In My Opinion: Five Best Sports Films of All Time (By a Non-Sport Person…)

My sports experience is… limited.

This is mostly because I am quite possibly the most uncoordinated person to ever grace this planet so as a result, the whole ‘sport’ thing wasn’t really my jam.

The only sport related activities I am actually any good at subsequently are running (which really involves moving in a straight line) and hockey (where I experienced the most success playing goalie, where the whole point is being hit by the ball – something I was pretty good at on field before I played in goal.)

I am – however – a pretty big fan of sports related movies, so figured inspired by the whole ‘sports’ thing going on with the Olympics at the moment, I’d share with you my five favourite sports films of all time.

You can either agree or disagree, if you have opinions on the matter, feel free to comment!

So coming in at Number Five is absolutely the 90s favourite, Cool Runnings.

Seriously, even yesterday watching the whole ‘Bolt running the 100 meters’ thing, all I could think about was how epic it would be if they all tripped over, went and found some washed up cheating coach and formed a bobsled team.

Cool Runnings is a favourite of my husband and mine, mostly because it has ALL of the feels.

The story distantly follows the true events of a bunch of athletes who became Jamaica’s first bobsled team, which in itself is pretty weird considering you need ice for a bobsled, and evidently Jamaica hasn’t got much of it.

Sanka is the best part of this movie – he’s Derice (the actual runner’s) best friend. His satirical comments the whole way through are amazing, and I still to this day quote ‘Sanka? You dead man?’ to my technical staff.

I remember watching Cool Runnings a million times as a kid with my parents, and it is mostly for nostalgia reasons that I adore this movie.

My Number Four is a recent watch, 23 Blast.

I found this movie by accident on iTunes, and admittedly, watched it because it looked really, really cheesy and there is nothing I love in this world more that cheesy B Grade Movies.

The concept is this: teenage boy with bad boy teenage best friend play football. Teenage boy gets sudden sinus infection, becomes blind and his whole life falls apart (yes, that escalated quickly)

At first, really devastated, the teenage boy assumes his whole life is over, especially his promising football career. Only then, his rebel best friend and some girl and nice-guy-coach decide that perhaps he can play after all.

Yes, this movie is about a blind football player, and it was SO emotional, I am not even kidding.

Also based on a true story, 23 Blast, was an emotional roller coaster and while a little B Grade, I enjoyed this film a whole lot more than I thought I would. Seriously, if you can get your hands on it, totally watch 23 Blast!

I’m not sure if you’re going to agree with my Number Three, but it is one of my favourite movies of all time. The Karate Kid (the new one, because we all need some Justin Bieber soundtrack)

I grew up on Karate Kid – the crane kick? So good! – so when the newer one came out, I was pretty pumped because 1) Jackie Chan and 2) Will Smith’s super cute (now super weird) son Jayden.

I think the central appeal of the new Karate Kid is the really intense emotional peaks – such as his training in that temple thing, or the scene where Jackie Chan tells Jayden about what happened to his family.

This movie was quickly become one of my all time favourite movies, and I actually love it more than the first one. It is also a movie that every six months or so I am overcome with a powerful urge to watch – as my friend Jamie Wong will vouch for.

I know it isn’t a team sport, but the Karate Kid is awesome.

My Number Two most favourite sports movie of all time (before I reveal my number one) is The Rookie.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

The Rookie. Quoted every night by either my husband or I, when we get into bed, and one of us asks the other ‘who’s turn is it to pray tonight?’ the other will respond, ‘your turn coach.’

The Rookie is about a middle aged guy who lives in the middle of some town in America, his dream was to be a baseball player.

Instead, he got married, settled down, had a family, and now coaches baseball.

He agrees to try out for the minor leagues if the team he coaches wins the series, despite it being enormously unlikely that they will.

The team he coaches does win, and they exit the locker room slapping the coach on the back saying, ‘Your turn coach,’ and it’s hugely emotional.

The rest of the story follows this middle aged family man finally being handed his dream. It asks some pretty deep questions about what we really strive for in life, and just a really satisfying watch.

I love the Rookie, so much so, I own it on DVD and most Saturdays sneak it out of the hall cupboard and ask Josh if he feels like watching it that night.

My Number One favourite sports movie of all time (drum roll please) is the undeniably awesome, feel good feature Mighty Ducks 2.

Perhaps some of you might have expected me to say Mighty Ducks 1 (or Champions) as it is otherwise known, but personally, I have always loved D2 more.

There are a number of reasons for this, firstly, they aren’t in the little leagues any more, they are youth Team USA, and the characters are amazingly stereotypical (cowboy dude, figure skater, girl goalie to step in alongside Goldberg) I loved the ‘team bonding’ scene and often when I was in charge of my church youth band, I would quote the Mighty Ducks or use it as examples of team work – I wish I was kidding, I’m not.

Then there’s the finer details, the Bash Brothers, Coach Bombay’s temptation to a flasher life than the one he had, pep talks from the old dude in the skate shop, I love it.

The way they changed uniforms at the end and as a result they won against Iceland?

Fun fact, I am pretty sure this film is based on an 80s ice hockey match that came to represent American patriotism during the Cold War era in Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, USA vs. USSR.

D2 is the best ever sports film of all time, in my opinion and I could seriously watch it any time, any place (and I’ll probably wear my Mighty Ducks jumper while I do it, YES I am a fan girl.)

If you have any other ideas, totally comment below, but there you have it, a non-sporty person’s top five sports films of all time.