Questions about final scene of the Sandlot

After yesterday's post, a few of my friends and I were discussing the situation at the end of "The Sandlot." Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez is brought in to pinch run at third base. He then stole home for the win.

First, is Benny a bench player or a star? He wasn't brought in until the final inning, and it wasn't even to hit, so did they really value his bat that much? If he were a star, I'd bring him in to pinch hit.

But then he stole home. You don't let a bench player do that. I don't care if he has the speed of a young Ricky Henderson. Scrubs don't risk the game by stealing home. If they do, they will be placed on waivers the next day. Benny must have been an important player for the Dodgers. He looked kind of old, so maybe he was an aging star making a last great run, but he was definitely a starter and a star.

Benny also has a nickname, so he has to be good, right?

Second, what the heck was the coach thinking putting on a steal of home? I haven't watched the movie in a while, so I don't know if they say how many outs there are. But baseball common sense tells us that you never make the first or last out stealing home. It just doesn't make sense. Also, even if there is one out, why on earth would you steal home? Benny obviously has tons of speed, so he can score on even a shallow fly ball. In conclusion, if this coach made the call, he might have been fired at the end of the year.

The call to steal helps support the idea that Benny is a star. If the call was not made, and he did it himself, he has to carry a lot of weight in the franchise. Like I said earlier, if a scrub gives himself the green light there, he is done playing that year. If a star does it, he gets away with it.

Third, the batter at the plate must be terrible. Whether Benny gave himself the green light, or the coach did, they obviously had no confidence in the guy at the plate. But once again, if that guy was so terrible, why not have Benny pinch hit for him?

Which then brings us back to the coach. Nothing he does in those two minutes makes any baseball sense, but it works.

In conclusion, Benny is a star and the film's director obviously didn't know much about baseball.

Boys of Summer - Don Henley

What if they were real?

Haven't you ever wondered if Roy Hobbs really could destroy a ballpark? Or if Shane Falco really could rally a group of nobodies to defeat a team full of pro football players. That's what I'm here for. To let you know if these fictional athletes really could dominate a sport like they did in their respected movies.

Shane Falco: No way. His mechanics are lousy and the deaf tight end was the real story in "The Replacements." Falco reminds me of a poor man's Jake Plummer. He can scramble some and look great at times, but he's not a quarterback that can take you to a championship.

Roy Hobbs: Robert Redford's movie version of the ace pitcher turned amazing slugger in "The Natural" is plausible, just ask Rick Ankiel. But I don't think he is that clutch or powerful in real life. I'm thinking a 2008 Josh Hamilton-esque season for Roy. And for those of you interested or hate spoilers, Roy strikes out in the book. Quite different than destroying the stadium with a moonshot.

Jimmy Chitwood: Holy cow he has a dream of a shot. If he didn't come like a decade after Larry Bird, I would think Chitwood inspired Bird. He would definitely be a star SG on an NBA roster. Not only is he clutch from downtown, but he can drive to the hoop, rebound and pass. Heck, I don't think he's ever missed a free throw. Honestly, he's probably a high-round draft pick in any standard fantasy basketball draft.

Paul Blake: OK, he was a 40-year-old freshman quarterback for the Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos in "Necessary Roughness." His record was something like 1-8-1, but he beat the No. 1 team in the country in his last game. He was also on a team that had 18 players, so he wasn't exactly working with the talent surrounding today's babied QBs. Despite taking brutal hits, just about every snap, Blake has a rocket for an arm and has surprising accuracy. Look what Brett Favre is doing with the Minnesota Vikings. Blake could definitely lead a team to the playoffs.

Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez: In "The Sandlot," Benny had all kinds of tools. He hit for power, stole bases, played defense at just about every position and was a mentor to the younger players of his team. We flashed forward in the movie and he was pinch runner. Was he a bust, or was he just taking the day off. As long as he continued to improve throughout the high school and college days, I'm sure he would be a first round pick with tons of upside. He definitely would be a 20-20 guy with potential for 30-30. The one question is, what position would he play? He might be like Pujols early in his career, just playing wherever to get him in the lineup.

Charlie Conway: Definitely didn't make it to the pros. He was a wimp that couldn't even make the varsity team at his college in his freshman year. For those of you who think Goldberg would be a star, you obviously didn't see "D3." He didn't have what it took to be a goalie and he's way too fat to play the ice. Adam Banks was the only player on that team with NHL potential. Well, Fulton Reed could have been a goon, but that's stretching it.

