What sports movies motivate you?

I am not a big sports fan. I will go to a game and cheer but I don't have very much patience for the rules or stats or plays. I love the Olympics but I don't have it in me to follow those athletes throughout the year on Saturday afternoon coverage of figure skating or swimming competitions.

Still, I am a big sucker for sports movies. The tension of a team being down by a run or goal or touchdown, the swell of the music as the camera pans to the one underdog player winding up the bat or readies a punt or races toward the finishline, the hush that falls across the hopeful crowd, the cheerleaders jumping in slow motion. It all gets to me, makes me tear up, inspires me to leap out of my seat, and go for a long run or push myself harder the next time I wince through an extra-long plank pose. All it takes is the "Rocky" theme and I'm thinking about running up my own steps.

This love of emotional sports films probably stretches back to "Hoosiers". Since then, I've happily put aside any boredom or disinterest I have with athletics for my love of "Remember the Titans", "Friday Night Lights", "Hoop Dreams", and recently, "The Wrestler". Even when these movies are heartbreaking, they get to some part of me that wants to be better, try harder, push on.

From "A League of Their Own" to "Jerry Maguire", which sports movies make your game better?




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