MSG Wonders What Is The BEST Sports Movie; Is It “Raging Bull?”

New York, NY (April 4, 2013) – MSG Network’s Emmy Award-winning series “The Lineup” will return this month with eight new episodes starting Monday, April 8 at 10:30 p.m. “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies,” presented by Tri-State Ford, will attempt to answer one of the most talked about topics among sports fans – what is the greatest sports film of all-time? New episodes from the series will run Monday through Thursday between April 8 and April 18. A full schedule is included below.

Hosted by veteran broadcaster and former Yankees catcher Fran Healy, each 30-minute episode will present five films in one of eight different categories: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Boxing, Golf, Hockey, Horse Racing and Miscellaneous. Healy, along with an expert panel from the film industry – Academy Award-nominated director, producer and actor Spike Lee; Emmy Award-winning actor and writer Robert Wuhl; Academy Award-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri; and acclaimed film critic Jeffrey Lyons – will discuss and debate each film until they ultimately decide on the best of the group.

“The debate over the best sports movie is almost as old as sports itself,” said Healy. “And New Yorkers show as much passion defending their favorite sports movie as they do defending their favorite team, so this series should get some enthusiastic conversations started.”

Some of the athletes and celebrities who offer up their thoughts on the best sports movies throughout the show include: Knicks Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Steve Novak and Marcus Camby; Rangers captain Ryan Callahan; Rangers greats Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter; Yankees Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera; former Mets David Cone and Mookie Wilson; Giants Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Prince Amukamara; Boxing great Gerry Cooney; television personality Keith Olberman; and actors Tracy Morgan, Steve Schirripa; John Leguizamo, Vanessa Hudgens and Billy Baldwin.

“The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” is the third installment from “The Lineup” franchise. “The Lineup: New York’s All-Time Best Baseball Players” premiered in the spring of 2010 and “The Lineup: Hits & Errors – The Best and Worst Deals in New York Baseball” made its debut in the spring of 2012.

QUOTES FROM THE SERIES

Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees

On The Natural:

“I love the movie. I don't know about that ball exploding, though. I don't know about that. I haven't seen that happen.”

Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks

On playing for Hoosiers’ Coach Dale:

“It would be very difficult because as a kid you don’t really understand the game… so to have somebody on you like that every second, every day, all day, it can be tough.”

Keith Olberman, Television Personality

On Raging Bull:

“There's something intense about (De Niro’s) acting. There's something that he does that very few of them do, where if he came in tomorrow playing George Washington in a movie, you'd believe that's what George Washington looked like. Not a lot of those guys can do that.”

Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks

On White Men Can’t Jump:

“I love the movie White Men Can’t Jump. It’s just that era and that time of basketball, that’s what street ball was all about and what was going on. Venice Beach was an area I grew up in so, I really enjoyed that movie.”

Jason Kidd, New York Knicks

On Hoosiers:

“Hoosiers is a great movie because there are so many story lines and it just shows that a team can come together and if you believe in one another, you can win.”

Gerry Cooney, Boxing Legend

On Raging Bull:

“Jake LaMotta is a very good friend of mine and that was really him…he was the guy who was against the odds and he stuck it out and became Champion of the World. He’s what boxing is really about. When you look at boxing in the dictionary his picture’s next to it.”

John Thompson, Georgetown Coaching Legend

On Hoosiers:

“It touches your heart. It’s an underdog story. It’s a story about a group of kids who are building…when I started at St. Anthony’s High School, it was the only co-ed Catholic high school in Washington. It had probably about 20 boys and all of them were athletes. And you thought about building your program. So when you saw Hoosiers, you say to yourself the underdog team did well. I thought it was a great movie.”

Joe Namath, Former Jets Legend

On North Dallas Forty:

“Yeah, that was gritty, that was pretty close to a lot of things. Nolte was very good. I enjoyed that movie. I enjoyed it more 20 years later, because when you're a football player, at least this one, I have a tendency to critique everything that’s going on right now…we wouldn't do that, we wouldn't be….so it’s distracting. But years later I looked at North Dallas Forty again, and I really appreciated it.”

Steve Schirripa, Actor

On Raging Bull:

“Everybody loved that movie, of course, with what De Niro did, but it was also a history lesson. Not that many people knew about Jake LaMotta before that movie. Now everyone knows. Before that, who’s Jake LaMotta? At least for younger people. And you got a little mob stuff in there, you got boxing stuff, you got New York stuff. That movie had the whole thing.”

PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE

Monday, April 8 @ 10:30pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Baseball

Tuesday, April 9 @ 11:00pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Basketball

Wednesday, April 10 @ 11:00pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Football

Thursday, April 11 @ 11:30pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Boxing

Monday, April 15 @ 10:30pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Golf

Tuesday, April 16 @ 9:00pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Hockey

Wednesday, April 17 @ 11:30pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Horse Racing

Thursday, April 18 @ 10:30pm – “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies” – Miscellaneous

MSG Networks is the exclusive local television home of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, New York Liberty and New York Red Bulls, and the official regional sports networks of the New York Giants. MSG Networks also telecasts over 100 live college basketball games and over 40 live college football games from top national conferences (SEC, Big 12, Big East, Pac 12, Conference USA), as well as horse racing, boxing and award-winning original programming. In 2012, MSG Networks earned 16 New York Emmy Awards, including 14 for MSG – tops in the New York region for the third year in a row – and two for MSG+. Over the past five years, MSG Networks has totaled 77 New York Emmy Awards, including 69 for MSG – also the most of any New York station or network in that time – and eight for MSG+.