Baseball. 1994. 18 videocassettes (19 hr.). The definitive documentary of America's pastime, baseball. Through a skillful blend of still photographs, film footage, interviews and voice overs, the history of "The Game" is brought to life. Covering the period from the 1840s to 1994 (just before the strike), the high and low moments, heroes and villains are explored and examined, providing an in-depth, informative, and enthralling look at this truly American passion. VHS 3041-3058

Bend it like Beckham.  2003.  orig. 2002. 1 videodisc (112 min.). Eighteen year-old Jesminder's parents want her to be a nice, conventional Indian girl. But she just wants to play soccer like her hero, David Beckham. For Jess, that means kicking a ball around the local park with the lads until she's spotted by Jules, who invites her to join the local women's team. Feature film. DVD 672

The Big game. 1992. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Updates a study of Muncie, Ind., done in the 1920s and 1930s by exploring both the continuity and change embodied in the people and institutions. Using a cinema verité technique, captures the annual basketball game between the Muncie Central High School Bearcats and the Anderson High School Indians. VHS 4067

Body and soul. 1999.  orig. 1998. 1 videodisc (104 min.). Charley has become the middleweight champion of the world by winning a "fixed" fight. In his devious climb to the top, Charley has become hard and arrogant, and has estranged both his mother and the girl he loves. Feature film. DVD 210

Bull Durham. 1989. orig. 1988. 1 videocassette (108 min.). Set in the bedrooms and battlefields of a minor league town, this love triangle leads off with Crash Davis, a seasoned catcher whose best years on the ball field are behind him ... but whose finest moments in the bedroom still lie ahead. Feature film. VHS 3950

Champion. 1999. orig. 1996. 1 videodisc (100 min.). Midge Kelly is a fun-loving former navy man whose life is made complex by his sudden rise to fame in professional boxing. He becomes popular after months of training and a series of fixed fights. But the champion falls from the top when he beats Johnny Dunne, a prize fighter, into the ground when he has been instructed by the syndicate to lose the fight. Feature film. VHS 6311

Eight men out. MGM contemporary classics: Contemporary classics (Santa Monica, Calif.).  2001.  orig. 1988. 1 videodisc (105 min.). Based on the real-life scandal of 1919, the film tells the story of eight baseball players who plan to throw games for money, and the scorn and anger the scheme earned them. Feature film. DVD 704

The Endless summer. 2000. 1 videocassette (92 min.). A documentary on the search for the perfect wave, in which two Californians take off with their surfboards for Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii. VHS 6282

The Endless summer revisited. 2000. 1 videodisc (70 min.). Bruce Brown and filmmaker son, Dana, have created an all new classic, featuring never-before-seen footage from "The endless summer" and other films.  Embark on a journey of adventure, discovery, and the incredible challenge of facing a fifteen foot wall of water as the sport's greatest surfers look back on the thrills, the spills, and the movie that uniquely embraced the lifelong search for that perfect wave. DVD 179

Fat city. 1988.  orig. 1972. 1 videocassette (93 min.). Story of an aging alcoholic boxer trying to make a comeback and a young idealistic kid whose budding career is sidetracked when he chooses to marry his pregnant girlfriend. Feature film. VHS 4051

Girlfight. 2001.  orig. 2000. 1 videodisc (110 min.). Diana Guzman is always fighting, whether at home in the housing projects with her abusive dad or at high school. She finds a new outlet for her anger at her brother's boxing gym. With hard-core training from veteran boxing coach Hector, Diana learns she has the guts and talent to be a contender. Feature film. DVD 204

Gmar gaviya = Cup final. 1993.  orig. 1991. 1 videocassette (107 min.). Film is set in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Cohen, an Israeli soldier, has tickets for the World Cup games in Barcelona but finds himself instead in Lebanon where he is captured by a band of retreating PLO soldiers. There is only one solace - Ziad, the PLO leader, shares his passion for the soccer tournament and especially for the Italian national soccer team. Feature film. VHS 4869