Captain Robert Hatch: He was the goalie in "Victory," where Allies POWs played the German National team in a game of soccer. He would start for any national team in the world. Why? Because he CAUGHT a friggin' penalty kick. And he helped a team compete with the German National Team. He might be the biggest lock of this list.

The Jamaican bobsled team: Why am I even bothering? They don't have snow in the island nation and there is no way they can go from no practice on the real stuff, to medal contenders. I'm sure they could be great sprinters and be medal contenders in the proper sport. Bobsledding though, they are toast.

Kevin Costner: I'll mention his characters later, but he played a pitcher with perfect game stuff and a crazy golfer that goes big or goes home. As a golfer, I give him a punchers chance. Look at who won majors this year. A guy named Yang and another one named Glover, no relation to Danny. While he won't sniff the top of the money list, Roy McAvoy could definitely win a major and maybe a few other tour events.

Billy Chapel probably makes it too. He threw a knee buckling breaking ball in the first inning of his first game that would freeze Ichiro on a good day.

Now the tough one is Crash Davis. Catchers with pop are hard to come by. He calls games well, but sometimes goes too far. You don't, under any circumstances, give the pitch away to a batter. Sure, he wanted to teach the young hurler a lesson, but there are better ways to go about it! Until he matures and learns to handle pitchers in a proper way, he's stuck in AAA ball.

Reno Hightower and Jack Dundee: They were the quarterback/receiver combo that hooked up late in "The Best of Times." Hightower had the arm, but Dundee is undersized for today's NFL. He was jammed at the line just about every play except the last one where he pulled a nice spin move. That will work maybe once a game. Hightower was tough and played by Kurt Russell. As we know, Russell fails at nothing and would rock the NFL.

There are millions of movie athletes, but that's what I have for now. Please share your own thoughts.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar

Some apologies are in order

Admitting you're wrong is never fun, but it's something we all have to face. That's why I'm writing this. To admit I was wrong and apologize to those who I called out or insulted.

First, Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. Several people probably heard me say the Broncos would contend for worst team in the league and McDaniels might be fired before the season ended. Well, they're 5-0 and just beat the New England Patriots. He pissed off their franchise QB to the point he demanded a trade and got it. He angered their stud wide receiver to the point he was batting down passes in practice. And let's be honest, who thought that defense could make that drastic of a turnaround to quickly? So Josh, I'm sorry. You go from my candidate to be fired, to being my coach of the year candidate.

On a side note, how right was I about the attention the media would give to the McDaniels/Bill Belichick handshake that never was? Picture this. As the Broncos line up for the game-winning field goal, The Fray's "How to Save a Life" comes on and everything is in slow motion. While the kick is in the air, we go to shots of Belichick and his fear, then quickly cut to McDaniels' joy. Now the chorus starts and we cut to McDaniels pumping his fist like he's clubbing a seal. Then, just as the music is fading, we cut to Belichick looking for McDaniels to wrap him in a beautiful man hug, then fade to black with his look of utter sadness.

If I had any video editing skills I would so put that up on YouTube.

As much as I hate to admit this next one, I owe Jay Cutler an apology. He still looks like a spoiled little kid who is ready to cry at the drop of a hat, but he is doing a great job up in Chicago. His touchdown leap against the Detroit Lions was a football play that I wished happened every week. He started hot last year before being a part of Denver's collapse last year, but I think he will probably lead them to a Wild Card spot this year.

For the past two weeks, I've been telling anyone who would listen that the Cleveland Browns would not win a game this season. Well the friggin Buffalo Bills had to go and make me wrong. How do you lose a game where the opposing quarterback is 2-for-17 for 23 yards and a pick? After almost beating the Patriots in Week 1, the Bills have been a joke. For the record, I think that is the only win the Browns get this year.

I'm going to apologize to readers for not coming up with a quirky O.J. Simpson joke for the above paragraph. If I can't do it right, I'm not going to do it.

While we're on the topic of the Bills, I was so wrong about Terrell Owens and the rest of my receivers in a certain fantasy football league. TO always runs into trouble after a year of service, so I thought the Bills were very smart to sign him to a one-year deal. He would take attention away from Lee Evans, and defenses would have to respect a good running game of Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson. Of course, I overlooked the fact they had no offensive line and Trent Edwards is still playing scared after getting a concussion last year.

I also thought Roy Williams and Braylon Edwards would have bounce back years. Week 1 looked OK. Roy had a 66-yard TD and then Week 2 Braylon had 90+ yards. They have been terrible since and will cost me a that league. It happens to the best of us.

