Top 5 Sports Films

My top 5 sports films. I haven't seen every sports movie, but I made a list anyway. Goooo blogs!

 5. Hoop Dreams

Widely regarded as one of the greatest documentaries of all time, Hoop Dreams remarkably follows not one but two basketball players from elementary school through their college careers. It is impressive, fascinating, entertaining (though its 3-hour run time may test the patience of many viewers) and poignant. It also affords the world a window into one of the gentlest souls it will ever encounter.

4. Happy Gimore

This is Adam Sandler’s funniest movie (face it, Billy Madison falls apart after Billy leaves Ms. Vaughn’s class). It features a ludicrous premise, a terrifically memorable antagonist (Shooter McGavin) and a hilarious use of Bob Barker. Few films are so entertaining.

3. The Hammer

I was shocked that an R-Rated, Adam Corolla-written film could be so tame. I was even more shocked that it could be so sweet and earnest. Rather than relying on crude humor and going for big, cheap laughs, The Hammer takes a less-is-more approach and goes for pleasant chuckles and moments of genuine human connection that just make you smile. It all adds up to an underdog story that you can’t help but root for. The Hammer is a real diamond in the rough.

2. Goon

Goon begins as an extremely crude and violent comedy, and it’s hilarious. But in the second act the humor fades away and it becomes a touching underdog story. The transition is so well-done that I hit a point when I realized I hadn’t really laughed in 30 minutes and I didn’t care (well OK, I cared a little bit because it was so funny, but I still liked it!) This film raises important questions about discerning and responding to your calling. It gave me a lot to think about, it made me want to be a better person, and it made me smile A LOT. Very, very few movies have done that. It also has a great “aftertaste.”

1. Sugar

This story of a Dominican baseball player in America isn’t about a baseball player as much as it is about a foreigner who finds himself in a strange new environment. Sugar communicates so much without ever saying it out loud, and it does so not due to the acting, directing, screenwriting or anything else individually, but rather through the perfect sum of each of its wonderful parts. Whenever I think of great films of all genres, Sugar comes to mind very quickly.