The best sports team movies of all time

Do you believe in miracles? you will after watching this dramatized version of the American college kids who took down the powerhouse USSR hockey team at the Olympics at the peak of the Cold War. If you're not chanting "USA!" by the end of the movie, you better get your pulse checked.

1970s minor league hockey never looked so bad and so good at the same time. This cult classic starring Paul Newman is every bit as vulgar and violent as any hockey fan wants it to be. If the thuggish Hanson Brothers don’t hook you, the rest of the foul-mouthed cast will.

Everyone loves an underdog story, but no one did it quite as beautifully as “Hoosiers.” Gene Hackman plays the unflappable Norman Dale coaching a small, but plucky team trying knock down the giants of Indiana basketball. If you don’t get hyped after Dale’s David versus Goliath speech, you’re probably dead inside.

You want to talk about a rag-tag group of ballplayers? It doesn’t get any rougher than the cast of characters in this Cleveland Indians-centered film. From the out of control Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn played by Charlie Sheen to the gruff Jake Taylor played by Tom Berenger, this charming group will have you rooting for the man-children of the world and like it.

In small-town Texas, football is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. “Friday Night Lights” takes you into the depths of the Periman High School football team in Odessa, where the pressure and politics of Texas football are on full display. It might not always be pretty, but it is a way of life that is perfectly encapsulated in this film.

Football is a business run by incredible egos and vast amounts of money. Oliver Stone’s dramatic, but a little too close to home look at the grimier parts of professional football is served with some of the best gameplay scenes of any football movie. The NFL may not have licensed the use of its teams, but this movie reveals some hard truths about the league they can’t hide.

If you can dodge a wrench, you can watch this movie. Ben Stiller is at his best as the over-the-top villain as Vince Vaughn plays his cool and collected opposite just trying to save his gym with an eclectic cast of characters. There is no shortage of ridiculous moments in this true underdog story.

Are you ready to feel the rhythm and feel the rhyme? Based on the incredible true story, a group of failed Jamaican sprinters turn to bobsled in order to live their Olympic dreams. There are the usual hot-weather people in cold-weather places hijinks, but past the slapstick comedy is a movie with a lot of heart with a team that discovers playing for each other is just as satisfying as playing for yourself.

Children are usually the example of innocence in movies. That’s definitely not the case in this movie. This motley crew of profane kids is thrown together as a literal loser’s team. While they might be kids you’d want your child to hang out with, there is a level of cool that comes from not giving a damn that you have to respect.

Many incoming coaches get the short end of stick walking into a new situation. Then you have what Rick Tolley inherited at Marshall. “We Are Marshall” follows the 1970 Thundering Herd team after a plane crash killed 37 players, five coaches, two athletic trainers and 25 boosters. It may be a little cheesy, but this account a real-life tragedy and the subsequent recovery still gives you enough heartwarming moments to make you smile.

Yes, this is a Disney film, but that doesn’t stop “Remember the Titans” from taking a real look at the struggle of integration in 1971 Virginia. From Denzel Washington’s Herman Boone to Kip Pardue’s Ronnie “Sunshine” Bass, this is a cast that will make you fall in love with them. More importantly, the film shows that even in times of tension, sports are the great uniting force that can overcome anything.

If you want to see classic urban turnaround story “Stand By Me” on the basketball court with Samuel L. Jackson, look no further than “Coach Carter.” The undisciplined ballers at Richmond High School transform from coal into diamonds under the pressure of Ken Carter’s coaching. It may be a little formulaic, but this movie will have you out of your seat rooting for these kids to succeed.

Sometimes, all of the action happens off the field. “Moneyball” takes the audience behind the scenes to the front office where Oakland Athletics general manager Bill Beane builds a winning team using sabermetrics in addition to observation. It’s a little light on-field action, but this Academy Award-nominated film gives an incredible look at what it takes to make a team with a fax machine, phone and massive amounts of spreadsheets.

When spoiled professional footballers go on strike, the fictional Washington Sentinels turned to a band of burnouts and misfits to bring them to glory. Gene Hackman plays unorthodox head coach Jimmy McGinty as he tries to navigate the last four games of the football season with replacement players led by redemption-seeking Shane “Footsteps” Falco played by Keanu Reeves. Come for the football, stay for the surprisingly light-footed dancing.

Like many sports, basketball was a battleground for racial tensions in the United States. “Glory Road” follows the story of the Texas Western Miners who fielded the first all-black starting five in NCAA Championship history. It’s hard to be the first successful black anything in the United States, and the film beautiful illustrates the constant harassment the team received from racists on their road to the national championship. The team’s success through true adversity is enough to make even the laziest viewer want to run through a wall.

Being the little brother is tough, and few movies got that feeling like the “Little Giants.” Rick Moranis stars as Danny O’Shea who is tired living in his older brother’s (Ed O’Neill) shadow and starts his own pee wee football team to compete with his brother’s squad. Unfortunately, O’Shea’s team is comprised of overlooked and less talented players (much like himself), but with a little hard work and the annexation of a small island country, he is able to rally his troops to overcome their shortcomings and defeat his demons.

Sure, there are only two people in this ebony and ivory duo, but it is still a team nonetheless. Streetwise baller Sidney Deane pairs up with former Tulane athlete Billy Hoyle to take advantage of unsuspecting opponents in pickup games who underestimate Hoyle for his light complexion. Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson play the perfect pair as they hustle people on the court and fight their own demons off of it.

Before they won a Stanley Cup in Anaheim, the Mighty Ducks only existed on film as a plucky, but less talented group of Minnesotan pee wee hockey players. Led by a court-ordered coach fighting his own problems in Gordon Bombay, the Ducks shed their basement-dwelling play and learn to fly on the ice. There might not be a more lovable group of kids in all of sports movies.

Baseball isn’t about going to huge stadiums. It’s about going to your local park and playing with your friends until the sun went down. The Sandlot encapsulated those lazy days in summer when baseball united your buddies and was a safe place for anyone with a glove, ball and bat. The kids in “The Sandlot” may not have won any championships, but they were America’s team. Ballplayers across the country saw themselves in these kids who just wanted to play ball and get into trouble with their pals.

There is no crying in baseball, but there is crying because of baseball movies. Based on the creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, “A League of their Own” follows the Rockford Peaches and their journey for respect in male-dominated sports. This movie is as star-studded as it comes with Tom Hanks, Gina Davis, Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell bringing this charming movie to life.

Before “Friday Night Lights” gave football fans stories rooted in wholesome small-town Texas, “Varsity Blues” trucked audiences like a downhill running back with hormone-driven drama people went crazy over. From the iconic whipped-cream bikini to the overbearing coach, “Varsity Blues” is every wild high school football players dream dialed to 11. While it isn’t winning awards anytime soon, the film’s look into the pressures of adolescence still resonates with teenagers today.

While many films focused on athletes’ exploits on the field, “North Dallas Forty” gave insight into their lives off of it. This part comedy, part satire brings fans into the sex, drugs and party lifestyle pros were taking part in during the '70s. Football players may have been glorified for their achievements on the field, but this lifting of the veil into their personal lives may have knocked them down a few pegs in some fans’ eyes.

The 1919 White Sox may have been one of the best teams ever assembled, but that doesn’t mean anything if you’re struggling to survive. “Eight Man Out” puts the Black Sox Scandal on film in a dramatized version of the events from the fateful World Series to the subsequent consequences. Most sports movies deal with the glory of sports. This one chronicles one of its darkest moments.