Top Five Favorite Sports Films

[W]

With March Madness coming up I thought it would be fitting to throw up a few film tournaments starting with sports films. Throw up your five (or maybe a few more) favorite sports films and I'll make room for them.

[NSpan]

is Caddyshack a "sports movie"?

[numbersix]

What about The Big Lebowski?

[NSpan]

Rocky
Rocky II
Rocky III
Rocky IV
Rocky Balboa

Runners-up: Caddyshack, Raging Bull, Rollerball, Slap Shot, Death Race 2000

[Buscemi]

The Big Lebowski
Shaolin Soccer
Battlefield Baseball
The Last Boy Scout
The Wrestler

[Shrykespeare]

The Blind Side
The Natural
Little Big League
Seabiscuit
Tin Cup

[Buscemi]

Wow, someone else who likes Little Big League! I actually saw that in the theatre, by the way (at a kiddie matinee when I was seven).

[Geezer]

Yeah I saw it in the Theater too, its one of my earliest theater memories.

Rocky 1-4
The Wrestler
Remember the Titans
The Blind Side
Miracle
Slapshot
Happy Gilmore
Hoosiers

[mateostarr]

Raging Bull, The Wrestler, Sugar, Girlfight

Not sure I would call Big Lebowski a "sports movie".

[Buscemi]

Half of the movie is spent on bowling. It is definitely a sports movie.

Also, I'd call Run Fatboy Run a sports movie. Though the ads made it look like a romantic comedy, it's definitely more focused on the sports element.

[NSpan]

Yeah, I don't think Lebowski counts. Even in the "bowling scenes," The Coens went out of their way to frame their shots around the people sitting around not bowling. (I guess you could argue that that's what bowling IS, but I think that's kinda a stretch conceptually). I'd be curious to know what percent of the movie even takes place inside the bowling alley--my guess would be that it's easily under 50%.

[becs]

Girlfight
Shaolin Soccer
Miracle
Happy Gilmore
Glory Road
Talladega Nights
Remember the Titans
The Sandlot
Mystery, Alaska
The Mighty Ducks

[W]

Hmm... Some that were surprising that weren't mentioned are probably Rudy, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, A League of Their Own, Major League, Cool Runnings, Kingpin... Anyways, I'm throwing in:

Vision Quest
Green Street Hooligans (little actual soccer, but it's the basis of the film)
The Pride of the Yankees
Redbelt
A Knight's Tale (competitive jousting and sword fighting--basically early fencing--make up a large part of the film)

Anything else you want to throw in there before I put it together later tonight, fell free to.

And the qualifications for a "Sports Film" for this capacity is whether you can make a case for it (not whether you can prove it) so if you see a film on there that you don't think should count, just don't vote for it... I've seen a pretty compelling case for the film Gladiator and Spartacus to be included and I think I may throw them in there to fill out the field of 64.

[Geezer]

Forgot Field of Dreams, although it can be argued that its not really a sports movie.

Major League is hilarious and Cool Runnings will always be a favorite of mine.

And the Big Lebowski is NOT a sports movie. First, bowling is not even a sport. Its a leisure activity. Second, very little of the movie takes place around bowling. The plot has nothing to do with it, they just use a bowling alley as a setting.

[Geezer]

Some I didn't mention before:

Bad News Bears
Friday Night Lights
8 Men Out
White Men Can't Jump
Seabiscuit
The Sandlot