Director Eric Simonson on his favorite (and least favorite) sports movies

A Milwaukee native who grew up rooting for the Packers, Brewers and Bucks, director Eric Simonson recalls stumbling on a list of the best 100 sports movies and realizing he had seen virtually all of them. So, yes, he has recommendations:

Simonson: " 'Friday Night Lights' is really good. The movie. I like 'Bang the Drum Slowly' as a book very much but the movie is only OK. I like 'Hoosiers' a lot, except for the music — it was made in the late '80s and the music is all synthesized. 'Hoop Dreams' is really, really good. 'Bull Durham' is awesome. 'Field of Dreams.' I love the book 'The Natural' [by Bernard Malamud], but the movie is not the book. I was just appalled at it, especially the way they ended it, with Robert Redford coming back to the game and hitting a home run. That story has so much richness and depth but the whole point is that he fails in the end."

CHRIS HEWITT