Five Great Sports Movies

Sports movie shave always had a knack for rousing everyone's spirits especially when they're about the underdogs rising up against adversity of beating the odds. Or about a team of ragamuffins finally working together and showing everyone what they're made of. Whatever the reason there are many good sports movies out there (and of course many bad ones); here are some of the better ones that Hollywood has produced.

Remember the Titans(2000)
Starring Denzel Washington as Coach Boone, a Black coach appointed to newly integrated T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia this true story is about how a team of players different in background and race manage to overcome their own stereotypes and prejudices as well as the ones of the town which they are representing to come together and become a force to be reckoned with on the football field. This film is so good because it in an inspiration and a step in the direction that maybe one day our country can truly look past color lines and get along with everyone else.

The Mighty Ducks(1992)
The first movie in the set of three, this is arguably the best and also one of the most inspirational since Coach Bombay (Emilo Estevez) has a metamorphosis the power hungry lawyer he was to the caring person he became at the end of the movie. This movie was good because it showed a team that everyone else had given up on still persevering and ultimately becoming the champions of the season and proving everyone wrong. It is also a good family movie full of gags that will have the young and old laughing together and provide good family time for years to come.

A League of Their Own(1992)
Another movie based on a true story about the Women's Baseball League during WWII and how they helped a country that was in the midst of one of their worst wars manage to have some outlet that is still all American. Centering around sisters Dottie and Kit (Geena Davis and Lori Petty respectfully) and how they also overcome their own rivalries and accept each other's flaws and faults this movie is a good depiction of a movement in the right direction for the women's movement as many people weren't interested in women playing baseball until they discovered and saw for themselves that these women were actually talented in the sport and it showed women out there doing something for themselves outside of the four walls of the domestic household.

Bend it Like Beckham (2002)
This is a movie about a girl trying to get away from her rigid and orthodox Indian parents who want nothing more then for her to find a good Indian boy to marry when all she wants to do is play football (soccer to us Americans) which of course is completely un-lady like. In the beginning she hides her playing from her family but eventually, when the final game of the big tournament falls on the same day as her sister's wedding, has to find the courage to tell them this is what she wants to do and in the end she does show them that she is talented and they support her talent. Starring Parminder Nagra and and a then virtually unknown Keira Knightley this movie is a good sports movie that came over to us from across the pond.

Glory Road(2006)
Starring Josh Lucas as Coach Don Haskins, coach of the present day UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) who was the first basketball coach to have five black players on the starting line, a move that left them ridiculed because of their integration but managed to make it all the way to the finals game against Adolph Rupp's powerful team at Kentucky and become that National Champions. Like Remember the Titans this movie is inspirational because it showed a step in the right direction for our country towards racial tolerance by showing that everyone can be equal on the court and that the two races can work together.

These are some of the best sports movies in my opinion because they all have one major thing in common and that is people coming together, working through the adversity that is given to them to prove themselves to people who doubted them from the beginning. That kind of perseverance is good to have in sports as well as mundane every day aspects of life and it also shows us how much better things can be when we work together.