Let's Talk Sports Movies

Mark Wahlberg as Vince Papale in Invincible

I was raised on baseball, bred to be a diehard Atlanta Braves fan no matter what.  I supported my team back when Joe Torre was manager and the Braves couldn't win a game to save themselves.  That was back when they finished in the basement and the few people that showed up at the old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium wore paper bags on their heads because being a Braves fan wasn't something to be proud of. 

Later on I would add Nascar and hockey to the sports I enjoyed watching, and thanks to an ex, football and basketball.  I guess it's true that he did do something good for me.   Okay, I jest.  I did get a Kindle, auto start for my car and my dog from him.  But I digress.

I love sports movies.  I'll watch any and all of them.  I don't care what sport so long as it's a underdog type tale and then I'm in.  I can't remember the first sports movie I fell victim to - - maybe it was The Bad News Bears (the original with the great Walter Matthau) or maybe it was being an extra in The Slugger's Wife (which is quasi-sports.)  Point is that sports movies are a mean master to me.

Invincible was on cable last night.  I own it on DVD and yet I still stopped what I was doing to sit and watch.  And cry.  I cry when Mark Wahlberg, as Vince Papale, is told he ran a 4.5 from Greg Kinnear as Coach Dick Vermiel.  I cry when Kinnear tells Wahlberg "Welcome to the Eagles."  I cry when Vince tells his best friend Tommy, the underrated Kirk Acevedo, he's a Philadelphia Eagle.  I cry when Vince rips up the note his ex wrote him, telling him he was nothing and would never amount to anything.  I cry when Vince picks up a fumble and scores a touchdown against New York.  I cry at the end when we see clips of the real 1976 season and the real Vince Papale.  Yep, I love this football movie.  I love Mark Wahlberg in the role and I love the feel-good nature of it.  And let's be honest, the soundtrack kicks some ass.

And it's not just Invincible.  Major League, Remember the Titans, Draft Day, The Replacements, The Pride of the Yankees, Rocky, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, 61*, Miracle, Rudy, Eight Men Out, We Are Marshall . . . the list could go on and on.  They all require me to have tissues handy while watching, even those that are comedies.  Is it a hormonal imbalance?  Weak tear ducts?  Improper diet?  No idea but these flicks make me an emotional mess.  And I love them.

I dare you to watch The Pride of the Yankees, with the amazing Gary Cooper portraying Lou Gehrig, and not cry.  It's simply not possible.  Or how about the closing scene of Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner has a catch with his dad?  (Although I start bawling when Archie "Moonlight" Graham steps off the field to become Burt Lancaster's Doc Graham and then walks off into the cornfield amid a variety of "good games" from his fellow players. It's a heart tugging moment and it's Burt Lancaster so there you go.) 

So talk to me, friends.  What do you think about sports movies?  To cry or not to cry?  Which is your favorite?