figuring out who the top actor from the lists. Normal scoring was used, with 10 points for a number one, 9 for second and so on. You needed to make two lists to be considered. Oh and Ty's list was thrown out.

Top Characters

15. Chester Lee- Rodney Dangerfield in Ladybugs (5 points)

14. Jack Kelly- Christian Bale in Newsies (6 points)

11. Frank Slade (left)- Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (8 points)

11. R.P. McMurphy- Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest (8 points)

11. Ron Burgundy- Will Ferrell in Anchorman (8 points)

10. Doc Holliday- Val Kilmer in Tombstone (9 points)

8. Tyler Durden (left)- Brad Pitt in Fight Club (10 points)

8. Buddy the Elf- Will Ferrell in Elf (10 points)

6. The Joker- Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (11 points)

6. Will Hunting (left)- Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting (11 points)

5. Jack Sparrow- Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean (15 points)

4. Bob Wiley- Bill Murray in What About Bob? (16 points)

2. Roy O'Bannon- Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon (19 points)

2. Bartholomew Hunt- Chris Farley in Almost Heroes (19 points)

1. Verbal Kint (left)- Kevin Spacey in Usual Suspects (25 points)



Top Actors

15. Val Kilmer- 9 points (2 selections)

15. Dustin Hoffman- 9 points (2 selections)

11. Brad Pitt- 10 points (2 selections)

11. Humphrey Bogart (left)- 10 points (2 selections)

11. Jack Nicholson- 10 points(3 selections)

11. Christian Bale- 10 points (3 selections)

10. Matt Damon- 11 points (2 selections)

9. Marlon Brando- 13 points (2 selections)

8. Bill Murray (left)- 16 points (2 selections)

6. Morgan Freeman- 18 points (2 selections)

6. Will Ferrell- 18 points (4 selections)

5. Chris Farley- 19 points (2 selections)

4. Heath Ledger- 20 points (3 selections)

3. Johnny Depp- 22 points (3 selections)

2. Kevin Spacey- 25 points (3 selections)

1. Owen Wilson (left)- 37 points (4 selections)





I haven't seen a smokeshow this bad since Mr.Piglover Jordan was talkin' smack back in '06. O-Dog brought home the 'chip and did it in style. Give it up for Mr. Owen K. Wilson III.

Jay-sone's Decade

As my superior and probably my most loyal reader, Jay-sone gets in on the list making action with his top ten characters. This dude really had himself a good time watching movies in the 90s. All but one of his top ten characters were created in the 1990s. Some might say that Jay needs to get with the times, but not me, I am a big fan of the nineties...great decade. As far as decades of the past century go, the 90s are up there for me as one of the best.

Top Decades

1. Sixties
2. Nineties
3. Twenties
4. Seventies
5. Eighties
6. Fifties
7. Aughts
8. Teens
9. Forties
10. Thirties

Jay-sone's Top Ten

10. Troy Dyer- Ethan Hawke- Reality Bites

9. Tyrone C. Love- Marlon Wayans- Requiem for a Dream

8. Andrew Beckett- Tom Hanks- Philadelphia

7. R.P. McMurphy- Jack Nicholson- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

6. Frank Slade- Al Pacino- Scent of a Woman

5. Mr. Pink- Steve Buscemi- Reservoir Dogs

4. Raoul Duke- Johnny Depp- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

3. Banky Edwards- Jason Lee- Chasing Amy

2. Rob Gordon- John Cusack- High Fidelity

1. Jeffrey Lebowski (left)- Jeff Bridges- The Big Lebowski

The Lochness Quest

So late last year as I was gearing up for graduation, Lochness was deciding to end his collegiate basketball career early. A junior this year he made the choice to quit Brewers basketball so that he could have the time to enjoy other endeavors. Now you and I both know that this meant that he needed more time to finish off the IMDB Top 250. Eight of his top ten characters come from top 250 movies. His television watching has certainly not increased from what I can tell over the past half a year. Anytime I ask the Locksmith about Lost or Office he has no idea what I'm talking about. This is a dude who truly wishes he was on the up and up in the television world, but fails miserably.

Lochness's Top Ten

10. Dr. Strangelove- Peter Sellers- Dr. Strangelove

9. Sam Spade- Humphrey Bogart- Maltese Falcon

8. Bernard Campbell- Vince Vaughn- Old School

7. Teddy KGB- John Malkovich- Rounders

6. Sanjuro Kuwabatake- Toshiro Mifune- Yojimbo

5. Maximus- Russell Crowe- Gladiator

4. Terry Malloy- Marlon Brando- On the Waterfront

3. Johnny Clay- Sterling Hayden- The Killing

2. Jesus Quintana- John Turturro- The Big Lebowski

1. Verbal Kint (left)- Kevin Spacey- Usual Suspects

Old Man T-Time

For a dude that prides himself in loving old movies, and by old movies I mean anything before 1980, Timothy H. Time has six new movie characters to four old ones. This is such a slap in the face to the 300 dvds he has from the 50s and 60s. While we're on the subject of list making, during the summers I worked at the fabulous DeLorme Map Company, T-time and I would make lists of everything and anything and then vote on them. One of our original goals was to end up with a master list of the greatest people in the world (actors, athletes, musicians, actual people we know, etc.) Due to the fact that I am now residing in CT this never happened, and aren't we all sad because of it.

