Hands down to "Breaking Away", brings me back to that magical time in cycling. Those who can relate to ogling Campy Super record stuff (oh man that's real titanium) and wearing wool jerseys should have this in their movie chest.

Slapshot- IMO, best sports movie ever, but then I grew up in the Rust Belt in the 70s and 80s, and can relate.

Breaking Away

Mystery, Alaska

Champions- before there was Lance, there was Bob Champion beating testicular cancer and winning the Grand National on a crippled horse

Chariots of Fire

Hoosiers

The Rookie- great cinematography, good family movie

My favorite movies are those based on real stories ... Rudy, The Rookie, 61*, etc.

Rare is the sports movie that comes across as true even though it isn't ... Rocky, Hoosiers, Field of Dreams, etc. These movies are fantastic.

Even more rare are those great sports movies that are humorous without being outright cheesy or stereotypical. Good ones are Slapshot ("You Saw Em. Gloves off, sticks on the ice, they CHALLENGED THE CHIEFS!), Bull Durham, etc.

Rather than watch retarded movies like For Love of the Game, I'd rather just watch ESPN and view Jack Morris throwing 10 innnings in the 91 World Series to beat Atlanta 1-0. No movie could duplicate the real-life drama and emotion.

Most sports movies are either music videos (Any Given Sunday) or a lame attempt a humor (Unnecessary Roughness and countless others).

I'd rather watch a sports documentary than most movies. Fiction rarely, if ever, compares to real-life. Can any fictional story compare to Armstrongs' or the Miracle on Ice?

2 favorite movie scenes:

[1] Rocky II ... when he's visiting Adrian in the hospital and she tells him "I want you to do one thing for me. Win". I feel as though I could run through a wall. The training montage following is inspritational.

[2] Rudy -- as he opens the 3rd letter from Notre Dame. The previous 2 have been rejections. The 3rd one is acceptance. He weeps, and so do I. Very few would even have the balls to make it that far, let alone go through with the football part.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

yep, I liked Rudy too...although I saw it after Lord of the rings and it bugged me to see a hobbit trying to play football...

slapshot was great...but it was just plain hilarious in the Quebec version...people from QC on this forum will likely agree

Endurance was good too. (life of Gebreselassie with himself)

there was a movie with Michael Douglas as a marathon runner (remember he runs to work with his tie around his head...) where he collapses a few miles from the finish of the qual race for the olympics.
It was the called "the champion" I think...but not sure.

Hoosiers was based on a true story- tiny Milan High School winning the Indiana all schools state title.

And ESPN Classic rocks when it's actually showing the old games (not Sportscentury) I cry every time I see them show a hockey team clinching the Stanley Cup. I'm fascinated by the old Wide World of Sports broadcasts. Now when are they going to do an Ironman marathon?

" I tried to capture the spirit of the thing. " (repeat)
"This young man has had a very trying rookie season, with the litigation, the notoriety, his subsequent deportation to Canada and that country's refusal to accept him, I guess that's more than most 21-year-olds can handle. Number six, Ogie Oglethorpe. "
" Is the answer Jesus? "
"The fans are standing up to them! The security guards are standing up to them! The peanut vendors are standing up to them! And by golly, if I could be down there, I'd be standing up to them!"

"Breaking Away" was the first time I saw that men shaved their legs for reasons other than surgery. I did some business in Bloomington, Indiana, where the story was based out of and filmed and loved walking around seeing the locations.

"Slap Shot" always makes me laugh (Paul Newman - Grrrrrowl!)

"The Replacements" has given us a few good one-liners in our house with football sons (Remember chicks dig scars).

Can never make it through "Rudy" without a box of tissues nearby.

Can't wait to see "Miracle" as soon as it is out, based on the 1980 US hockey team.

"Ryan's Song" - sniffle.

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Have you hugged Your Mom today?

"Ryan's Song" - sniffle.

I really hate to do this, but it's "Brian's Song" the story of Brian Piccolo and his rival teammate turned friend Gale "The Kansas Comet" Sayers. I prefer the James Caan & Billy Dee Williams version to the newer "Hey we can make money of this tear-jerker" crappier version.

As a Bears' fan I couldn't let it be called "Ryan's song" (although Ryan is the most regal and powerful of all names). Nothing personal.

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This movie led to one of the saddest moments of my life. A speech by Virginia McCaskey ... wife of longtime owner of the Bears. At the game following Walter Payton's death, this little old lady spoke to the crowd at Soldier Field, saying "After Brian died, we said we'd never get involved with another player. Then came Walter ...."

I couldn't choke them back.

Forget Jordan, Forget Hull, Forget Sandberg, Banks and Sosa, Chicago is STILL Walter's town.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

I agree the best of all time is Slapshot but these are pretty good too:

"When we were kings;" the documentary about the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" championship bout between Ali and George Foreman.

"Hoop Dreans" the documentary about the lives of two inner-city African American teenagers who dream to play pro ball

"Eight men out," the movie about the Chicago "Black" Sox

"Bull Durham," The Classic

"Victory," with an improbable Silvester Stallone playing goalie for the allies.

