A Sea Of Red

Wasn't sure where to put this; I'm too impatient to watch a lot of sports, but there are some sport movies that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Tonight we watched "Glory Road." Others have been "Radio," "Drum Line," and "Titans."

Dr. Hawkins cancelled Sport Management classes for 3 hours one day so that the whole department could go see Glory Road. It was awesome.

SuperJon wrote:Dr. Hawkins cancelled Sport Management classes for 3 hours one day so that the whole department could go see Glory Road. It was awesome.

That was pretty fun going to the movies in exchange for no class.

We went to a drive-in a week or so ago to see 'Cars', and the second half of the double feature was 'Goal'. I realize the bar is pretty low with 'Victory', but that was the best soccer movie I've ever seen.

No I haven't seen 'Glory Road' yet, but here are my favorites by sport:

Hoops:
Hoosiers
As if there was any question. In fact, its my #1 overall regardless of sport.

Golf:
Caddyshack
Yeah, I know it is pushing it a bit to classify it as a sports movie. But its too good not to be on this list. Although that movie with Jim Caviezel as Bobby Jones a year or so was quality as well. I guess Happy Gilmore deserves recognition here as well.

Boxing:
Rocky
People forget how fantastic and groundbreaking this film was because the sequels got progressively worse. But the first one was phenomenal and edges out Raging Bull & The Cinderella Man which were both well above average as well.

Hockey:
Slapshot
I know a lot of people would go with Miracle. But frankly I was a bit disappointed in that film having lived through the '80 Games as a kid. Slapshot is epic for anybody

Baseball:
The Natural
There are tons of options here. I know its rather cheesy at times but I still like this Redford flick better than Bull Durham, Field of Dreams or The Love of the Game. Probably because I'm not a Costner fan.

Football:
Brian's Song
I am talking about the original with Billy D. Williams from the '70s and not the made-for-tv schlock froma decade or so ago. This one may be the toughest of all since no football movie has ever blown me away. Its tough to translate the sport to film for some reason. The best action scenes in a movie were in 'Any Given Sunday'. But the plot stunk so bad I can't give it top nod. Brian's Song was a true story and the mopst powerful film of this genre (moreso than Rudy or Remember the Titans). Honorable Mention to The Program, All the Right Moves and Radio.

Track:
Chariots of Fire
It amazes me that so few people seem to either remeber or have seen this film. Considering its Christian themes that is particularly disappointing to me. This is a great story told amongst incredible filmmaking.

I have a ton more ideas but I'd love to hear from somebody else.

This is a really good topic. Many sports movies leave an empty feeling for me especially basketball movies because the action is so contrived and not real at all. It is like that show Hang Time with Reggie Theus or when the Fresh Prince had to play against his high school rival. Corny, Cheesy, stupid, silly are all good adjectives to describe the plots and the action.

My favorite basketball movie is Blue Chips with Shaq and Penny Hardaway.
I also liked Ray Allen's He Got Game when he played Jesus Shuttlesworth. Other hoops movies worth mentioning:

Love and Basketball
Glory Road (Really good plot and is basically true but they did take some liberties with the plot)
Teen Wolf (Hilarious to watch now but it was really a good movie despite the horrible hoops action)
Hoosiers
White Men Can't Jump (one of my favorite movie scenes ever is when Woody first shows up at the playground and hustles Snipes for his cash. Classic).


Football:

The original Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds was a good movie in the 70's.
Remember the Titans
Brian's Song
Varsity Blues (James Van Der Beek, Paul Walker)
The Program

Baseball:

Major League
Bull Durham
Bad New Bears (70's version)


Hockey:

I have never seen one.

Golf:

I actually liked Bagger Vance thou most folks didn't
Caddyshack is one of the best movies period.

Boxing:

Rocky III with Mr. T
Rocky I
Rocky II
Hurricane (Denzel Washington)

SCAR wrote: Hockey:

I have never seen one.

Anybody see the movie about the Miracle on Ice (1980 for you young pups) starring Kurt Russell.

I haven't had the chance yet.

