20. Rififi - What guy (or girl for that matter) doesn’t like a good heist flick? Well Jules Dessin’s 1954 film noir classic is the single best heist film I’ve ever seen. Thought to be controversial for its violence, sexuality and drug use, Rififi is now considered the prototypical film noir and for good reason. The film is wrought with cynical, impeccably dressed gangsters, double crossing, femme fatale and the coolest use of an umbrella in any film ever.

19. Cool Hand Luke - No one plays the anti-establishment, anti-hero better than Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. The film also bears one of the most famous lines in the history of American cinema. “What we have got here is a failure to communicate.” The quote has become so ubiquitous that people use it without really knowing where it comes from. The film is simply a charming, well-done classic with an ending that seems tragically appropriate.

18. The Natural - One of two sports movies to make my top 20, The Natural is (sorry Field of Dreams and Eight Men Out and Pride of the Yankees and… you get the point) the greatest baseball movie ever made. Yes, there are those who gripe that Barry Levinson’s ending doesn’t mirror the book (and I can imagine I will have the same gripe when I was I Am Legend later this month) but Roy Hobbes trotting around the bases as shards of lights fall to the field is one of my favorite moments in any movie ever. Pair that moment with Randy Newman’s Oscar-nominated score and you have unbridled, goosebump-inducing cinematic gold. Not to mention, most of the film’s baseball scenes were shot in Buffalo’s old War Memorial Stadium. Big shout out to Western New York!

17. Ed Wood - One of the only Tim Burton movies that I really enjoy, Ed Wood is simply genius. Forget about Johnny Depp’s performance, which I think is the best of his career, Martin Landau’s spot-on Bela Lugosi makes me laugh every time. There’s one particularly obscene Lugosi moment where he takes a shot at Boris Karloff that had me on the floor laughing. If you haven’t seen it and can get pass the film’s initial unmistakably Burton-esque weirdness, I think you’ll love this movie.

16. The Graduate - Simply put, Mike Nichol’s 1967 film is one of the greatest American films ever made. Unlike most movies that were made 40 years ago, The Graduate doesn’t age. It looks and feels as if it could have been made in 2007. The themes of disconnect, apathy and early 20’s alienation are those felt by all young people, particularly those who have just graduated from college and are, involuntarily, facing the brink of adulthood. Not to mention the film has probably the most famous soundtrack in the history of cinema.

15. Hoosiers - An American classic. Plain and simple. The first time I saw Hoosiers was in 8th grade. My friend Brendan and I had been handed the cassette by our basketball coach with a simple instruction, “You gotta watch this.” There isn’t anything about this movie that I don’t absolutely love. I don’t think it’s possible for one to understand how important Hoosiers is as a significant piece of Indiana history unless you’ve lived in the state. (To that point, the Library of Congress put the film National Film Registry in 2001). Still in Indiana, in small towns and large cities, there is a real sense of civic pride when people talk about this film and for good reason, there are few sports movies as good as Hoosiers.

Thursday, Dec. 20 - San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

Utah Utes vs. Navy Midshipmen

All Paul Johnson has done at Navy (besides beating Army’s brains out six consecutive years — the longest streak in the rivalries’ storied history) is get Navy to a bowl game. The first bowl of the 2007 bowl season is an intriguing one. For Navy, this is their second trip to San Diego after playing in last year’s Poinsettia Bowl, beating Colorado State, 51-30. These are both offense-minded football teams so don’t be surprised if both teams score fifty points. To win, Navy must shut down Utah’s ground game, led by Darrell Mack who finished second in the Mountain West in rushing and force Utes head coach Kyle Willingham to take to the skies, where Utah averages just 180 yards a game, good for 8th in the Mountain West this year. Utah’s defense will not be easy to score on with the 1st and 3rd ranked pass and run defenses respectively. Still, I’ll take the Middies to win the Poinsettia Bowl for a second straight year.

Friday, Dec. 21 - R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Florida Atlantic Owls vs. Memphis Tigers

Some may be tempted to take Memphis in this one just based on name recognition but you really have to be careful not to overlook Howard Schellenberger’s Owls. FAU won six games this year while enduring a schedule that included games at Florida, at Kentucky, and at Oklahoma State and a home tilt against South Florida. Make no mistake, winning the Sun Belt Championship and making the New Orleans Bowl is a very big deal to Florida Atlantic and they are going to come into this game cranked up. The game will likely be decided in the air. Florida Atlantic comes into the game averaging 286 yards a game passing, while Memphis, who ranked 3rd in Conference USA in pass defense, is yielding just 223 yards. The game could come down to the quarterback matchup of Memphis’ Martin Hankins and FAU’s Rusty Smith and whichever QB can exploit mismatches in the secondary and limit turnovers will likely lead their team to a victory. I’ll take FAU in the upset. Memphis hasn’t won a big game all year and I don’t expect that they’ll start now.

