Speak Up: What Sports Movie Motivates You Most?

August 20, 2008

While I was getting all choked up about A League of Their Own, I started thinking about how motivating a great sports movie can be. Whether it's a weepy figure-skating story (Ice Castles, anyone?) or a classic baseball flick like Field of Dreams, sports movies can be emotionally riveting and highly entertaining. So speak up and tell me: Which sports-centric film motivates you the most?

44 Comments

ltnugget 4 years

Vision Quest from 1987 - Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorintino

Manoukia 4 years

Remember The Titans and Hardball are my favs.

tlsgirl 4 years

That Running on the Sun movie sounds really interesting...I'm adding it to my Netflix queue right now!

tlsgirl 4 years

Oh, and Blue Crush motivates me every time I see it.

geohiker 4 years

Definitely Running on the Sun! This is the documentary about people running the Badwater ultra marathon - 135 miles across Death Valley (temps reach 125 degrees and higher). Instead of just being a look-at-the-freaks movie, it really delves into the different runners and their training and their motivations and their lives. There is no money involved in the race (the big prize: finishing in less than 48 hours means you get a belt buckle)so there are no real pros. These are just regular people, who spend a lot of their spare time training for an incredible physical and mental challenge. Seeing all these people work to achieve their own goals, sometimes getting them and sometimes failing is just great. I don't run, but it makes me want to get out on my bike and work harder every time I see it!

tlsgirl 4 years

Alethia - totally with you on Center Stage! I have a total love for that movie.

kiwitwist 4 years

I am more of the dancing movies kinda of gal. ;-)

organicchick 4 years

I love Major League! It's really a great story, coming together as a team, making unlikely friends, winning after being dismissed as nobodies, etc. Rudy always makes me cry, but the part that gets me isn't when he gets to play or when he gets accepted -- it's when his teammates all come into the coach's office and lay down their jerseys. Oh man, I bawl like a baby every time!!!

CannavaroLover 4 years

Rudy...I love Rudy!! and League of Their Own...but that's mostly for casting Lovitz, all his lines are delivered superbly in that film. Fantastic humor!

ilanac13 4 years

when i used to skate - i would have said ice castles - it's a great movie - that and cutting edge did it for me. i always wanted to try new things after seeing them in movies. besides that - dance movies also inspire me and make me want to do more. center stage, save the last dance...

facin8me 4 years

The Mighty Ducks

afordster 4 years

The miracle of course!!

diasin 4 years

Miracle! I get goosebumps every time I hear the old footage of a giddy Al Michaels announcing the final seconds of the game. "Do you believe in Miracles? YES!!!"

EkaterinaBallerina 4 years

MIRACLE! I'm not a sports movie person really but I absolutely loved that movie. It's one of my all-time favorites now.

mother 4 years

Rudy!!!! I watched it while I was trying to get pregnant and very frustrated at yet another month of a negative pregnancy test. To top it all off, I got a phone call from a friend telling me she was pregnant AGAIN. After I got off the phone, I continued watching the movie and it was the scene where Rudy finally gets accepted to Notre Dame and starts crying. I cried with him and lo and behold, next month I was pregnant...with twins!