Ahhh now we are talking my language. I usually showed some clips from Gladiator in my Sport History class, at least the parts that were authentic. (that is until I got a memo about the movie ratings we were and were NOT allowed to show) I also gave extra credit for a review of Chariots of Fire. OUTSTANDING movie, but very dry, long and BRITISH. I didn't want to put the students to sleep any more then they were!!!! It does have one of the BEST sport movie theme songs. (Along with Gonna Fly Now and Eye of the Tiger from Rocky)

Baseball - Bull Durham, Major League and The Natural
Basketball - Hoosiers (Being from Indiana and that is was filmed while I was in HS it is a given) and One on One with Robbie Benson with his great line "All the way up your......... with a red hot poker" and The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
Hockey - Miracle on Ice. PA Yes it was good and fairly authentic.
Football - North Dallas Forty, ORIGINAL Longest Yard, All The Righ Moves
Boxing - Raging Bull Rocky and Cinderella Man (Which was basically Seabiscuit but the replaced the racing scenes with boxing ones!)
Golf - Caddyshack ( at one time had the whole movie memorized) and Bagger Vance.
Running - Without Limits
Olympics - Chariots of Fire and Six Days in September - Documentary about 72 Olympics
Fishing - A River Runs Through it, A Fish Called Wanda (j/k)
Chess - Searching for Bobby Fisher
Cards - Rounders
Bowling - Kingpin
Arm Wrestling - Over the Top
Snow Skiing - Better Off Dead ( I want my two dollars) and Over the Mountain
Tennis - Have they made one?
Soccer - Victory (Pele, Sylvester Stallone) There was also a good one with Robert Duvall about an English club, but forget name
Surfing - A bunch of documentaries

Haize,

Gotta give you the nod for remembering 2 movies I forgot. The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh was a classic starring Julius Erving. I watched it 5 times in one week. It was the same week that the Sixers blew a 3 games to 1 lead vs the Celtics in 1982 and we had just got HBO. Coincidentally they showed the movie on HBO right after we lost each of those last 3 games and had a long summer to think about coming up short to Bird and the Celtics. The other one was Robbie Benson and One on One. That was one of the first movies I ever saw in a theatre. I think it was the same time I saw Star Wars and Jaws in a Theater in Down Town Philly.

Here is one I forgot. Forget Paris with Billy Crystal. He played a ref in the NBA but the movie was not really a sports movie. It just happened to have a sports motif. Also the movie with Woopie Goldberg was the coach of the Knicks but I forget the name. Aweful movie. Some other bad hoops movies include:

Space Jams
Like Mike
Juwana Man
Fast Break (with Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back Kotter back in 1979)

SCAR wrote: My favorite basketball movie is Blue Chips with Shaq and Penny Hardaway.

Could it be because you spent some time in the dirty world of recruiting? Seriously, it wasn't a bad movie. It just wasn't a great story like Hoosiers.

SCAR wrote:I also liked Ray Allen's He Got Game when he played Jesus Shuttlesworth.

You seriously liked this one better than Hoosiers? Ray's acting was stiff and the plot was weak IMHO.

SCAR wrote:Other hoops movies worth mentioning:

Love and Basketball

Chick flick

SCAR wrote:Glory Road (Really good plot and is basically true but they did take some liberties with the plot)

I still haven't seen it but most of the players were Houston guys who were drug out intot he spotlight when the movie came out.

SCAR wrote:Teen Wolf (Hilarious to watch now but it was really a good movie despite the horrible hoops action)

5'5" Michael J. Fox cast as a basketball starring werewolf ... a concept only born in the '80s.

SCAR wrote:Hoosiers

Middle of the pack mention? Come on, Scar. Just because you're a city kid give the hicks from the sticks their due.

SCAR wrote:White Men Can't Jump (one of my favorite movie scenes ever is when Woody first shows up at the playground and hustles Snipes for his cash. Classic).

On this we agree. I had forgotten how funny this one was until you brought it up.

SCAR wrote:Football:

The original Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds was a good movie in the 70's.

I nearly included this one on my list. I love Adam Sandler but his remake was nowhere near the original.

SCAR wrote:Remember the Titans
Brian's Song

No arguments.

SCAR wrote:Varsity Blues (James Van Der Beek, Paul Walker)

I have direct ties to this movie since I was covering these high schools in Central Texas when they shot this movie. I bunch of my friends appear in the film. Otherwise, its pretty forgettable.

SCAR wrote:The Program

A fairly accurate depiction of '80s-vintage major college football.

SCAR wrote:Baseball:

Major League
Bull Durham
Bad New Bears (70's version)

I gave BNB some thought along with that movie with Billy Dee Williams based on the segregated barnstorming days (I can't for the life of me remember the title).

SCAR wrote:Hockey:

I have never seen one.

