You cannot always be the amazing athlete, but at least you can watch the amazing athlete–on screen, that is. Sports movies can be the most inspirational genre in cinema.  There is something about sports movies that most people just love and remember forever.

#10: We Are Marshall

A true story of tragedy and hope, Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox star as Jack Lengyel and Red Dawson, respectively. In 1970, Marshall University’s football program is threatened to be cancelled after a tragic plane crash killed the majority of the school’s football team. Seventy-five members of the team were killed in the accident and Jack Lengyel steps in to fill the void as Marshall’s football coach.

#9 : Kicking and Screaming

Pretty much  any movie with Will Ferrel in it is going to make you laugh. Phil Weston (Will Ferrell), an immature adult leads his son’s soccer team with the assistance of Da Bears former head coach, Mike Ditka, against his fatherly foe, Buck ( Robert Duvall).  This movie gets hilarious when Will Ferrell gets addicted to cappuccinos and goes berserk, becoming an embarrassment to everyone. This movie reminds me a lot of Hot Rod as Phil hates his father and wants to prove him wrong.

#8: Hoosiers

Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), a newly hired basketball coach for the Milan High School Indians in the small town of Hickory, Indiana. Coach Dale sticks to his coaching philosophies, even when his star player decides to take the game into his own hands. Hoosiers is a classic that every basketball fan should see.

#7: The Sandlot

The Sandlot is also a classic. Scottie Smalls is an athletically challenged kid who goes out to make some friends over the summer. Smalls joins a rowdy gang of pick-up baseball players at the local sandlot. From then on, he learns that Babe Ruth, The Great Bambino, is indeed not a woman, and he even learns how to catch a baseball. When Smalls hits his first career home run out of the lot, the ball signed by Babe Ruth is under the possession of The Beast and the boys have to retrieve the ball.

#6: Glory Road

Virtually no one knows about Texas Western University. Set in the 60s,  Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) is hired to be the head coach of the Miners, and fashions a mostly black team amongst a racial American time period. Haskins, a very animated coach, tries to teach his team respect and discipline as the team goes on to play against the “Baron of the Bluegrass” hall-of-fame coach, Adolph Rupp, and his all-white Kentucky Wildcat squad. Glory Road is a great college basketball movie. Like Remember the Titans, Glory Road is a great story of overcoming racial inequality.

#5: Miracle

A group of college hockey players come together to form the squad for the  1980 United States hockey team.  With Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) leading the way as head coach, he leads his inexperienced Olympic team against the unbeatable Soviet Union. The two teams face off in a hostile matchup during the height of the Cold War. This movie is epic as a group of underdogs defy all critics and compete against the powerful Soviets.

#4: Greatest Game Ever Played

Are you a gentleman or a lady and like to dabble in golfing? Check out this movie. This film is one of very few golf movies out there, and is probably the best one. If you are a person who finds watching golf sleep-inducing like me, this movie is not quite like that.  Based on a true story, Shia LaBeouf stars as Francis Quimet (Wee-met) who became the first amateur golfer to win the US Open. Watch Francis stun the golfing world and take down the British golfers Harry Vardon and Ted Ray with the help of Eddie, Francis’s caddy with a big mouth.

#3: Remember the Titans

A court order in 1971 forces the integration of three high schools in Virginia, and T.C. Williams High School head football coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton) is forced to step down. His replacement? An African-American coach, Herman Boone (Denzel Washington). This movie has a great message against racism as the players on Boone’s team put their pride behind themselves, believe in their colored coach, and put together a season worth remembering.

#2: The Blind Side

Born into poverty, Michael Oher, or ‘Big Mike’ as he is called, is taken in by the wealthy Tuohy family thanks to Leigh Anne’s generosity (Sandra Bullock). SJ, the Tuohy’s son, tutors Big Mike with the X’s and O’s of football, and Oher matures into a protector of not only his quarterback, but his little brother as well. This is a great “rags to riches” story as Big Mike escapes poverty and continues on to play for Ole Miss and in the NFL.

#1: Rudy

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. Rudy is by far the greatest football movie ever produced. Rudy Ruetigger (Sean Astin) proves everybody wrong as he pursues his dream he had since he was a child to play for the  Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Many tell him that he can’t do this, but he proves them all wrong with hard work and dedication for four long years on the practice squad.  He is able to fulfill his dream, but perhaps in an unexpected way.

Honorable Mentions

Little Giants, Space Jam, Secretariat, Radio, The Mighty Ducks, Field of Dreams, Rocky, Angels in the Outfield, Invincible, The Natural, Churchball, Karate Kid, Happy Gilmore, Seabiscuit, the Rookie, Moneyball, and 42.