35 Years of Great Sports Movies

As a sports fan, I enjoy movies about sports. In the many years since the introduction of television to our society, there have been many great sports moments which resulted in movies. I have listed my top 5 favorite sports movies, which just happen to be 5 different categories of sports -- basketball, football, hockey, boxing, and baseball. I tried to choose movies that I actually have purchased and watched many times. Let the countdown begin.

#5. The Rookie.
This is a movie which is based on a true story about Jim Morris (played by Dennis Quaid). He was a high school baseball coach who had a dream and a 98mph fastball. As a young man, he had tried to get into professional baseball, but got a shoulder injury which ruined his dream until... in 1999 he made a bet with his last placehigh school team that if they won the district championship, he would find any major league team to try out with, not believing, of course, that they would actually do it. The team went from "worst to first" and he lived his dream by becoming "the oldest rookie in the league". (excerpts taken from the back of the movie "The Rookie" by Walt Disney Pictures).

#4. Miracle.
I was very young when the U.S.A. hockey team won the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics, but I remember it being a very memorable moment in our nation's sports history. It still brings shivers up my spine to see the footage of a young Team USA beating the very experienced professional Soviet team. This movie tells the story of the coach Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell), and how he put together this group of 20 misfit "undisciplined" players who would become the team that would end up with the greatest upset in Olympic history. The win "united a nation with a new feeling of hope." (excerpts taken from the back of the movie "Miracle" by Walt Disney PIctures)

#3. Rocky
This is the 1976 best picture winning movie about a boxer who started out as a nobody in the boxing world. "Rocky" is the first in a series of 6, of which the final chapter, Rocky Balboa, was released in 2006. The movie stars Sylvester Stallone as the boxer Rocky Balboa who thrills viewers with stimulationg fight sequences. A supposed "stroke of fate" took this no-name boxer into the ring with the world heavyweight champion for a "once in a lifetime" shot to make a name for himself and "come out a winner." (excerpts taken from the back of the movie"Rocky" by MGM)

#2. Rudy
This movie starring Sean Astin as Rudy Ruettiger, is based on a true story about a young man with a dream. A dream to play college football at the great Notre Dame. Rudy came from a steel mill working family who thought his dream was impossible and "laughed at his ambitions". For 4 years he worked at the mill with his father and brothers, and when his friend died in an accident on the job, his dream is rekindled. He is reminded that he only has one life and one opportunity to make his dream a reality and goes to "heroic and sometimes hilarious lengths" to be accepted to this storied university. Finally, he does get accepted and is then a member of the practice team, but never suits up to play, until his Senior year after gaining respect of several of his teammates. This movie is a great story about the "triumph of the common man" and the "power of dreams". (excerpts taken from the back of the movie "Rudy" by Tri-Star pictures)

Finally #1. Hoosiers.
This movie was rendered "the best sports movie ever made" by the Los Angeles Times, and was named by Sports Illustrated and ESPN as "one of the best sports movies of all time", so I am not the only one that has this movie on my top 5 list. It is based on a true story about a coach with a checkered past, Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman, and the town drunk, played by Dennis Hopper, who coached high school basketball in a small Indiana town. It is the story of a team's "long-shot attempt to win the State Championships" and the hardships it took on the team and the coach to get there. It is truly an exciting story of triumph on the basketball court and earned its place as the #1 movie on my top 5 list.