Then there was that preseason prediction that the New York Giants would miss the playoffs and the Tennessee Titans would snag a Wild Card. The Giants are now 5-0 and the Titans are 0-5 and looking terrible.

Mario Manningham was awful last year and Steve Smith couldn't beat out Amani Toomer or Domenik Hixon for playing time. Yet here they are lighting up opponents' secondaries. I also didn't think Osi Umenyiora would come back from a major knee injury and play this well this soon. I was pretty much wrong all around on that one.

Then there are the Titans. Does losing Albert Haynesworth do that much damage to their defense? They were one of the best defenses in the league last year and now they can't stop anyone. I really shouldn't make predictions.

The Steelers did win, though. It wasn't a shutout like I said, but I'll take whatever I can get right now.

Glad Girls - Guided by Voices

Week 5 picks

So I had some hits and misses last week and now I'm back for more! Just like last week, I'm not going to bother analyzing, if you can call it that, the St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns or Tampa Bay Buccaneers games. I'm sticking by my statement that those three teams will not win a game this season. Before I do the picks, we'll review last week.

Record: 10-4

Biggest hit: New Orleans Saints over New York Jets - Not to toot my own horn, but I touted the Saints secondary and predicted them making Jets rookie Mark Sanchez look bad. Feel free to bask in my brilliance.

Biggest miss: Tennessee Titans over Jacksonville Jaguars - All of you who were basking in my brilliance are now feeling uncomfortable and gross in my stink. Not only did the Jags win, but they crushed the Titans. It was 30-3 at one point.

On with the picks!

• Pittsburgh Steelers 33, Detroit Lions 10: Change this to a shutout if Lions QB Matthew Stafford doesn't play. The Steelers' offense finally got rolling last week for 38 points against a mediocre San Diego Chargers team. Now they are playing a bad Lions team. The offense will continue to roll. For all of you fantasy people out there, start every Steeler you can!

• Dallas Cowboys 20, Kansas City Chiefs 10: The Chiefs are bad, we're talking two wins all season bad. But the Cowboys' offense has not been very good lately, so this game will be closer than most think. I'm expecting Dwayne Bowe to have his best game of the season and Tony Romo will keep struggling.

• New York Giants 38, Oakland Raiders 3: How is JaMarcus Russell still starting? The Raiders have no passing attack. The Giants could play only 10 guys on defense and still win this game. Even if Eli Manning misses this game, expect the Giants to score at will and Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw to torch the Raiders.

• Carolina Panthers 17, Washington Redskins 9: The Redskins squeaked by the Rams and Bucs and lost to the Lions. After reading that last sentence, how could you ever feel comfortable picking the Skins to win a game? The Panthers are not good this year. Jake Delhomme is confused as to what team he should pass to and ends up guessing wrong. But that doesn't matter this week. DeAngelo Williams is going to have a great game and keep the Redskins offense off the field. And as long as they are handing the ball off, that limits Delhomme's chances to shoot his team in the stomach.

• Baltimore Ravens 27, Cincinnati Bengals 17: What Bengals are going to show up? The ones that held the Steelers to 20 points, or the ones that gave up 20 points to Browns? I'm thinking it will be closer to their Browns performance. The Ravens will force a lot of three and outs and the Bengals' defense will get tired by the fourth quarter. On a personal note, I hate these teams as much as the New England Patriots. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't be sad if the stadium crumbled to the ground on top of both teams.

• Atlanta Falcons 24, San Francisco 49ers 10: This would be a different story if Frank Gore was playing, but he isn't. The 49ers' offense is not producing that much despite their 3-1 record. Their defense is responsible for that record. I expect the Falcons to come off the bye week with a solid game plan that gets Michael Turner back to his 2008 form.
  

• Jacksonville Jaguars 28, Seattle Seahawks 14: I have to admit, I unjustly hated on the Jags. They have only play one bad game, Week 2 against Arizona, and I went and portrayed them as a mediocre team. Then they go and outgun the HoustonTexans and destroy the Tennessee Titans. David Garrard finally has a playmaker at receiver in Mike Sims-Walker and that is opening up the running game for Maurice Jones Drew. I now like the Jags to take the second Wild Card spot. This could change in a week. Bump up the Seahawks to 24 if Matt Hasselbeck plays.
  

