Top 10 sports movies to watch while social distancing

For most of us, part of social distancing means catching up with whatever is in our streaming ques or on our DVR rosters. So, let's wind our way through a countdown of the top 10 sports movies to watch while social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

10. Happy Gilmore

The sheer sports versatility of this 1996 Adam Sandler movie puts it on the list. Sandler is a hockey player who is reluctantly proficient in socially distancing golf balls at tremendous clubhead speeds. He trains in a batting cage, and the Sandler-Bob Barker donnybrook is some of the finest heavyweight boxing ever filmed. Something for everyone.

9. Field of Dreams

The choice to forgo sports in a health-care crisis is embodied by one Archibald "Moonlight" Graham in this 1989 classic. This entry is also a reminder of a bet-able regular-season game (Yankees vs. White Sox) being slated to take place at the film site - Dyersville, Iowa - on Aug. 13. (Tag that one as New York -117 until we learn more about the pitching matchup.) Also, proper distancing is evident in a key game of catch. And gloves are even worn.

8. Hoosiers

This is the bittersweet entry, a reminder of what's being lost, with high school hoops as a stand-in for college basketball. For when fighting an illness in March, the round-the-clock sports entertainment we crave most is March Madness.

7. The Sandlot

Simpler times. And a good reminder of what kids are missing out on with every ballgame called on account of a pandemic.

6. Back to the Future, Part II

This is a sports betting site. We are not going to negligently dismiss Biff Tannen and his 1950-2000 Sports Almanac, which produced the greatest sports betting coup in cinematic history. The 1955 UCLA-Washington game ending in a last-second field goal marks a classic bad beat on film.

5. The Pride of the Yankees

Tony Soprano bemoaned the feeling there is no longer the strong, silent type in America. Enter Gary Cooper, stage-right (even though Lou Gehrig hit stage-left - for power and average). Look no further for a story of strength and resolve when times are tough.

4. Seabiscuit

Secretariat may have been the world's first practitioner of social distancing when he won the 1973 Belmont by 31 lengths, but Seabiscuit is a beautifully shot depiction of an unlikely champion racehorse during the Great Depression. Its an underdog story of three men coming together to create a hero the nation needs. Listed fourth here in the form, but worthy of your attention at the window.

3. The Natural

A tragic-hero story with Arthurian legends mixed in, all on the baseball diamond. Before modern-day viruses, losing was a disease. From wheat fields to train stops to major league ballparks, Roy Hobbs was the cure.

2. A League of Their Own

A marvelous depiction of wartime baseball, teamwork and sacrifice. That all feels about right for the hindsight of 2020. And starring Tom Hanks, which seems appropriate.

1. Miracle

A downtrodden USA coming together and earning a win against all odds? Bingo, that's the watch we need! The bag-skate scene after the Norway game ("Again.") seems an apt parallel to the daily grind of living this out. Kurt Russell is spectacular as Team USA head coach Herb Brooks, and the hockey action is exciting and well-researched. If the travails caused by the COVID-19 virus could somehow be counted down to zero, let it be Al Michaels on the call.

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