Go, Tigers! 2002. 1 videodisc (103 min.). Welcome to Massillon, Ohio, where high school football is nothing short of religion. For the 33,000 people who live there, football is life--a veritable "cradle to grave" experience that begins in the maternity ward where coaches make visits to scout future linebackers, and ends in a customized football casket emblazoned with the Tigers mascot. On the heels of a losing year, the Tigers risk losing football in Massillon altogether, as an upcoming vote on a new tax levy is the only thing that will prevent massive budget cuts and the elimination of the football program.  DVD 815

The Great white hope. 1990.  orig. 1970. 1 videocassette (103 min.). Based on the life of boxer Jack Johnson, film is a fictional account of his rise to fame as it chronicles the battles that the flamboyant champion fought in and out of the ring. Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones), the first Black Heavyweight Champion, refuses to live within the boundaries deemed acceptable by society and has a relationship with a white woman (Jane Alexander). When they chose to live their lives the way they want, they evoke great fury from a narrow-minded world. Feature film. VHS 2658

Hardball. 1983. 1 videocassette (28 min.). Looks at how the Haas family of Levi Strauss manages the Oakland Athletics baseball team as a business. Follows their efforts to improve the team and increase ticket sales and profits, including settling players' contracts, hiring manager Billy Martin, and developing a marketing campaign. VHS 295

Hoop dreams. 1995. 1 videocassette (176 min.). Follows the high school careers of young men who dream of winning fame and escaping the poverty of their Chicago neighborhood by playing in the National Basketball Association. DVD 1890, HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 3425

In the game. 1994. 1 videocassette (55 min.). Behind-the-scenes story of one season with Coach Tara VanDerveer and the Stanford Women's Basketball Team as they try to live out the biggest dream in college sports -- to win a national championship.  It also takes a look at the inequities in men's and women's sports and offers a serious examination of how women's college athletics have been affected by Title IX.  VHS 4165

In whose honor? 1996. 1 videocassette (57 min.). In 1989 Charlene Teters began protesting the use of an Indian chief as the mascot of the University of Illinois.  Interviews with members of the university and town communities discuss the pros and cons of the Indian mascots, including the damage to Indians' self-esteem but the revenue earned for the university and for local businesses, campus spirit and alumni support. American Indian leaders were involved in protesting the misuse of Indians as symbols of sports teams.  Although the protests succeeded in a few cases, Chief Illiniwek is still the mascot at the University of Illinois. VHS 4143

The Jackie Robinson story. 198?  orig.  1950. 1 videocassette (ca. 83 min.). An autobiographical account of Robinson's journey through the Jim Crow sports establishment to baseball's major leagues. Robinson plays himself in a film that frames vignettes of racial prejudice against the personal courage of the first baseball player to break the color barrier in the Major Leagues. Feature film. VHS 7006

Joe DiMaggio: The hero's life. 2000. 1 videocassette (90 min.). The story of the baseball legend's public triumphs and private pain. VHS 6439

The Joe Louis story. 198?  orig. 1953. 1 videocassette (VHS) (87 min.). Story of a back-alley boy who traded his violin for boxing gloves and went on to become the world's heavy weight champion.  Highlights actual scenes of Louis' memorable encounters with Braddock, Carnera and others. Feature film. VHS 7005

Kings on the hill baseball's forgotten men. 1993. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Chronicles the history of the Negro baseball leagues.  VHS 2829

Lagaan: Once upon a time in India. 2001. orig. 2001. 1 videodisc (225 min.). Set in Queen Victoria's India, this is a story about a battle without bloodshed fought by a group of unlikely heroes. Will a game of cricket stop three years of lagaan (tax) for the Indian people? Feature film. DVD 267

The Life and times of Hank Greenberg. 2001. 1 videodisc (95 min.). Biography of Hank Greenberg, the first Jewish baseball star. DVD 267

The Loneliness of the long distance runner. 1992.  orig. 1962. 1 videocassette (103 min.). An 18-year-old boy, a product of a slum environment, is sent to reform school where he becomes the top runner and the best bet to win against a private school. Feature film. VHS 5773

