Top Ten List of Non-Sport, Sport Movies:

In sticking with the recent theme of movie lists, specifically sports related movies – I have come up with a list that fits the category that has been under debate. This list takes into account not just the greatness of the movie, but also the relationship to, and significance of the sport portrayed. In other words, number 2 or 3 is not necessarily a better movie than number 7 or 8, it may be a combination of the movie and the significance of sport. (The idea is to leave it open to argument and encourage some debate).
This list looks to capture the movies that involve significant incorporation of sports, yet cannot truly qualify as actual sports movies. It’s a good thing we have a bunch of law students on here to sort out that language and its application, so here goes… Feel free to comment on any or all of these with additions, subtractions and/or counter-arguments.

1. ‘Caddy Shack’ – one of the funniest movies ever. Under debate as to whether it is an actual Sports Movie. If it’s not, it obviously tops this list and many others.

2.‘Jerry Maguire’ – This is perhaps the best relationship/date movie ever. It has everything a guy wants and everything a girl wants – It’s got relationship crap, but also nudity and sex. It’s got sports, but also looks at the life of a pro-athlete from a family perspective as well. It’s got hard-hitting football scenes, but also the wife’s reaction to her husband getting the crap knocked out of him. It is really as close to a perfect movie as I’ve ever seen. Hey, your friends won't even call you gay if you like this movie.

3. ‘The Hurricane’ – terrific movie, better song – not about the boxing, but about the life and story.

4. ‘Finding Forrester’ – very good movie, not enough ball to be a sports movie, but definitely incorporates the ball. Another similar movie might be ‘O’ – in fact it might even be a better movie, nah, probably not.

5. ‘Blue Crush’ – honestly don’t remember the plot, except there were a bunch of girls in bikinis surfing a lot and I think I may have watched it three times in two days.

6. ‘The Big Lebowski’ – this is a great movie, hysterical. Has bowling, but it is not about the bowling, so it is definitely not a sports movie. “Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.” - Priceless. King Pin would fit in this category as well, but a level down.

7. This one might actually be closer to a sports movie, but I can’t decide. ‘Johnny Be Good’. This is about the college recruiting process, not actual football, so I would not qualify it as an actual Sports Movie. That’s why it makes this list instead. (This movie was decent, but by no means a great movie, but I was desperate, and it was an interesting and exaggerated perspective of the recruiting process).

8. This is one you’d probably never think of. ‘Fight Club’. Hey – street fighting is a sport - fight club - that’s like an organized league. This is a fantastic movie, and if I had the chutzpah, I’d put this on my list of actual sports movies, but alas, I am a wuss. On that note, the way Antonio Banderas wipes out Mexicans in ‘Desparado’ looks a lot like sport as well, but let’s not get carried away. Now that I think about it – how is ‘Gladiator’ not a sports movie? It is the essence of sports, the creation of professional sports. It has to be on the actual sports list.

9. ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ – ninja is definitely sport and this is a terrific movie. Perhaps one of my fondest childhood memories was watching this movie on family vacation in Florida with my father and brother and giving ‘high threes’ for a week after.

10. ‘Back to School’ – the great Rodney Dangerfield goes back to college. Very funny movie, sub-plot involves Dangerfield’s son’s venture into the world of team diving on the college level. Seriously, I had a really hard time coming up with a tenth. Feel free to fill one in. I thought about ‘Ladybugs’, another Dangerfield movie, but about girls’ soccer, then I realized it was boring.

Honorable mention –
- ‘Out Cold’ (I think that’s what it’s called). This movie is not widely known, but it made me laugh out loud. It was marketed as the modern-day ski/snowboard version of ‘Animal House’ – not quite, but hysterical nonetheless.
- ‘Animal House’ – there is one scene where Boon and Otter practice their golf swings off of Niedermeyer’s helmet. This is so far-removed from sports, granted. But since it is the greatest movie ever, the combination of its movie greatness plus its very insignificant sports use bumps it into honorable mention. Not really. I just love that movie.
- ‘Harry Potter’ does not make this list – but as soon as they make a movie about steroid-taking monstrosities playing Quidditch, it’s going right to the top of the list.

Your comments please…