Diner

The Bengals play in Baltimore Sunday, site of the best Guy Movie ever. Diner is set in Baltimore on the eve of the epic NFL title game between the Colts and the Giants. It is simply the funniest, best written movie ever about males on the cusp of adulthood (and fighting it for all they're worth.) Diner makes every other coming-of-age flick look childish. Like American Graffiti before it, Diner featured several relatively unknown actors who went on to bigger things: Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Tim Daly, Daniel Stern, even Steve Gutenberg. Plus, the guy who was on that TV show with Helen Hunt, whose name escapes me. Oh, yeah, Paul Reiser. It was the first of many delightful movies directed by Barry Levinson.

How could any guy not like the notion of making his fiancee pass a football trivia test before they could get married?

My friend J. Crasnick, now a hotshot national baseball writer for ESPN.com, and I once spent
the entire 2-hour drive from San Diego to LA trading lines from Diner. Craz and I worked at the Cincinnati Post at the time; we were covering the Reds' first West Coast trip, back when playing the Dodgers was important.

I could go on, but it's better to watch it yourself.

If you havent seen Diner, run don't walk to the video place. Tell me what you think. Meantime, give me your best boy-becomes-man movie. I'll use them Friday night on Sports Talk.