Sports
Do you ever get tired of the original sports articles? This one is different. On the behalf of myself and TSJ 101 Sports we voted for our all time favorite sports movies, and made a top 30.
What movies made the top 30 and what movies didn’t? Let’s take a look at the top 30 sports movies of all time, well in the eyes of the spectacular writers of TSJ 101 Sports, that is. We have basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR, golf, even went as far as horse racing, even with some bull riding; all of those are part of sports as well.
Movies Mentioned but didn’t make the cut!
Air Bud Series, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Creed, Invictus, The Wrestler, Ali, Blades of Glory, Invincible, Beyond the Mat, The Karate Kid, Varisty Blues, Kingpin, Semipro, The Pride of the Yankees, The Pride of St Louis, Basketball, Tincup, Miracle, Undrafted, Ready to Rumble, Moneyball, Jerry McGuire, Major League, Trouble with the Curve, When the Game Stands Tall, Hoosiers, Green Street Hooligans, The Waterboy, White Men Can’t Jump,Summer Catch, Ladybugs, Dreamer, Bring It On, Friday Night Lights, Brink, Warrior, We Are Marshall, Seabiscuit, Cinderella Man, Secretariat, The Hurricane, Celtic Pride, Eddie, More Than A Game, Escape to Victory, Gridiron Gang, Little Big League, The Cutting Edge, Fever Pitch, The Scout, Soul of the Game, Bend It Like Beckham, The Hustler, Kicking and Screaming, Any Given Sunday, Double Teamed and Motocrossed.
Top 30 Sports Movies
30) Glory Road
Release Date: 2006
Directed by: James Gartner
Starring: Josh Lucas
Based on true story about Texas Western college basketball.
29) The Replacements
Release Date: 2000
Directed by: Howard Deutch
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman
A fictional pro football league finds themselves with players on strike during the season, which needs to be finished.
28) Coach Carter
Release Date: 2005
Directed by: Thomas Carter
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Channing Tatum
Based on the true story of Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter, who made headlines in 1999 for suspending his undefeated high school basketball team due to poor academics.
27) Rookie of the Year
Release Date: 1993
Directed by: Daniel Stern
Starring: Thomas Ian Nicholas
Henry Rowengartner, an unskilled little leaguer dreams of playing in the Major League. He breaks an arm, and his tendons heals “too tight”, and it enables Henry to pitch with incredible force.
26) Rudy
Release Date: 1993
Directed by: David Anspaugh
Starring: Sean Astin
Based on true story of Daniel Eugene “Rudy” Ruettiger who dreams of playing college football at Norte Dame.
25) 8 Seconds
Release Date: 1994
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Starring: Luke Perry
*The title refers to the length of required time to stay on a ride to be scored*
Based on a true story of the life and career of Lane Frost as a bull riding champion.
24) Angels in the Outfield
Release Date: 1994
Directed by: William Dear
Starring: Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd, Tony Danza
Miracles happen with the California Angels.
23) 42
Released: 2013
Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford
The racial integration of American professional baseball player Jackie Robinson, who wore jersey #42 through his major league career.
22) Bad News Bears
Release Date: 1976
Directed by: Michael Ritchie
Starring: Walter Matthau, Tatum O’Neal
Remake Release: 2005
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton
Morris Buttermaker, a washed up alcoholic baseball player who coaches the Bears, which is a children’s baseball team with poor playing skills.
21) The Mighty Ducks
Release Date: 1992
Directed by: Stephen Herek
Starring: Emilio Estevez
Gordon Bombay has been sentenced to 500 hours by coaching a local “District 5” pee-wee hockey team with no practice, no facility, no equipment, and no ability.
20) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Release Date: 2004
Directed by: Rawson M. Thurber
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller
A group of misfits enters a Las Vegas Dodgeball tournament to save their cherished local gym from onslaught of a corporate health fitness chain.
Ok you just saw what the top movies from 30-20 was. Are you ready for 19-11?
19) 61*
Release Date: 2001
Directed by: Billy Crystal
Starring: Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane
Roger Morris and Mickey Mantle on a quest to break Babe Ruth’s 1927 single season home run record of 60, during the 1961 season of the New York Yankees.
18) Eight Men Out
Release Date: 1988
Directed by: John Sayles
Starring: John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Charlie Seen, Clifton James
Drama of Major League Baseball’s Black Sox scandal in which 8 members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers, to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series.