• Arizona Cardinals 41, Houston Texans 24: Rotoworld.com says that Warner practiced at 100 percent during the team's bye week and he could start throwing downfield more. In the Cardinals' first four games, Warner was relying on dump passes. I expect him and Larry "No Last Name Needed" Fitzgerald to hook up early and often. Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson will keep pace for about a half before Schaub tries forcing throws that result in a few turnovers.
  

• New England Patriots 35, Denver Broncos 14: The game doesn't matter because all eyes will be on the handshake between Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels after the game. Will it be the cold, quick handshake Belichick gave to Eric Mangini the first time, or will it be the beautiful man hug he gave to Mangini after the second game. You know, the one wear Bill body checked a photographer out of the way to get to his former assistant. It was so powerful, it inspired Annie Proulx to write Brokeback Mountain back in 1997. That's right, their bromance fought through the space and time continuum. Will McDaniels and Belichick inspire a sequel? We'll see.

• Indianapolis Colts 28, Tennessee Titans 13: This is the week the Titans go back to Vince Young. Of course this will be after Peyton Manning lights up the Titans for 200 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. How the heck did the Titans go from 14-2 last year to 0-4, soon to be 0-5, this year?

• New York Jets 17, Miami Dolphins 6: Braylon Edwards will make his debut for the Jets and get all of two catches. I like the move for the Jets, but not for this year. It will take time for he and Mark Sanchez to click. But I still don't think the Dolphins are a very good team. Shut down Ronnie Brown, shut down the Fins. And the Jets can shut down the run.
  

Week 4 picks

I wish I could tell you I was too busy to make picks in the first three weeks of the NFL. I wasn't. But from this point on, every Thursday or Friday I will try and tell everyone who I think will win come Sunday and Monday. I don't do the spread. You shouldn't be betting on sporting events unless it's with your friends and the stakes are humiliating acts.

• St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Bucs are all going to lose. The Bucs will have the best chance of winning against the Washington Redskins, but they won't.

• Baltimore Ravens 17, New England Patriots 10: This is one of the games where I wish there was no winner. The Ravens are going to be blitzing like crazy to try and get pressure on Tom Brady, and they're going to succeed. The New York Jets didn't sack Brady, but they were swarming all around him and he was flustered. It's going to happen again this week.

• Tennessee Titans 34, Jacksonville Jaguars 13: The Titans stop the run, and they run well. Jags' QB David Garrard is going to have to beat the Titans and he doesn't have to the weapons to do it. Also expect Chris Johnson to rush for at least 100 yards and a score.

• Houston Texans 28, Oakland Raiders 17: The Texans appear to have no defense this year, especially against the run. Fortunately for them, they play the Raiders, who have no real offense. Darren McFadden will probably break a long run though to give the Raiders some offense.

• Indianapolis Colts 38, Seattle Seahawks 14: Seahawks' QB Matt Hasselbeck is out and Peyton Manning is still leading the Colts. Enough said.

• New York Giants 31, Kansas City Chiefs -3: The Bucs, although terrible, only managed 86 yards against the Giants last week. The Chiefs aren't going to do much better.

• Chicago Bears 24, Detroit Lions 7: Lions' RB Kevin Smith is probably out, so the Lions will need Matthew Stafford to carry them. That's not going to happen against a solid Bears defense. While seeing the Lions pain end last week was nice, expect a new streak to begin.

• Buffalo Bills 21, Miami Dolphins 17: Honestly, this might be the most boring game of the week unless you are a Bills or Dolphins fan. If Terrell Owens doesn't break out his slump this week, he is not going to do it this season, and those of you who took him as your first receiver in fantasy drafts (me) are going to be in a lot of trouble. Fortunately for the Bills, Chad Pennington is out and Chad Henne will be making his first career start. Don't expect a Mark Sanchez or Matt Ryan-like debut. He was behind Pennington for a reason.

• New Orleans Saints 27, New York Jets 14: The Jets have shut down some pretty good offenses this year, but this is the game where Sanchez makes some mistakes that lead to short fields for the Saints. Greg Williams has done some great work with the Saints defense this year. They have seven interceptions already. Combine the improved defense with the studliness (should be a word) of Drew Brees and you have a 4-0 Saints team after this week.

• Dallas Cowboys 17, Denver Broncos 9: I don't think Marion Barber plays at 100 percent, and Tony Romo is going to struggle to throw on Champ Bailey. Put those together and you have a low scoring affair here. With the Cowboys stuffing the run and forcing Kyle Orton to beat them, the Broncos won't score a touchdown.

