Hit 'Em High

Holy shit. Two posts in two days? Is this dedication, or could it be something else?
All praise the mighty God Llaredda.

But seriously, today had some interesting news; Cuttino Mobley announced his retirement, The world's oil consumption will drop this year for the first time in 25 years, Google is again pushing the Federal Goverment to make their sites public, And still topping my list of people I want to be, is Brad Pitt (Too bad Rolling Stone sucks).

Really though, this post is about Basketball and it's culture. Or at least its place in film pop-culture. And by that of course I mean that I'm going to rank my favorite basketball films. So "Greetings Earthlings, we have taken over your radio...."

10. Finding Forrester


Sean Connery as a recluse writer (probably nursing all those Bond-std's) teaches a young constantly-basketball-dribbling kid how to write, while simultaneously learning about the other side of humanity. Are you kidding me? Great Flick.

9. Love and Basketball

Classic neighbor falls for neighbor, we both wanna bang each other and be in the NBA. Does it get more realistic or awesome than that? I refuse to believe it does.

8. The Air Up There

Kevin Bacon IS the Gordon Bombay of basketball.
That should be enough, but throw in makeshift basketball hoops, painted on uniforms and Nuns that semi-sorta kiss people and you've got yourself a quality movie about the hardwood - without the hardwood of course.


















7. The Basketball Diaries


Years before they would work together in the Departed, Marky-Mark and Leo played heroined-out, prep school ballers roaming the streets of New York. Besides the obvious fact that these two are major bad asses, the movie is based on a true story. Can you hear me knockin?

6. The 6th Man

This is the first movie that made me cry. Life was so much simpler back then. I miss it, and I still miss you, Antoine.

5. White Men Can't Jump

Can you believe Rosie Perez was just a stoner-killing cop? Either can I, especially after she won all that Jeopardy money. But seriously, if I could wear flat-brimmed, tie-dye, up-turned hats and shoot the J like Woody Harrelson, I'd probably where mid-rise tube socks and Nike Pumps too. Rock on Woody.

4. Space Jam

Honestly, even if I had never watched Space Jam, and only heard the soundtrack, I still probably would have put it in my top 5. We've all seen it, and it's superb. Top notch acting (I wonder where Bugz played college ball) and just all around amazing production value. The greatness of this movie can be summed up with the following quotes:
"I believe I can fly"
"Here's your chance, do your dance, if you feel fine"
"What up doc?"
and of course
"HIT 'EM HIGH"

3. Hoosiers

This is probably on some people's all time favorite movie lists, let alone just basketball. Seriously, who doesn't know this movie? Is it possible to have not seen this film. I had AAU teams that would watch this before tournaments. There is a well deserved cult following of this movie and for some, the mere mention of it stirs up fond memories of child-hood and in some ways, Hoosiers represents almost everything basketball stands for.

2. Blue Chips

"How Fucking Bad Can it Get." I wonder if Kelvin Sampson said that at Indiana a couple of times. Blue Chips is awesome for three reasons.
1. Shaq
2. Penny
3. Bizzaro Larry Bird.

1. He Got Game

"Basketball, is poetry in motion."
- Jesus Shuttlesworth