17) Days of Thunder
Release Date: 1990
Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Cary Elwes
Cole Trickle has a goal to win an Indy 500, but leads to winning his first ever Daytona 500.
16) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Release Date: 2006
Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell
About a fictional race car driver’s life named Ricky Bobby.
15) The Longest Yard
Release: 1974
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter
Remake Release: 2005
Directed by: Peter Segal
Starring: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds
A sadistic warren asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time at his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on the guards.
14) Caddyshack
Release Date: 1980
Directed by: Harold Ramis
Starring: Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase
Danny Noonan works as a caddy at the upscale Bushwood County Club in Nebraska to earn money for college. However, a gopher infestation occurs on the golf course. The un-hinged greens keeper, attempts several different ways to kill the gopher, but nothing seems to kill it! The gopher does a victory dance at the end.
13) Cool Runnings
Release Date: 1993
Directed by: John Turteltaub
Starring: Doug E. Doug, John Candy, Rawle D. Lewis
Four Jamaican bobsleighers dream of competing in the Winter Olympics; despite of never seeing snow. With the help of a disgraced former champion desperate to redeem himself. The Jamaicans become part of the Olympic selection and go for the glory.
12) Million Dollar Baby
Release Date: 2004
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman
An underappericiated boxing trainer, with mistakes that haunt him from his past, and his quest to help an underdog amateur boxer achieve her dream of becoming a professional.
11) Remember the Titans
Release Date: 2000
Directed by: Boaz Yakin
Starring: Denzel Washington, Will Patton
Based on the true story of African American Coach Herman Boone and his attempt to intergrate the T.C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Viriginia in 1971.
Now comes the time we all have been waiting for! The Top 10 Movies of all time, but remember this is only on behalf of the writers of TSJ 101 Sports! You may not agree. Let’s take a look at the Top 10, shall we?
10) Radio
Release Date: 2003
Directed by: Parker Rawling
Starring: Cuba Gooding JR, Ed Harris
Based on the true story of T.L. Hanna High School football coach Harold Jones and a mentally challenged young man, James Robert “Radio”Kennedy.
9) The Rookie
Release Date: 2002
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths
Based on the true story of Jim Morris who had a brief but famous Major League Baseball career in 1999-2000.
8) A League of Their Own
Release Date: 1992
Directed by: Penny Marshall
Starring: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell.
A story about a fictional account of the real life All-American Girls professional baseball league.
7) Rocky
Release Date: 1976
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Starring: Sylvester Stallone
From rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kinda hearted class Italian American boxer, ends up getting a shot at the world heavyweight championship.
6) Happy Gilmore
Release Date: 1996
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler
A unsuccessful ice hockey player discovers a new found talent for golf.
5) Love and Basketball
Release Date: 2000
Directed by: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan
Quincy McCall and Monica Wright, who are next door neighbors are pursuing their basketball careers and ends up falling in love with each other.
4) Space Jam
Released: 1996
Directed by: Joe Pytka
Starring: Michael Jordan, Danny DeVito, Bill Murray
An alternate history of what happened between Jordan’s initial retirement from the NBA in 1993, and his comeback in 1995; in which he was enlisted by Bugs Bunny and his friends to help them win a basketball game against a group of aliens, who wants them as slaves in their amusement park.
3) The Sandlot
Release Date: 1993
Directed by: David Mickey Evans
Starring: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna
Tells a story about a group of young baseball players during the Summer of 1962.
2) The Blind Side
Release Date: 2009
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron
Based on a true story of Michael Oher. Homeless. Adoption. Ole Miss and first round pick to the Baltimore Ravens.
Can I get a drum roll please…… and it’s time to see what the writers of TSJ 101 Sports voted as the number one sports movie of all time!
1) Field of Dreams
Release Date: 1989
Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
Starring: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones
An Iowa corn farmer, hearing voices interrupts them as command to build a new baseball diamond in his fields. He listens and the 1919 Chicago White Sox comes to play.
There you have it folks! I hope you enjoyed the Top 30 Sports movies of all time via TSJ 101 Sports!
Stay tune till next time for fun articles and your must know sports news!
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Picture Credit: Mike Rastiello via Flickr
written by: Kayla McCurry
