Top Sports Movie: Remember the Titans

I know I know Remember the Titans was hardly the first sports movie ever made but you can't deny that it was the first great sports movie of our era and was than followed by an entire host of sports movies none of which were nearly as good. Seriously for a while it seemed like every third movie coming out was sports i.e. "Glory Road", "Miracle", "Rudy", "Friday Night Lights", some movie about the Eagles and Mark Wahlberg, "Fever Pitch" (kind of the ultimate low), "Stick It", and even a movie where Samuel L. Jackson played a basketball coach. Seriously? Samuel L. Jackson? What responsible parent leaves their kid with Sam Jackson? Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a joke? "So you walk into the gym to drop off your kid but instead of a coach Samuel L. Jackson is there and..." Anyway none of these movies were anywhere near as good as the original great sports movie of our time: Remember the Titans.

On the outside Remember the Titans was about football. A football team adjusting to life with each other and to a new coach, played by Denzel Washington (really the only big name in this film). Added into mix is the fact that the movie takes place during the height of the civil rights movement and in addition to coming together as a football team the Titans (and America) had to learn how to come together as a people. The movie chronicles the highlights and low lights of the coaches, players, and the community around them with a style and grace that truly won't let us forget the Titans.

Okay though now that the boring ecumenical part of the program is over let's move on to the top five reasons Remember the Titans is the best sports movie of our era.

Number 5: The football. After watching Remember the Titans there was absolutely nothing you wanted to do more than play football. And any movie that can motivate lazy couch potato Americans into even thinking about something involving actual physical labor is definitely worth the number one spot on the list.

Number 4: The Novelty. What was the last sports movie you watched before you saw Remember the Titans? "The Professional"? "Angles in the Outfield"? Titans was a great movie because it came along and did something amazingly well that hadn't been done before (or at least for a long time). They weren't just passengers on the sports film train. They were the big old, red, shiny engine. And they kicked butt all the way home.

Number 3: Quotability. If you're at all a fan of movies, or even just a fan of life in general you've heard at least a couple of Remember the Titans quotes.

"I don't care whether you're black, white, green, or purple I want my offensive players on this bus and the boys trying out for the defense on that bus."
"Sunshine! Sunshine?"
"Does the term cruel and unusual punishment mean anything toy you?"
"You're killing me Petey!"
"Left side!" "Strong Side!!"
I guarantee you at least half of America has quoted Remember the Titans in some form to another at some point in their lives.

Number 2: Fittingly enough number two is made up of two syllables. Namely: Den-zel. Denzel Washington was literally made to play Coach Boone. Oh I know he's a phenomenal actor no matter what he's in but some actors were just made to play certain characters and Denzel Washington delivered a jaw dropping performance that made Remember the Titans into the brilliant move that it is.

Number 1: The characters. The thing that really separated Titans from the pretenders was the fact that underneath the football story you had the characters. Characters who were so well written and developed that you couldn't help but root for them to succeed. You couldn't help but pull for the team, the coaches, and the society around them. More than any sports movie in our era Remember the Titans didn't just tell us a story about sports, it told us a story about people, and by telling us about people it told us about ourselves.