1) American Underdog— The true/unlikely story of Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, who went from stocking shelves at an Iowa supermarket to winning a Super Bowl with the Rams.
Co-stars Dennis Quaid, Bruce McGill, Anna Paquin helped make this an excellent movie.
2) Moneyball— Beginning isn’t very good, the end sucks, but I’m an A’s fan and this movie is about how the 2003 A’s overcame a small payroll to win 20 games in a row and make their unlikely run to the playoffs.
Only really bad thing about this movie is they made skipper Art Howe look like a bad manager, and he was anything but— you don’t win 20 games in a row by accident.
3) Blue Chips— Nick Nolte is a college basketball coach who used to win a lot; in order to start winning again, he has to decide whether to break the recruiting rules or not.
Bob Cousy is the AD; Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway are two of the recruits. Lot of cameos from basketball people; Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Dick Vitale.
4) Invincible— True story about Vince Papale, a 30-year old bartender who tries out for the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles and makes the squad as a special teams player.
5) Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan manages a New York City deli until he applies for a job as a college basketball coach in Nevada. Bernard King, Michael Warren are two of his players; another one is a girl disguised as a guy.
6) Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino is a pro football coach whose team is struggling; Cameron Diaz is the owner, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx are two of the QB’s.
Miami Sharks play against four teams in the movie, all coached by NFL Hall of Famers.
The Sharks’ third QB was played by Pat O’Hara, who in real life was a backup QB at USC, played some in the Arena League, has been a consultant on 10 football-related movies and to this day, is an assistant coach with the Tennessee Titans.
— Famous birthdays, May 2nd:
Engelbert Humperdinck, 88
Jamaal Wilkes, 71
Keith Moreland, 70
Dwayne Johnson, 52
Pat McAfee, 37
Paul George, 34
Ian Anderson, 26
7) For Love of the Game— Kevin Costner is a star pitcher for the Tigers who is at the end of his career; he has flashbacks throughout his last game.
Detroit’s manager in this movie is JK Simmons, who is a Tigers fan in real life; New York’s manager is the late Augie Garrido, one of the all-time great college baseball coaches.
8) One on One— Robby Benson is a hotshot high school basketball player who gets recruited by a big-time college team, then finds himself in over his head.
9) Bull Durham— Costner is a minor league catcher who is brought in to mentor a hot-shot pitching prospect. Robert Wuhl is the pitching coach, Susan Sarandon mentors the prospect off the field.
10) Draft Day— Costner does lot of sports movies; he is GM of the Cleveland Browns in this one, Denis Leary is the Browns’ coach.
The year this movie came out, NFL pushed back the draft so the movie could be promoted more, but Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available for the later date, which is why they started moving the draft around the country. Sometimes great ideas happen by accident.
11) Major League— Bob Uecker should’ve won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Indians’ radio announcer Harry Doyle.
12) He Got Game— Underrated film about college basketball recruiting, with Ray Allen playing a recruit who can get his father out of state prison if he plays ball for the college that a political bigshot wants him to.
13) Rocky— The original was a true classic; a journeyman boxer gets a chance to fight for the heavyweight title, and makes the most of it. 40 years later, tourists who come to Philadelphia still pose for pictures near the Rocky statue.
14) Friday Night Lights— Billy Bob Thornton is a high school football coach in west Texas, where they take high school football very seriously.
