Sports movies. As far as genres go, it's a cold day on Sunset Boulevard when Hollywood does them well.

The story lines are often hokey and improbable ("For The Love of The Game") or awful ("The Legend of Baggar Vance") or completely over-directed, over-stylized and pieces of garbage ("Any Given Sunday") or just over-the-top dippy ("Happy Gilmore", Major League").

Annoyingly, the actors called upon to play the parts rarely have the athleticism to play the part believably. For example, take John Goodman in "The Babe." Sure, he looks like Babe Ruth, but that swing? Just awful. Or Corbin Bernsen's swing in "Major League". Or Madonna doing anything in a "League of Their Own." (You're probably sensing a theme here: Hollywood actors have few, if any baseball skills.)

The one exception to this rule is Tim Robbins' windup as pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in "Bull Durham"--half Fernando Valenzuela, half Juan Marichal and all brilliantly funny. If you're going to do something bad, do it bad to the point of funny.

But every so often Hollywood gets a sports movie right. One that not only the average moviegoer can like, but one sports fans can respect, too.

Here are my Top Ten Sports Movies:

"Brian's Song"-- My wife had never seen this movie, so I had her watch it with me a couple of years ago. At the end, she weeped and said, "Why did you make me watch this?" Because it's the best, that's why.

"Field of Dreams"--This movie was made in 1987, just 3 years after my dad passed away. I openly admit that I cried nearly uncontrollably at the end when Ray Kinsella asks his ghost father, "Hey...Dad?...Wanna have a catch?" I still almost lose it when I see that scene. And of all the memorable lines from the film, this one from James Earl Jones' character Terry Mann is one of my favorites: "This field, this game; it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us all that once was good and it could be again." Right on! That's why baseball will always be America's Pastime.

"The Longest Yard"--OK, enough crying in movies. When's the last time you rooted for convicts to kick some prison guard ass? And the Adam Sandler re-make just sucks.

"The Natural"--Simply magical.

"Eight Men Out"--A movie that never received much attention from audiences, but is a riveting story about the 1919 Black Sox Scandal in which players of the heavily favored Chicago White Sox were involved in fixing and "throwing" the 1919 World Series. Lots of people argue the accuracy of the movie's details, but the movie captures the deviousness and true betrayal by the players masterfully. If the so-called "Steroid Era" cheeses you off as a baseball fan, this one will really make you angry.

"Hoosiers"--Often imitated for its small-town vs. The World inspirational story, but never equaled, this is the best basketball movie ever.

"Hoop Dreams"--A documentary that mostly follows two, inner-city star high school basketball players and their quest to make it out of the ghetto and to a big time basketball school. And just how hard and improbable that journey is in reality. The alternate title could be "Pipe Dreams". Lesson: Sports are great and will get you places, but an education is greater and will get you into many places and allow you to fulfill many more dreams.

"Follow The Sun"--An old B&W movie starring Glenn Ford who portrays legendary golfer Ben Hogan's return to the tour after a terrible car accident. Ford's swing is nothing close to Hogan's, and Hogan cared little about what his fans thought, but it's an inspirational, against-all-odds story. And the only half-way decent golf movie ever made.

"Mystery, Alaska"--It is the only hockey movie that, well, really isn't about hockey but about a small-time town ideals and values vs. the cutthroat big city. It's like "Hoosiers", only not quite as serious. And it's on ice. Burt Reynolds is great as the coach and town judge. Mike Myers makes a funny cameo as a hockey announcer.

"Bull Durham"--You're right, it's more of a romantic comedy that revolves around baseball, but it still captures the magic, charm and quirkiness of minor league baseball brilliantly. The whole "if you're home run hits the bull you win a side of beef" and the mound conference on what to get Jimmy and Jolene for a wedding present ("You can't go wrong with candlesticks") just wonderfully captures all of that.

Honorable Mentions: "Prefontaine", "Breaking Away", "The Rookie", "Chariots of Fire", "Remember the Titans" and "Rounders". (OK, "Rounders" is about poker, and poker really isn't a "sport", but damn if this movie doesn't accurately portray poker's once (and still sometimes) seedy underworld of high-limit cash games.)