For a Philly guy, that is just plain sad.

SCAR wrote:Golf:

I actually liked Bagger Vance thou most folks didn't
Caddyshack is one of the best movies period.

Bagger Vance didn't do much for me ... especially Will Smith's acting. But I know you Philly boys stick together.

SCAR wrote:Boxing:

Rocky III with Mr. T
Rocky I
Rocky II
Hurricane (Denzel Washington)

I forgot Hurricane. That's wasn't bad ... it certainly was 100x the movie that Ali was considering the Fresh Prince's horrific portrayal of the Greatest Ever. But we've already been down the Will Smith road ...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned For Love of the Game for a baseball movie.

"Rookie of the Year" is a good movie which is a baseball movie.

I wouldn't know about many of those movies. R-rating and against The Liberty Way.

The Sandlot was awesome.


How can you say there weren't hockey movies? Mighty Ducks. The third one sucked, the first two weren't bad at the time.

SCAR - Great pick up on Fast Break. I was trying to think of the name. It was my first exposure to "pot". To quote Chris Farley "Remeber, when they were being chased by the police and they had like a pound of pot in the car. They couldn't smoke it so the ate it??" I had to ask my older sister what "pot" was!!!!
Forget Paris was great. Loved the Father in law who read EVERY SIGN on the road. My mother in law and wife do that. I'll tell you a funny story about that sometime!!

Figure Skating - Cutting Edge. "Toe Pick"

Come on you hockey movie virgins. Slapshot? The Hanson brothers are great.

SuperJon wrote:The Sandlot was awesome.

I admit it is among my favorites as well.

Little Big League was a pretty cool baseball movie too. The Sandlot was also a good baseball movie.

Sly the movie with Billy Dee was called Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars. It had Richard Pryor, James Earl Jones and others. It was a really good movie about Negro League barnstormers. It reminds me of one of my favorite SNL sketches but it is little known. Billy Crystal Christopher Guest, Martin Short and that crew in the mid 80's did a negro league mocu-mentary. It was hilarious. They had the makeup and hair etc. They looked like 80 year old black men. The one story they tell still cracks me up. I will paraphrase it: "My man gator was so fast, he hit a line drive up the middle and got hit in the head with the ball sliding into second." "He played a double header with 2 broken legs...He went 3-4 the first game and 4-5 the second." They take the old saying of 'the older I get the better I was' to a whole new level

HOCKEY- youngblood, miracle
FOOTBALL- the longest yard-old, brian's song, remember the titans
BASEBALL- bull durham
GOLF- caddyshack, tin cup
BASKETBALL- hoosiers
MISC SPORTS- kingpin...freakin hilarious!

SCAR wrote:Sly the movie with Billy Dee was called Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars. It had Richard Pryor, James Earl Jones and others. It was a really good movie about Negro League barnstormers. It reminds me of one of my favorite SNL sketches but it is little known. Billy Crystal Christopher Guest, Martin Short and that crew in the mid 80's did a negro league mocu-mentary. It was hilarious. They had the makeup and hair etc. They looked like 80 year old black men. The one story they tell still cracks me up. I will paraphrase it: "My man gator was so fast, he hit a line drive up the middle and got hit in the head with the ball sliding into second." "He played a double header with 2 broken legs...He went 3-4 the first game and 4-5 the second." They take the old saying of 'the older I get the better I was' to a whole new level

Much like Eddie Murphy dressing/painting up like a white man walking around the city. He goes into the convenient store and he tries to buy a newspaper. The clerk waits for the black folks to leave the store and he says, take it. Their gone now, you can just take it. Oh man, off topic, but good stuff.

I love that sketch. Eddie doing a voice over says: "Slowly I began to realize that when white people are alone, they give things to each other for free." That is classic for sure. Sorry for the small hijack.

61* is a good baseball movie.

61 is a great baseball movie and that is saying alot for me.... but the cream of the crop has got to be the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series Championship DVD!!!!!!!!!! Greatest Baseball video of all time!!!!!!!

givemethemic wrote:61 is a great baseball movie and that is saying alot for me.... but the cream of the crop has got to be the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series Championship DVD!!!!!!!!!! Greatest Baseball video of all time!!!!!!!

Yeah, when you win one championship a century its a big deal to you.

You can add the 2006 UNC college World Series title DVD to that list after tonight!!!!! How those Rice cakes taste now Sly!!!!!