Greatest Baseball Movie: The Debate has Resurfaced

Up until very recently, if you asked a casual sportsfan what his favorite baseball movie was, he would give you a choice from four or five answers. 1- He would take the easy way out, and say Bull Durham. 2- He would tell you that he's passionate about the game, and say Field of Dreams (Which used to be my answer). 3- He would come out of left field and say Major League. 4- He'd be a film-lover, and add The Natural. 5- She'd have no choice but A League of their own. And those five movies, with the exception of one obvious choice, are very good.

But what happens when a new movie comes into the mix? And yes, blogosphere, you know which one I'm talking about.

I saw Moneyball the first time this past Saturday night, with my parents. Not only did I think that it was an excellent baseball movie, it was also an excellent film period. The attention to detail, the dialogue by Aaron Sorkin, the performances of Brad Pitt, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, hell even Jonah Hill- and that says something.

After that first time, I thought it was one of the greatest baseball movies ever. Was it as good as Field of Dreams? Possibly. Was it as good as Bull Durham? Definitely. Was it as good as Major League? No, it was a billion times better than Major League. Major League's like the Police Academy of Sports Movies.

Of course, the next day was one of relaxation for me...until my friend called me up, and said he and another friend were seeing Moneyball, and asked if I wanted to join them.

I then searched my mind for a reason to refuse. After not finding one, I accepted.

So now I've seen Moneyball twice. And yes, I agree with what I said about it the first time. Because some people might say it's better than Bull Durham, and better than A League of their Own. And I would agree with them, with no disrespect toward Kevin Costner and Tom Hanks. Come on guys. There's no crying in baseball movies.

But the debate still rages on for other casual sportsfans, most of which have recently seen the movie. I swear, if the rest of the went to see The Lion King this weekend, they shouldn't be a sports fan. But anyway, these other fans have different levels of judgement in terms of baseball films than I do. They could still think Bull Durham's better, they could say Moneyball's the best, because it's really an Oscar movie about Baseball. Hell, they could even still say Major League's the best...to that, I would respond "Mr. Sheen, what the hell are you still doing here?"

But if they can't all agree that Moneyball isn't the greatest baseball movie of all time, they'll still think it's a great movie. Which is really all that counts.