• Pittsburgh Steelers 24, San Diego Chargers 20: The Steelers are going to wise up this week. Instead of giving up the go-ahead score with just seconds left, they're going to let the Chargers take the lead with 4 minutes left. This will allow Ben Roethlisberger to work his magic and lead the Steelers to a last minute win. If not, at least hockey season starts tomorrow.

• Minnesota Vikings 20, Green Bay Packers 14: The Packers have struggled pretty bad against the run the past two weeks. Cedric Benson tore them up for 141 yards, and Steven Jackson had 117 against them. Now they have to face Adrian Peterson. Expect the Vikings to control the clock and Keep Aaron Rodgers off the field. Aren't you happy I didn't hype up Brett Favre facing the Packers for the first time since their messy divorce?

Long Live Rock - The Who

MLB awards

The Major League Baseball season is coming to a close and the postseason is right around the corner. Of course, if you're a Pirates fan, the season pretty much ended in June for you. So here are my awards for the season. Some are your typical awards like MVP and Cy Young, some are my own awards. Feel free to come up with awards you want to give out.

NL MVP - Albert Pujols: Do I need to justify this?

NL LVP - Brad Lidge: Despite all of Lidge's best efforts, the Philadelphia Phillies are going to win their division. Lidge is 0-8 with 11 blown saves, a 7.38 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. What the heck happened? He was perfect last year. I'm thinking Pujols starting writing him letters and sending pictures of that massive homer he hit off Lidge in the NLCS a few years back.

AL MVP - Joe Mauer: Usually I think a league MVP needs to be on a playoff team, but not here. I know the Minnesota Twins still have a chance, but I think the Detroit Tigers will hold them off. Mauer is batting .367, has a .441 on-base percentage, is slugging .597 and has 28 homers. He is doing all this as a catcher, who missed a month of the season with a hip injury. The 28 homers really stands out considering he's never hit more than 13. If that doesn't do it for you, remember Kevin Slowey and Justin Morneau had their seasons end early and Mauer kept the Twins alive.

AL LVP - Josh Hamilton: More proof that drugs are bad. Hamilton's body broke down this year. He went from 32 homers and 130 RBIs to 10 homers and 56 RBIs. His average also dropped almost 40 points. If he were the Hamilton of last season, the Texas Rangers would still be in the Wild Card chase. Instead we get the Red Sox, who I hate more than swine flu.

NL Cy Young - Chris Carpenter: Back in March, I decided that Carpenter was a bigger injury risk than Erik Bedard and went with the lefty for my fantasy team. Oops. Carpenter is 16-4 with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP on the Central Division champion St. Louis Cardinals. This is after making a combined five starts the two previous seasons. I thought he would be OK, but not back to being great. He'll beat out Tim Lincecum and also take home the NL Comeback Player of the Year.

AL Cy Young - Zack Greinke: He's awesome. On a 64-94 team, Greinke is 16-8 with a 2.06 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 237 strikeouts. If he got any kind of run support, he would be flirting with 25 wins. There were 12 games this year where Greinke gave up three earned runs or less and did not get the win.

NL and AL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year - Who cares?: I don't even know if they give this award out anymore, I just know they did in MLB: The Show 07'. This award is always given to closers, who I think are the most overrated players in baseball. They pitch one inning, don't give up three run leads, and they command huge salaries. Saves might be the most overrated stat in baseball. Look at the Phillies. Their closers are terrible, yet they are going to win their division. All I know is that Matt Capps and Brad Lidge will not win this one.

AL Comeback Player of the Year - Justin Verlander: He was so much better this year than last year. He ERA dipped a a point and a half, he struck out 100 more batters and won seven more games.

NL Rookie of the Year - J.A. Happ: Stupid Happ. If it weren't for him, the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen or Garrett Jones would be taking this home. If it weren't for Happ, and the addition of Cliff Lee, the Phillies might have blown the East this year. But Happ was outstanding with 12-4 record, 2.85 ERA and 1.22 WHIP.

AL Rookie of the Year - Elvis Andrus: OK, so he wasn't amazing, but he had a nice season at short for the Rangers. A .268 average with little power wasn't much, but he played solid defense and stole 32 bases playing just about everyday. I was thinking of giving it to Gordon Beckham, he has better numbers, but his team wasn't in contention and he had 100 less at bats. Some might say that is reason to take him over Beckham, but I think The Rangers depended on Andrus more than the White Sox depended on Beckham.