The Longest yard. 1988.  orig. 1974. 1 videocassette (121 min.). A prison film in which the cons are the heroes and the guards are the heavies. A  sadistic warden (Albert) will make any sacrifice to push his guards' semi-pro football team to a national championship. Paul Crewe (Reynolds), a one time pro quarterback, is behind bars for leading State Police on a wild chase in a "borrowed" car. He agrees to organize a prisoners' team to play the guards. The warden intercedes to assure that his goon squad will meet only passive resistance from Crewe's Mean Machine. But the license to pound on their hated guards is a big incentive for murders and thieves to learn strategy. Feature film. VHS 3980

Muhammad Ali the greatest. 2002. 1 videodisc (135 min.). "1964: Cassius Clay becomes heavyweight champion of the world; a date in sports history, and in the black power movement. The day after his victory, Clay reveals that he is a Black Muslim. He defies white America, and changes his name to Muhammad Ali. 1974: Ali fights George Foreman for the championship at the incredible cultural event in Mobutu's Zaire. Ali reclaims his glory, his crown, and his legend." --from container. DVD 515

The Natural. 1987.  orig. 1984. 1 videocassette (134 min.). Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball stardom. As a 14-year old he fashions a baseball bat from an oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability. His talent also catches the eye of a sportswriter who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs' career. The appearance of a mysterious woman, however, shatters his dream. Years later Hobbs reappears as a rookie for the New York Knights and has an opportunity to share in their race for the pennant. Feature film. VHS 3017

The Negro leagues and the African American baseball experience. Curriculum Materials Center. 1994. 1 videocassette (78 min.). Storyteller Leslie Perry presents a story for elementary school children about the Negro Leagues followed by a question and answer period with Perry, authors John Holway, Phil Dixon and Negro League players Sammie Haynes and Merle Porter.  VHS 2488

Olympia: The film of the XI Olympic Games, Berlin 1936. 1987? 2 videocassettes (194 min.). A sports/documentary coverage of the 1936 Olympics, held in Berlin. Far surpasses ordinary documentary films in its utilization of music, camera, and skillful editing to convey the beauty and mystique of athletic prowess and competition.  DVD 1663, HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 3419

On the ropes. 2000. 1 videodisc (90 min.). A documentary on aspiring boxers training at Bed-Stuy Boxing Center in Brooklyn, New York. DVD 154

Only the ball was white. 1992. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Pays tribute to the many top-flight baseball players from the Negro Leagues, including Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Buck Leonard, and Jimmy Crutchfield.  Documents a bygone bittersweet era in baseball and the men who were denied stardom by the color line. VHS 2663

Philip Knight. Tycoons. 1990. 1 videocassette (52 min.). A profile of Philip Knight, who revolutionized the sporting goods industry with Nike sports shoes and apparel. VHS 2928

Playing unfair: The media image of the female athlete. 2002. 1 videocassette (30 min.). It has been 30 years since Title IX legislation granted women equal playing time, but the male-dominated world of sports journalism has yet to catch up with the law. Coverage of women's sport lags far behind men's, and focuses on female athletes femininity and sexuality over their achievements on the court and field. VHS 7160

Raging bull. 1992.  orig. 1980. 2 videodiscs (128 min.) or 1 videocassette (130 min.) . Robert De Niro stars as champion boxer Jake La Motta, who rose from the streets of the Bronx to the heights of his sport, only to find disillusionment and corruption as well as fame. Shows his life from the beginning and as he fights his way up the ranks and earns the reputation as the "Raging Bull," a fighter who can't be stopped. Feature film. DVD 44

Rocky. 2001.  orig. 1976. 1 videodisc (119 min) or 1 videocassette (125 min.). Philadelphia club fighter Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), the underdog gets his million-to-one shot at love, self-respect and the world heavyweight boxing crown...and comes out a winner. Feature film. DVD 951

Trobriand cricket: An ingenious response to colonialism. 1975? 1 videocassette (53 min.). Shows how the Trobriand Islanders have transformed he British game of cricket over the last seventy years into a unique Trobriand sport and a colorful ritual expressing their own cultural values.  VHS 6247