Saturday, Dec. 22 - Papajohns.com Bowl

Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Southern Mississippi

The inaugural Papajohns.com Bowl presents an intriguing coaching match-up. Jeff Bower, after 17 years as head coach in Hattiesburg “resigned” (media reports described Bower’s resignation as “terse” and said the resignation sounded “not completely voluntary) last week but will coach the Golden Eagles in their bowl game. Meanwhile, a year after replacing former head coach Mark Dantonio, Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Michigan head coaching vacancy. Fielding a substantially better team, Kelly should have no problem keeping his squad focus and beating up on Southern Miss. The game will showcase Cincinnati’s terrific defense and quarterback Ben Mauk, who finished second in the Big East in passing behind Louisville’s Brian Brohm and first in the conference in pass efficiency. Mauk will be throwing against a Golden Eagle defense that has yield 223 yards against the pass all year. To be successful, Kelly and Mauk will both have to keep track of sophomore linebacker Gerald McRath, Conference USA’s defensive player of the year, who finished the season with seven games in which he tallied double-digit tackle totals. If Southern Miss has a prayer in this game, they have to be better through the air then they’ve been all year (11th in conference USA in pass offense) with Cincinnati’s defense finishing dead last in the Big East against the pass. Though I think Southern Miss will be motivated to play for Bower in his last game as head coach, I think Mauk has a big day against this Southern Miss defense and the Bearcats win.

Gotta love, ESPN. Whereas most credible news organizations would address a story they reported and got wrong. The Worldwide Leader just ignores it and pretends like it didn’t happen.

The way Les Miles ends this press conference really made my day a great one..

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I thought I’d let everyone know a couple different things I will have going on for the next couple weeks here on The Bottom Line.

Starting tomorrow, I will be unveiling my definitive list of my 20 favorite movies of all-time. Anyone who has tried to make such a list will tell you it’s an emotionally exhausting exercise. I will be unveiling the list 5 flicks at a time and finishing with the top 5 on Friday.

Starting later today, I will be picking all 32 Div. 1-A bowl games starting with the Poinsettia Bowl and finishing with the BCS Title Game.

My Hoosiers will travel to Tempe, Ariz. to play in the Insight Bowl against a team coached by this baboon…

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Another year, another BCS mess.

While the Ohio State/LSU match-up seemed inevitable after West Virginia and Missouri lost Saturday, the omission of such teams as USC and Georgia in the national championships — and select members of the media – calling for a complete overhaul of the system. While I think a playoff, particularly this year, would be great television and a ratings monster but it will never ever happen.

That being said, I have to quibble with the inclusion of LSU, “the best team in the country in regulation,” in the title game. Twice this season LSU owned the top spot in college football and twice they gave it up. LSU, without a doubt, benefited from not having to play Georgia, both in the regular season and especially in the SEC Championship. I think in this case, regardless of how many overtimes were played, the timing of any one of a team’s losses should come into consideration. If Georgia can brush off the BCS snub, they will be able to handle Hawaii, who have struggled when playing on the mainland.

BCS defenders will say that if the argument wasn’t about who is number 2, it would be about numbers 4, 8 or 16. But at the end of the day, isn’t that a better argument to have? If you’re sitting at number 9, you have to accept that somewhere in the course of the season you dropped a game that cost you a chance at the playoff. But arguing over the second best team in an America is an entirely different subject altogether. This season, more than 5 teams (Oklahoma, USC, Georgia, LSU, Virginia Tech) had a legitimate argument for that number two spot. Why aren’t the presidents of those conferences screaming for a change in the system? Because there is too much money in the current system to change it. While a playoff would be a great thing for the fans, the current bowl system is a cash cow for the universities and for the conferences and until you can prove to the university presidents and the BCS head honchos that a playoff can make them more money then they are making now, they will continue to tell anyone stupid enough to believe them (Lee Corso) that everything is hunkie dorie.

So far, I am batting two-for-two on my picks today. Central Florida and Central Michigan both won pretty big but my loyalty to Boston College may cost me as Sean Glennon just threw a touchdown pass to put the Hokies on top with about seven minutes left in the game. We will see if Matt Ryan can break Hokie hearts two times in a single season.

