Slapshot:

The brute physicality of sports like football and hockey might be hard to show in film, but, when pulled off, it can make a good sports movie great, especially when it is mixed with humor.

In Slapshot, Reggie ‘Reg’ Dunlop (masterfully played by the great Paul Newman) is the owner of the Charleston Chiefs, a failing minor league hockey team.

The beginning of the movie finds the Chiefs short on fans, and even shorter on funds. What’s worse for the Chiefs is that these hard times probably mean the end of the team after the season is over.

Amidst all of the hard times and uncertainty, Dunlop is looking to sell the team down the river and get what he can. However, Dunlop comes to the conclusion that in order to save the team, the Chiefs are going to have to resort to ‘dirty’ tactics.

To accomplish this, Dunlop signs the Hanson triplets (played by the outwardly dorky, inwardly menacing Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson and David Hanson) to wreak havoc on the ice. What follows are possibly some of the most shockingly hilarious sports movie moments of all-time.

The entirety of Slapshot consists of many bloody faces, casual ice-beatings and full-fledged brawls capped off by a championship game that never finishes.

While the simple game, break, game, break flow of Slapshot is evident, the dark humor of the fight scenes and dialogue will keep viewers enticed and entertained several times over.

Miracle:

Many sports movies claim to be a true depiction of exact events, but then are completely fabricated by the Hollywood directors. Miracle is the amazing underdog story about the 1980 USA men’s hockey team who defeated the Soviet Union and went on to win the Gold Medal.

Did I mention that it is completely factual, and consists of very little Hollywood dramatizations?

The main reason why so many people remember, and love this movie is because of the fact that this was a real event that happened 32 years ago, and it entailed all of America.

Not only were hockey fans invested in this historical Olympic team, but every American was following the team, because of the heated rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union due to the Cold War.

My guess as to why Miracle received the most votes from the GBS population is because of the stellar performances from the young hockey actors. The fact that the team was comprised of college athletes allows for us, the students, to imagine ourselves winning the gold medal in a few years.

Along with the team, the coach, played by Kurt Russell, was nothing short of an epic portrayal of the real Herb Brooks. The way he fired up his team by throwing a table across the locker room could be the most memorable blow-up ever.

Miracle encapsulates the true events of the 1980 gold medal hockey team. In my opinion, it is the greatest hockey movie of all time, with The Mighty Ducks coming in a close second.

Sandlot:

If you haven’t seen The Sandlot, I’m sorry, but you probably didn’t have the best childhood. This must-see classic depicts what it was truly like to be a suburban kid who loved to play pick-up baseball with friends in 1962.

The reason why this movie is so great is because it captures not only the baseball lovers, but also any kid who has ever been in trouble, or been in danger of getting into trouble.

The film follows Scotty Smalls, otherwise known as “Smalls”, as he tries to gain acceptance by the neighborhood group of kids who play baseball everyday at “The Sandlot”.

Smalls hits his first home run over a backyard fence, where “The Beast” lies waiting for baseballs. The problem is that Smalls’s baseball was signed by Babe Ruth and belonged to his stepfather. The rest of the movie is based on getting back the baseball from a dog known to eat kids.

The main reason why I love The Sandlot is because of all the perfectly cast characters and their nicknames.

Besides Smalls, there is Squints, Yeah-Yeah, and of course Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez, who-spoiler alert- ultimately saves the day in the end and retreives the baseball in one of the most epic chase scenes of motion-picture history.

The characters are easily relatable to any of your friends, the story line is exciting and funny at the same time, and the soundtrack is unforgettable. It’s no mystery why this movie was a top favorite of GBS.

Dodgeball:

Everybody loves a good underdog story.  There are few greater feelings in all of sports than being the underdog, but somehow managing to prevail.

In Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Peter La Fleur, played by Vince Vaughn, is the lovable owner and operator of a failing gym who needs  $50,000 to keep it.

However, White Goodman (wonderfully played by Ben Stiller) owns the state-of-the-art Globo Gym across the street, and wants to bulldoze La Fleur’s Average Joe’s Gymnasium for an auxiliary parking lot.

To make the money, La Fleur brings together his loyal gym members to play in a dodgeball tournament, in which the grand prize is (gasp) $50,000. What follows are some of the greatest sports movie  moments of all-time, pitting the two rivals against each other in a tournament worth remembering.

Historically, dodgeball is a gym class favorite, but is never really considered a sport. However, in Dodgeball, purely amazing (and not to mention, hilarious) athleticism fills the tournament, keeping viewers on their toes.

While the tournament is great, what makes Dodgeball such a great sports movie is that, while watching it, it is easy to forget that it is a sports movie. The hilarity that fills the plot throughout is very memorable and highly quotable. On top of that, the characters are very relatable; everyone can find something they like about the characters, making the quirkiness and individual attention to detail very impressive.

In a field of sport-heavy movies, what makes Dodgeball truly great is the lack of a full sports feeling.