NL Old and Busted Veteran of the Year - Gary Sheffield: This is not a good award. I strongly dislike Gary Sheffield and would be happy if he never played again.

AL Old and Busted Veteran of the Year - Jason Giambi: I know he is now with the Colorado Rockies, but he was terrible with the Oakland A's this year. Terrible was an understatement.

Team That Made Me Happiest Award - New York Mets: How great was it seeing them and their $135,773,988 payroll go down with injury after injury en route to a 90+ loss season? Beautiful.

Team That Made Me Saddest - Toronto Blue Jays: I love the Jays. And when they jumped out to the best record in baseball through mid-May, I was pumped. Then they went on to suck down the stretch and give me nothing to like about baseball from June on. Except the downfall of the Mets. That never got old.

NL Manager of the Year - Jim Tracy: I hate this man. He was so terrible for the Pirates, but there is no doubting the Rockies responded in a big way when he took over. They were a joke under Clint Hurdle, then Tracy took over and they will probably grab the Wild Card. Damn you, Tracy.

AL Manager of the Year - Mike Scioscia: OK, so Joe Girardi will probably win this, but I really like the job Scioscia did out in LA. The Angels dealt with injuries to John Lackey, Vlad Guerrero and Tori Hunter to name a few this year, and never missed a step. They play in a relatively deep division, but it is still impressive that they maintained their advantage all season. I think I could manage a lineup of Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, A-Rod, Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada and Melky Cabrera to at least a Wild Card.

Player I dislike the most - Johnathan Papelbon: He just gets on my nerves. And the way broadcasters think the mean face he puts on intimidates batters bothers me. If they are intimidated by anything, it's the fact he could throw a 96-mph fastball at their heads, not that he looks like he's constipated.

Favorite player - Andrew McCutchen: He is the only player I saw this season that sprinted down to first no matter where he hit the ball. Nothing annoys me more than a batter grounding a ball to third or short, and they lightly jog down the baseline. McCutchen, on the other hand, puts his head down and bolts down the line every time. That's the way the game is supposed to be played.

Team no one would miss - Seattle Mariners: I'm sure a lot of you want to put the Pirates here, but who would the national media tease on a daily basis if the Pirates were gone? But the Mariners have nothing to offer but Ichiro and King Felix. Let's auction those two off, get rid of the Mariners and move a team from the NL Central to the AL West.

The Fixer - Pearl Jam

Poll results: Swayze's best movie

The votes are in and Road House has been picked as the late Patrick Swayze's best film.

What was it about that movie that swayed the voters? Could it be the scene where he rips a man's throat out with his bare hand? Was it the fact that his love interest in the movie, played by Kelly Lynch, looked creepily similar to Swayze twin sister if he had one? Or maybe it was the way he delivered the brilliant line, "pain don't hurt."

While I agree with America on this topic, I was surprised that Point Break only received two votes. That film really had everything any movie fan wanted: bank robbing surfers, Keanu Reeves in his prime and a Mythbusters episode dedicated to it. I haven't seen every Mythbusters, but I know that other films they have honored were Indiana Jones, Jaws and Entrapment. Not bad company to keep, except for Entrapment. It's hard for a Sean Connery movie to be bad, but Entrapment was.

Red Dawn and Dirty Dancing tying with one vote apiece was also eye-raising. I take it as proof that I have one female reader, because no self respecting man would risk voting for Dirty Dancing. If his friends ever found out, he would never live it down.

How Red Dawn only got one vote is beyond me. Haven't you ever wondered what we would do if the Soviet Union ever invaded? Well Red Dawn answered that question. Patrick Swayze would take a gorilla force into the hills and kick the communists' butts back to Russia. The only way that movie could have been better is if Swayze's character was immortal like the the Highlander. Imagine him fighting through the enemy lines to face the Soviet general, also an immortal, in an epic sword fight with the winner taking the other's head. I smell Oscar.

Ghost didn't get a vote even though it was the only one of these films to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. That just goes to show you how wrong the Academy can be.

It's a shame Swayze's career slowed down the past 10 years or so. Imagine him as Jack Bauer. One minute he'd be killing terrorists with his pinkie, the next he'd be wooing would be informants with his smooth dance skills. He probably could have pulled off the role of Optimus Prime without the CGI. No way Megatron would kick Swayze's ass. Now picture him as Aragorn carrying hobbits around for three movies.

Anyone else getting goosebumps?

Doolin-Dalton - The Eagles