With the Superbowl looming, I decided to keep the sports theme going for top five fridays. Here are my top five sports movies:

1. Caddyshack: The quotes. The characters. The storyline. It’s a true classic! Chevy Chase and Bill Murrary are great but Rodney Dangerfield steals the movie. Recently I caught Caddyshack during the Christmas Blizzard of 2006 and I couldn’t stop laughing.
2. Rudy: Before he was a hobbit, Sean Astin played an obscure practice player named Dan “Rudy” Ruettiger for Notre Dame in the 70′s. When DVD’s came out, it was one of the first movies I had to have (Office Space was the other). It’s also the movie where Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn got their start.
3. Remember The Titans: Football cures the racial tension. It’s a Disney movie so you knew that it was going to have a happy ending despite one of the players becoming paralyzed.
4. Any Given Sunday: Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx play a old school coach and an over-confident quarterback respectively. Funny how life imitates art as this story was played out recently in the NFL with Bill Parcells and Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys.
5. Happy Gilmore: Adam Sandler scores big in this golf inspired movie. To save his mother’s house, Happy Gilmore enters a golf tournament and beats the top pro, Shooter McGavin.

Last week I listed my top five ESPN personalities that in my opinion and many others should get canned. Here are my top five that should get raises:

1. Jim Rome: Says what every fan wants to say. This video of him calling Jim Everett “Chris” is a classic. Jim Rome went on to bigger and better things (Rome is Burning), Jim Everett didn’t.
2. Stephen A. Smith: This is my house, but you’re welcome anytime! Leno and Letterman are snoozefests compared to Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith.
3. Kenny Mayne: His trademark dry wit is well suited for his segment on Sportscenter called the Mayne Event. He’s also the pitchman for Progressive Insurance.
4. Chris Berman: ESPN without Chris Berman is like the White House without a President. Three words: Curtis “My Favorite” Martin.
5. Suzy Kolber: With all the grace in the world she handled Joe Namath’s infamous “I want to kiss you” pick up line. Sideline reporting at NFL games are ridiculous except for Monday Night Football when Suzy is around.

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with ESPN. For the past two decades it’s been the only channel I really watch. I can watch Sportscenter repeatedly. In the past, ESPN’s Primetime was the greatest thing before DirecTV’s NFL Ticket. However, there are certain ESPN personalities that are just plain awful and should be canned. Here are my top 5 current ESPN personalities that deserve a pink slip:

1. (tie)Joe Theismann (Monday Night Football) and Michael Irvin (Football Analyst): These two were exceptional football players, these are two exceptionally terrible football commentators. Theismann continues to contradict himself and is at his best when he doesn’t talk. As for Irvin, when your co-host (Tom Jackson) ridicules you on a regular basis, it’s because you’re not very good.
2. Sean Salisbury (Football Analyst): This former backup quarterback delivers “straight talk” about today’s NFL but never delivered on Sundays.
3. Tony Kornheiser (Monday Night Football): This is a tough one. When I lived in DC, I enjoyed Kornheiser’s articles in the Washington Post. As part of Pardon the Interruption, he’s cool as ice. As part of Monday Night Football, his trademark sarcastic wit is misplaced.
4. Stuart Scott (Sportscenter): At first his gangsta colloquialisms were cool, but after several years of “booyah” among others, they’ve simply lost their luster.

Due to the holidays, I’ll be blogging lite for the next two weeks so I wanted to end 2006 with my top five Christmas songs:

1. Christmas Song (Nat King Cole) – I always feel in the holiday spirit when the Christmas Song is played.
2. Do They Know It’s Christmas (Band Aid) – This song features various artists from England. It’s a song about starving children in Africa but it’s become a Christmas classic.
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (The Pretenders) – My roommate in college played this song over and over during finals my sophomore year. Despite the overkill, it’s become one of my all time favorites.
4. Winter Wonderland (Johnny Mathis) – Chances are Johnny’s the best when it comes to singing Christmas music. PUN INTENDED!
5. Riu, Riu, Chiu (Various) – This is a spanish tune that the Monkees, yes the Monkees, covered during one of their holidays episodes. It’s about the birth of Jesus and it’s very catchy! Check it out:
   

The Denver Broncos were on two of the past three Sunday Night Football games. I’m still shaking my head over NBC’s decision to have “Pink” sing the opening song for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. I’ve got no beef with “Pink” and I probably know one or two of her songs but she’s no Hank Williams Jr. However, it could have been worse. Imagine if NBC tapped these five artists:

1. Celine Dion: America’s border patrol should give more attention to our neighbors to the north ever since this Canadian infiltrated our radio stations. She makes me cringe.

2. Clay Aiken: American Idol runner up and runner up in this race.
3. Ashley Simpson: She’s keeping a low profile. Let’s keep it that way.
4. (tie) Jessica Simpson or Nick Lachey: The tabloids love these guys, most of America could care less.

I’m not a huge country fan but I think Tim McGraw would’ve been a safe/wise choice.