Tennessee just scored quickly while sporting what I can only describe as dreamsicle-colored uniforms.

UPDATE - 3:34 Lightning will not strike twice for Boston College as Matt Ryan throws a heartbreaking interception deep in Virginia Tech territory with two minutes left. The Eagles got the ball back with 30 seconds left but Xavier Adibi picked off a batted ball and took it to the house for six. The Bottom Line on Championship Saturday, 2-1.

UPDATE - 6:41 Well I could be wrong but LSU looks like they have survived a pre-game full of rumors that their coach is leaving to win the SEC Championship. I wonder where, in the spectrum of hated athletes at Tennessee, Erik Ainge falls after basically losing the ballgame for the Vols tonight. Twice, Ainge failed to read the defenders before throwing the ball and twice the Tigers defense made him pay. For me, this loss goes back to what I believed early this season about Tennessee – they have absolutely zero big play possibilities on that offense, opting instead to nickel and dime their way down the field and tonight two of those plays really cost them the conference championship. Ainge just has to see Daryl Beckwith underneath on that last interception. That turnover is inexcusable. The Bottom Line on Championship Saturday, 3-1.

UPDATE - 7:45 If you like two teams just blowing each other up, I hope you are watching the Big 12 Championship right now. Missouri and Oklahoma have been trading blows for most of the first quarter and the winner of this game could turn out to be the team with the most starters still conscious. I like the way Oklahoma is playing on defense. Nothing that Missouri has tried on offense so far has been even remotely successful. We could be in for a good one. Oh and for the record, Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is as fast as any player I have seen this year. He is so explosive. If Mizzou wins this game, it will be on the legs of Jeremy Maclin.

UPDATE - 8:16 Oklahoma just came up huge on third and goal from the 2 and forced another Missouri field goal. Mizzou has gotten some questionable pass interference calls on third down on two scoring drive so far and this game really reinforces my belief that I could never be a head coach. When a referee throws a flag for defense pass interference well after the play (as was the case on both of those pass interference calls), I would likely strike said referee with the nearest blunt object. Apparently, this is not acceptable in the coaching profession, something about assault with a deadly weapon makes some athletic departments squeamish.

UPDATE - 8:22 Is it just me or does Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel look like Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger after a horrible beekeeping accident?

UPDATE - 9:44 Pitt has West Virginia on the ropes but the officials appear to be keeping West Virginia in the game. Two bad holding calls and a no-call on obvious pass interference call has Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt fuming. Pitt has outplayed West Virginia the game and it would be a shame to see them robbed of the upset because of poor officiating but so far that appears to be the case. Elsewhere, Oklahoma scored a big touchdown to take the lead again against Missouri.

UPDATE - 9:51 All Pitt needs is a first down to pull off an enormous upset after Pat White soars the ball over the head of his receiver on 4th and long. The officials continue to be atrocious after flagging a Pitt corner for unnecessary celebration for doing absolutely nothing. ESPN announcer Mike Patrick accurately said the officials were sucking the joy out of the game. Oklahoma goes up 14 after an interception by Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton lead to a Sam Bradford touchdown pass. Chase Daniel is really beginning to show his frustration. I think the BCS may need to find two new teams for its championship when the night is over.

UPDATE - 9:56 See ya, West Virginia. Pitt has done it and the Mountaineers are out of the national championship after dropping to the Panthers, a 28-point underdog, at home.

UPDATE - 10:45 Adios, Mizzou. What Oklahoma proved tonight was that Missouri was a complete fraud as the number 1 team in the country and  that Chase Daniel never belonged in the Heisman conversation with McFadden and Tebow (I would argue that McFadden does not belong in that conversation either). Oklahoma hit him early and often and Daniel folded like a cheap card table. I will give Daniel a pass on the game-changing interception, he did throw behind tight end Martin Rucker but it is hard to blame a quarterback for an interception off a deflected pass. So where does that leave us now? Presumably, Ohio State is in but who is number 2? Is it Georgia? Is it the famous undefeated-in-regulation Tigers of Louisiana State? Is it the recently resurgent Trojans? I have no idea. My hunch is that we will see Georgia in there, given that they are number four in the BCS standings at this moment but with this system, it is anyone’s guess. I will agree with Kirk Herbstreit when he said that its a shame that Mizzou will not get into a BCS bowl and Kansas will given that the Jayhawks never had to play Oklahoma. I hope that Kansas and Hawaii get put in the same bowl so I can completely avoid having to watch both teams altogether. If all of the great games today are proof of anything, it is that nothing — and I mean nothing NFL execs — beats college football.