My top two favorite underdog sports movies
Anthony Antinore
Issue date: 7/17/09 Section: Sports
There are two things I could not live without in this world: sports and movies. So obviously the combination of the two gets me very excited. Sports provide drama and dynamic story lines, which are essential to any great movie.
Sport movies have inspired potential athletes and honored former athletes who have accomplished incredible feats. The most successful sports story does not always make the best movie, though. An underdog story provides the audience with an extreme sense of hope that is rarely experienced in everyday life.
Because underdog movies have had such an impact on my life, I thought I would share a couple of my favorites. These movies are just my personal favorites, but not necessarily the most influential or best made sporting movies.
So without any further delay, here are my two favorite underdog sport movies.
Rocky I
Any movie in the Rocky series (well maybe not No. 5) could have been on this list, but for the sake of picking one I had to choose the original. As a young kid I loved Rocky for the over exaggerated fight scenes and because my father grew up a couple blocks from where Rocky lived in the movie.
As I grew older and re-watched the movie close to 50 times more, I began to appreciate it for the story. I consider Rocky to be more of an "opportunist underdog" because he was able to take full advantage of a one-in-a-million chance that fell into his lap.
Apollo Creed, Rocky's antagonist, enhanced the movie by portraying a typical boxing superstar personality. Creed's underestimation of Rocky's ability and toughness fueled Rocky to train harder, and boy did he ever.
The training montage shown just before the main event may be one of the most famous portions of the movie. "Rock" jogged his way around the city of Philadelphia using different places and monuments to assist in his training. Now that I live in Philadelphia, the urge to run up the Art Museum's stairs has diminished, but I cannot say I have never done it.
Sport movies have inspired potential athletes and honored former athletes who have accomplished incredible feats. The most successful sports story does not always make the best movie, though. An underdog story provides the audience with an extreme sense of hope that is rarely experienced in everyday life.
Because underdog movies have had such an impact on my life, I thought I would share a couple of my favorites. These movies are just my personal favorites, but not necessarily the most influential or best made sporting movies.
So without any further delay, here are my two favorite underdog sport movies.
Rocky I
Any movie in the Rocky series (well maybe not No. 5) could have been on this list, but for the sake of picking one I had to choose the original. As a young kid I loved Rocky for the over exaggerated fight scenes and because my father grew up a couple blocks from where Rocky lived in the movie.
As I grew older and re-watched the movie close to 50 times more, I began to appreciate it for the story. I consider Rocky to be more of an "opportunist underdog" because he was able to take full advantage of a one-in-a-million chance that fell into his lap.
Apollo Creed, Rocky's antagonist, enhanced the movie by portraying a typical boxing superstar personality. Creed's underestimation of Rocky's ability and toughness fueled Rocky to train harder, and boy did he ever.
The training montage shown just before the main event may be one of the most famous portions of the movie. "Rock" jogged his way around the city of Philadelphia using different places and monuments to assist in his training. Now that I live in Philadelphia, the urge to run up the Art Museum's stairs has diminished, but I cannot say I have never done it.
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Chad
posted 1/27/10 @ 8:49 AM EST
A great post. But, I think you have left out a few of the movies. Check http://blueunderdogs.blogspot.com/2010/01/random-list-of-sport-underdogs.html
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