Now, not all of these are about the teams going to the Olympics. But, they are all exciting to watch and get me just as hyped as this week’s games have. From softball to bobsledding, I could watch these five over and over with no complaints. Defeating the odds and winning our hearts, and sometimes first place, this list will keep the most avid sports fan held over in between seasons.
5. ‘Stick It’
Fueled by the desire to win, this gymnastics flick shows us the dirty side of the seemingly disciplined sport. Haley Graham was a world renowned gymnast who walked away to pursue a career as a normal teenager. After a run in with the law, she is forced back into the strict world and sent to Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges), the man responsible for training her and getting her back to greatness. Haley’s unyielding desire to get away from the gym is exactly what everyone needed to get themselves to work their hardest. I’ll be watching this one for years and years to come.
4. ‘Remember the Titans’
Undoubtedly the greatest football movie ever created. Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) is the new coach in town; he’s exactly what the school’s been looking for and could be the key to bringing such a special team together. The mission? Integrating blacks and whites and getting them to work together as one team instead of fighting against each other. We follow their struggles and ultimate success in becoming not only a strong team, but friends who can sing The Temptations in the showers together. The coach’s work doesn’t stop with the students; for this unique team to achieve greatness they must also work to earn their town’s support .
3. ‘A League of Their Own’
Tom Hanks, Madonna, Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell, do I even need to keep going? This 1992 release is jam packed with familiar faces, each who deliver an all star performance. This is the delightful story of the first women’s baseball teams, established during the war to give people something to cheer about while many male athletes were overseas. We follow The Rockford Peaches and our girls through the struggles of being female athletes and trying to play baseball in a skirt. Truly a feel great film, I remember watching this one over and over until my dad finally said, “Enough.”
2. ‘Hardball’
Another baseball movie, but in a completely different direction. Keanu Reeves is unemployed and owes money to some of the wrong people, and so his friend offers him a gig coaching a little league team for some cash. It takes a while for the team to warm up to their new coach. Seeing these little boys from the projects learning the importance of teamwork and what it means to succeed is heartwarming. Reeves must overcome a few challenges along the way and really helps to support the team on their road to victory.
1. ‘Cool Runnings’
“‘Nuff people say, you know they can’t believe, Jamaica, we have a bobsled team.” Cool Runnings tells the incredible tale of four Jamaicans and their attempt at gold in the Winter Olympics. A Jamaican bobsled team… an absolutely hilarious image comes to mind with those four words alone, and the movie does not disappoint. The film features John Candy in an extremely Candy-ish role as the washed-up coach who tries to take the team to victory. We watch their gut-bustingly funny attempts at recreating a bobsled while training in Jamaica that doesn’t exactly pan out. Their ultimate challenge comes when they reach Calgary and get on to actual snow — a serious shocker to them. Despite it all, they must kick into high gear if they want to win. “Feel the Rhythm! Feel the Rhyme! Get on up, it’s bobsled time!”
So, throughout these great fun times of the Olympics, while you are cheering on your favorite countries, remember these great films that you can watch when they games are all over.
Honorable Mention: The Ringer