In the 90′s a show called Seinfeld ruled television. At first Seinfeld was staid but somewhere along the way it became fascinating, hip, and cool to watch. NBC moved the show to Thursday nights and the show reached television immortality. Season 7 was recently released on DVD so I decided to come up with my top five most memorable characters sans the four main stars – Jerry, George, Kramer or Elaine.

1. Newman: The rotund mailman who was Jerry’s nemesis throughout the series. “Hello Newman!”
2. Mickey: Quick name a show where a dwarf is featured as a recurring cast member? Other than Fantasy Island and Seinfeld, I can’t think of any.
3. Izzy Mandelbaum: Lloyd Bridges played Izzy Mandelbaum, an aging fitness nut who tries to whip Jerry into shape. “It’s Go Time!”
4. Tim Whatley: Jerry’s “regifting” dentist/friend who converts to Judaism.
5. Little Jerry Seinfeld: Kramer’s wants a pet chicken to lay eggs, instead of a hen he gets a rooster. The rooster is named Little Jerry Seinfeld and trained to cockfight at Marcelino’s bodega.

If I had to mention the main stars, Kramer would be number 1. He’s simply the most memorable.

Here’s the latest on what’s going on in Denver:

• TREX is unleashed. Denver’s mass transit system through Southeast Denver Corridor is launched today.
• The Denver Post reports that tax liens are being gobbled up at an unprecedented pace.
• Foreclosure is still a hot topic in Colorado.
• When finding a home improvement contractor, I prefer word of mouth. A href=”http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/11/13/smallb1.html”>new site is launched to help those that prefer to find the home improvement contractor online.

Casino Royale will opening in movie theaters across the country today. This latest James Bond movie features a virtual unknown, Daniel Craig, as 007. Regardless of who plays James Bond, Ian Fleming, captured our imagination a long time ago with the fictional English super spy. Here are my top five James Bond movies:

1. Gold Finger: “Do you expect me to talk?” “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” Unraveling Auric Goldfinger’s plot to rob Fort Knox is Bond’s mission.
2. From Russia With Love: Retrieving the lektor (an encryption device that looks like an Atari 2600) is the basis for this movie. Bond again faces his nemesis, an evil organization called SPECTRE.
3. Thunderball: The fourth Bond movie and billed as the biggest. Nuclear bombs, underwater escapades, and Tom Jones sings the opening song.
4. For Your Eyes Only: While I’ve never been a fan of Roger Moore as James Bond, this one was by far his best. I still plan on visiting Greece one day because of this movie.
5. You Only Live Twice: Bond is off to Japan to stop nuclear war. We’re introduced to Blofeld as the diabolical leader of SPECTRE.

One of the best Christmas presents I ever received was an iPod. With 20 GB of storage, I have my entire cd collection on my iPod with plenty of room for more cds. Recently I looked at the most played songs on my iPod and they all happened to be Bob Marley songs from the album Legend. That being said, here are my top five Bob Marley (and the Wailers) songs:

1. No Woman, No Cry “A deeply personal reminiscence of Bob’s impoverished life in Trench Town.”
2. Jammin: “An anthem for Bob’s righteous journey of uniting sufferahs through the power of music.”
3. Is This Love: “One of the most buoyant and unabashed love songs in the Marley repetoire, its playful pledge of passionate commitment disarming listeners when it appeared on the Kaya album.”
4. Buffalo Soilder: “The song recounted the true story of four post-Civil War regiments of the U.S. Army – the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry.”
5. Redemption Song: “A universal tune, another Bob Marley song that has become a standard, ‘Redemption Song’ is like a final statement in a career, a summation of all the themes and thought that had created it. “

Last night was opening night for the Denver Nuggets 2006-2007 season. They were playing the Clippers in Los Angeles. It was getting late so turned the game off around 11 PM. The Nuggets were up by ten with about 6 minutes to go in the game. When I woke up this morning they lost by 1. I fully expect this season to be a roller coaster ride with the Nuggets winning the Northwest Division but not making it out of the first round for a forth straight year.

Here are my top five Denver Nuggets of all time:

1. Carmelo Anthony: Clearly the best player the Nuggets have ever had since Alex English retired. As a freshman he led Syracuse to the National Title. One of the best outside shooters in the NBA.
2. Dikembe Mutumbo: Clearly a dominant force in the middle. His shot blocking prowess and finger waving was legendary. I can still recall him holding onto the ball on the floor after the Nuggets upset the Seattle Supersonics in the 1994 playoffs.
3. Earl Boykins: The average NBA player is well over 6 feet tall. Earl Boykins is 5′ 5″ and playing at an elite level in the NBA. His story is truly remarkable and he’s become a fan favorite.
4. TIE: Fat Lever and Michael Adams: During the 80′s, the Nuggets had a back court tandem of Fat Lever and Michael Adams. They played an up tempo game back then and it was fun to watch these two in action.