T-time's Top Ten

10. Captain Ron- Kurt Russell- Captain Ron

9. Mr. Miyagi- Pat Morita- Karate Kid

8. Ivanhoe Martin- Jimmy Cliff- The Harder They Come

7. Doc Holliday- Val Kilmer- Tombstone

6. Eddie Felson- Paul Newman- The Hustler

5. Captain James Hook- Dustin Hoffman- Hook


4. David Ruffin- Leon- The Temptations

3. Rick Blaine- Humphrey Bogart- Casablanca

2. Dignan- Owen Wilson- Bottle Rocket

1. Man With No Name (left)- Clint Eastwood- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Larry's Legends

And starting at forward, a 6'3" senior captain, the leading scorer in Vassar College history, Liberty League Player of the Year....Larry Aveetoobahbalabeeeyyyyyy!!! So not only does Lar enjoy making lists as much as the next guy, but he can make some dang good lists. This one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Larry's Top Ten

10. Tyler Durden- Brad Pitt- Fight Club

9. Roy McAvoy- Kevin Costner- Tin Cup

8. Ron Burgandy- Will Ferrell- Anchorman

7. Will Hunting- Matt Damon- Good Will Hunting

6. Westley- Cary Elwes- The Princess Bride

5. Verbal Kint- Kevin Spacey- Usual Suspects

4. John Creasy- Denzel Washington- Man on Fire


3. Red (left)- Morgan Freeman- Shawshank Redemption

2. Roy O'Bannon- Owen Wilson- Shanghai Noon

1. Captain Jack Sparrow- Johnny Depp- Pirates of the Caribbean

Movie Characters: 50-41

50. Dewey Finn- Jack Black- The School of Rock
Dewey: “I pledge allegiance... to the band... of Mr. Schneebly... and will not fight him... for creative control... and will defer to him on all issues related to the musical direction of the band.”


















49. Kale Brecht- Shia LaBeouf- Disturbia
Julie: “Clean up your room, and clean up the kitchen.”
Kale: “Yeah, I'll do that. Let me just check my schedule.”













48. Mike McDermott- Matt Damon- Rounders
Mike: “Few players recall big pots they have won — strange as it seems — but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career.”












47. Jeremy Grey- Vince Vaughn- Wedding Crashers
Jeremy: “I happen to know everything there is to know about maple syrup! I love maple syrup. I love maple syrup on pancakes. I love it on pizza. And I take maple syrup and put a little bit in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up, slick?”


46. Press Maravich- Nick Benedict- Pistol: The Birth of a Legend
Press: [after completing the drill] “You thought you could do it, I knew I could, confidence.”



















45. Bill Bowerman- R. Lee Ermy- Prefontaine
Bowerman: “Quite an impressive performance.”
Pre: “I just ran my race.”
Bowerman: “I was talking about the way you ran your mouth.”
















44. Coach Bud Kilmer- Jon Voight- Varsity Blues
Coach Kilmer: “Oh, Big Billy Bob Crybaby!? You cost me my perfect season. How’s it feel? My quarterback is off limping, and to top it off I got watch you cry about it?”












43. Norman Dale- Gene Hackman- Hoosiers
Coach Dale: “You know, in the ten years that I coached, I never met anybody who wanted to win as badly as I did. I'd do anything I had to do to increase my advantage. Anybody who tried to block the pursuit of that advantage, I'd just push 'em out of the way. Didn't matter who they were, or what they were doing. But that was then. You have special talent, a gift. Not the school's, not the townspeople, not the team's, not Myra Fleener's, not mine. It's yours, to do with what you choose. Because that's what I believe, I can tell you this: I don't care if you play on the team or not.”


42. John Q. Archibald- Denzel Washington- John Q
John Q: “He’s a good kid. You’d like him. You’d like him doc, if you got to know him.”


41. Kevin Franklin- Sinbad- Houseguest
Mr. Pike: “Slap me five there, brother!”
Kevin: “How about I just slap you?”

Top Characters

Top TV Characters of Fall 2008

1. Dwight Schrute- Office
2. Morgan Grimes- Chuck
3. Cappie- Greek
4. Patrick Jane- Mentalist
5. Gabriel Sylar- Heroes
6. Jamie Lucas Scott- One Tree Hill
7. Megan Smith- Privileged
8. Chuck Bartowski- Chuck
9. Tracy Jordan- 30 Rock
10. Sam Briggs- Worst Week

Top Wide Receivers

Top NFL WRs of Fall 2008


1. Larry Fitzgerald
2. Andre Johnson
3. Steve Smith
4. Anquan Boldin
5. Roddy White
6. Calvin Johnson
7. Greg Jennings
8. Antonio Bryant
9. Randy Moss
10. Terrell Owens

Top Running Backs

Top NFL Running Backs of Fall 2008

1. Adrian Peterson
2. Clinton Portis
3. Michael Turner
4. Brandon Jacobs
5. Brian Westbrook
6. Matt Forte
7. Deangelo Williams
8. Thomas Jones
9. Chris Johnson
10. Frank Gore

Top Quarterbacks

Top 10 NFL QBs of Fall 2008

1. Drew Brees
2. Tony Romo
3. Peyton Manning
4. Kurt Warner
5. Phillip Rivers
6. Chad Pennington
7. Aaron Rodgers
8. Jay Cutler
9. Donovan McNabb
10. Eli Manning

Top NFL Teams

Top 10 NFL Teams of Fall 2008

1. Pittsburgh Steelers
2. New York Giants
3. Tennessee Titans
4. Carolina Panthers
5. Dallas Cowboys
6. Philadelphia Eagles
7. Indianapolis Colts
8. Baltimore Ravens
9. Atlanta Falcons
10. Miami Dolphins