5 Great Sports Movies

This article is about my five favorite sports related movies for different reasons. One main reason for all of them is they rock. I am not really going to tell about the movie itself and I'm assuming you've seen these already. I will explain the underlying values of each one in more detail that I personally took from each movie.


1977

Coming in at number 5, Slap Shot. This movie is hilarious! When I mention "triplets" I hope it brings a smile to your face as it does to mine. Violence and comedy always go together and this movie is a perfect blend. This movie also showed me that you can push a person only so far. Then they will go to drastic lengths to be respected, even if it's something they disagree with morally. What I learned, don't push people too far and never mess with a triplet.


1992

Number 4 is The Cutting Edge. This is your typical combine two sports with two unseemingly incompatible people to make an unstoppable team and unbeatable love. I like this movie because it made figure skating cool, in my opinion not an easy task. I learned that sometimes an injury or some unfortunate accident can turn out to be the best thing that happened to you. To not see yourself in just one light, but be open to new ideas and try something new even if it seems weird to you. So what did I learn? Get out of my comfort zone and see what I can accomplish in all aspects of life.


1990

Side Out comes in at number 3. First of all, I just love volleyball. Indoor, sand, whatever. I love the precision and teamwork of couples sand volleyball. This movie is your basic new guy on the scene, teams up with the old has been. The has been's passion is rekindled, and they both go on to victory. Throughout the movie, rookie and has been meet different teams during the competition that require different strategies. So they have to constantly modify their playing technique to advance. But once they find themselves out matched in the finals, they simply go back to the basics. I took a very positive message from this movie. No matter how hard you train for a sport, you still need to just have fun with it. The love of playing is better than any trophy and it's the people that enjoy what they are doing that normally do the best. Just have fun with it man.


1992

Number 2 is one of my favorite movies, Gladiator. No not the 3 hr long one with Russell Crow, the good one. This is a tough guy movie. The white boy finds himself in a tough neighborhood after his dad made some bad decisions. To help out, he boxes for cash. As he gets dragged deeper into this seedy world, he almost, but does not lose his integrity. He fights for what he believes in, and nothing else. Of course I learned "anger is the enemy" from this movie, but that's not all. I learned to stand up for what I believe in. That some things are worth fighting for. And that friendship is greater than any amount of money.


1985

Number 1 was an easy choice for me, Vision Quest. I am a former high school wrestler, so I can completely relate to this movie. Self sacrifice to not only get what you want, but to do what is best for the team. Running during lunch time, and despising people because they can drink water and I couldn't was part of it. But I would do it all over again. This man's commitment is to be admired. Working nonstop to get where he wants to be, to prove what he can do. What did I learn? Lots. Determination is greater than any talent, if you want it bad enough, you can get it. When you put yourself through hell, everything after that doesn't seem so bad. And hard work pays off. I can't watch this movie and not want to run 15 miles when it's over.


Well, there's my 5. I tried to make this a bit different by adding some personal touches and to not make the choices too obvious. If you have not seen any of these, I recommend them all. Till next time sports fans.