by Victor Medina

Created on: September 23, 2008

The Top 15 sports movies of all time are as different as the sports they feature, but it makes one wonder: what makes a great sports movie? Is it the realism of the sport being featured, or the relationship between the athletes being featured? Perhaps it is the combination of both that makes the sport film so unique and appealing to viewers. These films certainly attest to that.

#15. Facing the Giants
A great little film about high school football. Entertaining and heartfelt, with believable characters.

#14. Hoop Dreams
This true tale about high school basketball stars trying to make it to the NBA is one of the best documentaries ever. A huge dose of reality for any student athlete who focuses more on sports than their studies.

#13. The Pride of the Yankees
Gary Cooper was never better as the great Lou Gehrig in this classic film that chronicled his final days as a player. Made merely three years after Gehrig's death, a number of real-life characters appeared in the film, including Babe Ruth.

#12. Remember the Titans
This true story about a Virginia football team struggling with desegregation in the 1960's could have been preachy, but instead it is a straight-forward, entertaining movie that pulls no punches. The football action is first-rate.

#11 The Sandlot
The Sandlot is one of the few films that accurately captures the love of the game so many of us have as children. It also is a slice of American life long past, and is incredibly funny.

#10. Hoosiers
The best basketball movie ever made. A fictional tale of Indiana high school basketball in the 1950's is led by strong performances from Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper.

#9. The Hustler
An up and coming shark (Paul Newman) faces off against a legendary pool player (Jackie Gleason) and Jackie Gleason. The game of pool becomes a metaphor for the personal struggle between the two.

#8. Caddyshack
This classic 80's screwball comedy is only vaguely about golf, but golf is the setting by which this class-warfare comedy plays out. Highly quotable and highly funny.

#7. Field of Dreams
Baseball never seemed so mystical. Despite the supernatural overtones, this is really a story about fathers and sons, about dreams unrealized and wishes fulfilled. No man can make it through the end without shedding at least one tear.

#6. Rudy
This true story about a long-suffering Notre Dame football player is for anyone who never got to be the starting quarterback. Showboaters and end zone dancers could take a lesson from Rudy: this is what football is all about.

#5. Bull Durham
Funny and profane, this is the other Kevin Costner baseball movie that shows the other side of baseball, and it isn't all cornfields and Shoeless Joe.

#4. Brian's Song
This made for TV movie suffers from a bad case of the 70's, but it is still an affecting tale about the power of friendship, told through the story of Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo.

#3. The Natural
Some people criticize it for being too slowly paced, but The Natural is much like the game of baseball itself. It takes its time and unravels a wondrous story. Robert Redford plays an older rookie who has a mythical season.

#2. Rocky
No amount of sequels can diminish this tale of a down-on-his-luck boxer who overcomes and learns how to be a champion. How can you not stand up and cheer the film's final scene?

#1. Raging Bull
Where Rocky inspired, Raging Bull brings you back to reality. Robert DeNiro was never better as Jake LaMotta, who struggled to define himself without boxing.

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