"The fish that saved Pittsburgh," kinda lame but funny.

Sorry but other than "Breaking away" and "Without limits" I can't think of a single good movie about endurance sports

I saw Touching the Void last night (it's released in England). Very good. Documentary style with Simpson and Yates in a studio talking about what happened and two other climbers recreating the story at the same time.

Truely amazing - Simpson should have died several times.

I also rewatch the IMAX film "Everest" fairly frequently on DVD. It's both inspiring and a recognition of our mortality when pushing the edge.

the IMAX movie "Extreme."

pure cinematography and soundtrack. o-my-god beautiful with very little dialog. just folks doing their sport for all the right reasons.

My votes are, for any sports movie, not just endurance sports.

Breaking Away

M*A*S*H - (well, there is a football game)

Rocky I and II

Remember the Titans. Very Hollywood, but a good story nonetheless.

Bull Durham (I can't believe I have a Kevin Costner film here)

Slapshot

Mystery, Alaska

A Sunday in Hell (1976 Paris Roubaix)

and of course, Chariots of Fire.

Grand Prix (1966)

LeMans (1970)

Breaking Away

On Any Sunday (Bruce Brown)

Endless Summer

Search for Animal Chin (silly but cool old skate movie, started a whole genre)

Hoop Dreams

Big Wednesday

Sunday in Hell

Enter the Dragon

Forgot one from the so bad it's good category:

The Cutting Edge- yeah it's cheesy, cliched and over the top, but I can't stop watching when I come across it on the dish. Helps that the leads are attractive and have a good sense of comic timing; the story, though cliched, works; and the producers seem to be in on the joke. ("I can't believe it. He's tangled up in his own lederhosen!")

"Toe pick!"

I saw a documentary on HBO called "Smashing Machine" about one of those Ultimate Fighting guys the night before a criterium. It wasn't inspirational, per-se, but seeing the hell those guys went through made the "butterflies" go away. On race day, the movie stuck with me and I just thought about "how much worse" it could be and ended up racing more aggressively than I ever have. Course, I crashed spectacularly on the last lap (not my fault, honestly) but that's the way it goes :-)

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No sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter!

[reply][B]"Ryan's Song" - sniffle.[/B]

I really hate to do this, but it's "Brian's Song"

No problem-o. Thanks for the correction. See...I get so choked up I can't even remember the right name of the movie.

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Have you hugged Your Mom today?

Rocky IV...Ivan Drago...Training in the deep snow...chopping wood, sprinting up mountains...awesome soundtrack....the best of the Rocky series.

OK let me have it.

Dave from VA

I can't believe noone has yet mentioned "American Flyers" with Kevin Costner. I believe that was 1985 or so. A bit corny, but I have always loved that movie!

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Mine would have to be:

Without Limits

The cycling movie with Dennis Quaid (Don't remember the name)

Major League

The Replacements



----->Trent

We were just talking about Rocky IV the other day and how you could make a pretty good ESPN type commercial using Lance as Rocky and Jan Ulrich as Drago. Have Lance riding up some Alpine pass in the snow with a leather bomber jacket on while Jan rides some hi tech computerized trainer in a German Sports lab....... Hell why not do the whole movie. Tyler can play the Apollo Creed role and Jan can ride him off a cliff early in the season, Bob Roll can play Paulie and at the end Lance can scream " Yo Sheryl.... I did it!"



Seriously though I would go with Remember the Titans, Rudy, Hoosiers and Blue Crush for some good surf shots and Kate Bosworth!

Without a doubt...

Bull Durham

Other mentionables...

The Natural was awesome as well

For Love of the Game - Very important message: you can be rich, popular and famous but there really is nothing like the love of a good woman... LOL

And for a real tear jerker... ESPN Classic. I get all choked up seeing Kirk Gibson gimping along after hitting that homer in '88 - and thank God he did, Saxy was on deck. jk Stephen :), USA winning the hockey Gold or Dwight Clark and his "Catch".... ahhhhh

Back when I had time to watch movies I knew nothing of the swim bike and run so forgive me if my choices are a bit skewed :)

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maylene jackson, cscs
http://www.kidsintraining.org

I really hate to do this, but it's "Brian's Song"...

TripleThreat, you kill me (Oh! I just though of another movie - Sandlot!!! "Smalls, you're killing me!" and please don't worry about correcting it if I got the quote wrong :)

I am sitting here in front of my computer for the third day in a row due to this stupid midatlantic "winter storm" thing. This is hell for a southern cali girl. Anyway, I just read through some of the posts about the guy's bike that was thrashed and honor roll and I have to say that, TripleThreat, you truly brought not only a smile to my face, but downright, gut wrenching, milk outta the nose, laughter with your correction above.

I truly hope you enjoy yourself and take things not so seriously in real life. And if there is ANY question if this is a light-hearted post, please believe it is. Take care all.

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maylene jackson, cscs
http://www.kidsintraining.org

That's awesome! Don't forget the steroid injections for Jan; the movie shows the Deltoid as the injection site?? Sheryl Crow can't be on the soundtrack...her music puts me to sleep!

The Jericho Mile