Hall Of Fame Performances

Earlier this week the International Boxing Hall of Fame announced this year's group of inductees. (Pop quiz: where is the International Boxing Hall of Fame located?*) The biggest names on the list were Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez. Considering I'm only a marginal boxing fan and I have heard of both of those people I assume those to be wise choices. Also among the honorees was actor Sylvester Stallone. Stallone is being inducted for his contributions to the sport, which also makes a tremendous amount of sense. Normally I would expect a Hall of Fame to only want to include people actively involved in the sport, such as fighters, managers or journalists, but Stallone's Rocky movies probably did more positive promotional work for the sport than the people in charge of marketing for all the various boxing organizations combined. How many people have run up a long flight of stairs, only to turn around with their arms raised once they reach the last step?

Anyways, this got me to thinking about actors and sports movies. If each Hall of Fame was going to induct one actor, who would it be? Here's who I came up with:

Baseball: Kevin Costner. Probably would have made it for Fields of Dreams alone, but Bull Durham took it to another level. However, For Love of the Game almost took him out of it. Let's only hope he doesn't press his luck with any more baseball movies.

Football: Jamie Foxx. His portrayal of Willie Beamen in Any Given Sunday was perfect. He was athletic enough to look believable as a quarterback and played the role of guy given too much, too soon with the right mix of swagger and insecurity.

Basketball: Gene Hackman. This was a tough one, because it was basically a question of which was my favorite basketball movie. But, his locker room speeches from Hoosiers are a staple of fourth quarter montages on jumbotrons across the NBA.

Hockey: Paul Newman. His work in Slap Shot was fantastic and that is still most likely the best hockey movie ever made. Sorry, Emilio Estevez. This could have been your spot if you had only made more than a cameo appearance in Mighty Ducks 3.

Soccer: Michael Caine. I'll admit my soccer movie knowledge consists of Victory and Bend It Like Beckham. And since Stallone is already in the boxing Hall and Pele is an actual soccer player, Caine is what we have left.

Golf: Bill Murray. I have yet to play a round of golf that has not included at least one of his lines from Caddyshack.

Auto Racing: Tom Cruise. What's amazing is that, as Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder, he was realistically-sized for the sport he was attempting. I would never buy Cruise as a football player, but race car driver? That I can believe.

Horse Racing: All the horses that played Seabiscuit. Screw Toby Maguire. He just sat there while the horses had to do all the running, take after take.

Tennis: Ummm, Paul Bettany from Wimbledon? I don't know - pickings were slim and I didn't even see this. You think of a tennis movie.

(*Answer: The International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, NY, which is east of Syracuse. Of course it is. Canastota is very international.)