Best Boxing/Wrestling Film:
Rocky
Raging Bull
The Wrestler
Cinderella Man
Million Dollar Baby
The Fighter
Ali
Welp lets get this list started with the best fighting movies of all time. Like anything else you will see on these lists tonight, there are plenty to choose from. Million Dollar Baby an underdog story of a fighter who will not give up. The Wrestler, the story of a man past his prime, trying to recapture his glory days and get his life back in order. Then there's the Fighter, Ali and Cinderella Man, all based of true stories. Ali looks at the greatest fighter of all game. Cinderella Man and the Fighter are about two different men who fall on hard times and get it all together in the ring. They are all great films, but there are two that top the list. Raging Bull, the story of one of the greatest fighters of all time Jake LaMatta. It shows how a great career can go from on top of the world to losing it all. They are all great films, but fall just short of the top of the class. Its the greatest underdog story in all of film
Winner: Rocky!
Best Basketball Picture:
Hoosiers
Blue Chips
He Got Game
White Men Can't Jump
Space Jam
Coach Carter
The Air Up There
For this being one of the more popular sports in the world, you would think there would be a lot of great movies made. But the list above is actually the crème of the crop from a surprisingly small sample size. Space Jam is the first real kids movie about the sport, a very good movie in its own right. The Air Up There another solid, yet very under appreciated movie. White Men Can't Jump gave a voice to street basketball. Coach Carter showed that there should be more to life than sports and that hard work can get you wherever you want in life. Blue Chips shows what goes on in College Basketball that most people don't get to see. The one that tops them all is the Rocky of Basketball films.
Winner: Hoosiers
Best Football Picture
Remember The Titans
Any Given Sunday
Invincible
Friday Night Lights
Rudy
Varsity Blues
The Blind Side
The Express
This category has plenty of fantastic movies to choose from. That's what the most popular sport in America can do. Any Given Sunday, a good movie in it's own right. Invincible and Rudy give you an underdog look at the world of football and show that the biggest heart does pay off. Friday Night Lights and Varsity Blues take you inside a different world of High School football. The Express and The Blind Side will pull on your heart strings throughout the whole film. To me, the one the tops the list is the one that shows how walls can be broken down. It gives you a whole different perspective on the sport and on life. It shows what the world of sports can do and how it can bring people together.
Winner: Remember The Titans
Best Hockey Movie:
Slap Shot
Miracle
The Mighty Ducks
Mystery, Alaska
Youngblood
The Rocket
Goon
One of the pro sports that doesn't get enough respect in the film industry. The Goon has turned into a cult favorite so it was placed in here. Rocket an underated biopic for the late Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. The Mighty Ducks is the one film series that introduced a whole generation of kids to the great game of hockey. Youngblood shows what the world of Junior Hockey can be like. Mystery, Alaska brings hockey to its roots in the outdoor game and shows you yet another side of the sport you've never seen before. Slap Shot (My favorite sports movie ever) will go down as one of the funniest sports movies ever made. It shows the life of a minor league hockey player and it introduced three of the greatest characters in the world of film, the Hanson Brothers. But the one that tops the list gives us another look at the greatest upset in all of sports. Its a true underdog story. It helped give an entire country a reason to believe.
Winner: Miracle
Best Baseball Movie
Field of Dreams
Major League
Bull Durham
Eight Men Out
A League Of Their Own
The Natural
Moneyball
The Rookie
61*
The list in Baseball can go on and on and on. There are WAY too many fantastic movies that have been made about America's pastime. You can make a solid argument for any one of these films to be the greatest ever made about the game. 61 tells the story of chasing one of the greatest individual records in the history of the sport, most home runs in a season. Moneyball takes a look at what goes on inside of a Major League Baseball organization. Eight Men Out takes on one of the biggest scandals in the history of the game. The Natural and The Rookie shows what heart and believing in yourself can get you. A League of Their own shows what goes on in the world of Women's Baseball. Bull Durham takes you inside the world of Minor League Baseball. Major League takes a comedic look at the great game. The one that tops it all though makes us believe that anything can happen. It shows how the sport can bring people and families together.
Winner: Field of Dreams
Best Sports Comedy
Major League
Slap Shot
Waterboy
Dodgeball
Caddyshack
Happy Gilmore
Semi-Pro
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Now for the most side splitting list on here. The best sports comedy. More often than not, at least in reality, you don't get too many comic moments in the field of competition. Whoever came up with these ideas for the films listed above, deserve a medal for what they were able to do. I'm sure there have probably been a picture or two that was left out, but there have been too many options not to run with here. So I'll let you draw your own conclusions. As for me, this really came down to two films: Major League and Slap Shot. Both movies are so quoteable that you can probably recite most of the film just talking with your buddies. It was so hard to pick a winner here but it had to be done.
Winner: Major League
And last but not least.
Best Picture:
Rocky
Raging Bull
Field Of Dreams
Miracle
Rudy
Hoosiers
The Natural
The Rookie
There are so many great sports movies that have been produced over the years that there are way too many to put into one total list, You can go on and on about the movies that have been put out, but I'm restricting it to the list you see above. Now you can pick anyone of these movies to be the greatest of all time. A couple of them are based on true events, like Remember the Titans and Miracle. A few of them take us on a magical ride and make us believe anything can happen, like Field of Dreams and Rocky. But it is so hard to really pick a winner for the greatest of all time. You have the greatest comeback story of all time in Hoosiers and Miracle. You have the ultimate underdogs in Rudy and Rocky. You have one the greatest ballplayers ever in Roy Hobbs. Then there's Raging Bull, the Story of how Jake Lamatta's life has turned around. There was so many tough decisions in life to make and this one was one of them. At the end of the day, its the ultimate underdog who comes through.
Winner: Rocky
Do you agree with this list? Did we leave anything out?
(List compiled entirely by Matt Solomon. Opinions expressed are his alone)
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