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The Daily OrangeJordan's 'Space Jam' dunk tops list of best sports movie moments
By Nate Mattise
Posted: 3/17/08, 11:53 PM EST Section: Feature
March Madness is here, and that means highlights galore: Morrison crying, Laettner hitting turnarounds, Jim Valvano looking for a hug. If you follow sports, you know the drill.
That's precisely where the problem lies. ESPN recently ran its "Greatest Sports Highlight" competition, and it was captivating… if you're a hardcore sports fan.
In light of this, it's time for some sports highlights everyone can enjoy. Introducing the "Greatest Sports MOVIE Highlight" competition. The rules are simple.
1. Only one highlight per movie or franchise allowed. This prevents the contest from being littered with too many moments from the "Major League" series or "The Sandlot II."
2. Highlights must be sports-related so they can be judged on things like circumstance and degree of realism. This also eliminates non-action, over-emotional moments like Adrian coming out of the coma in "Rocky II."
3. No "Miracle." This won the ESPN competition, and now other highlights deserve their moment in the sun. While we're at it, I'm also eliminating Disney channel original sports movies and the "Air Bud" franchise. The 7-10 spare pick up in "Alley Cat Strike" is the best of that bunch, and that isn't even on the "Brink" of placing well in this competition.
Based on those parameters, here's how the selection committee of one thought this would play out. If you're wondering, the tiers are based on how good each of the "Mighty Ducks" movies were. No one likes old ducks so naturally we start with…
"D3: The Mighty Ducks"
Daniel E. Ruettiger making a special-teams tackle in "Rudy"
The Jamaican bobsled team crossing the finish line with its sled on the four members' shoulders in "Cool Runnings"
"Rudy" is one of a select group of movies men will admit to crying over, but the film's climax is just a special-teams tackle.
It's incredibly moving how the team can unite a country and turn the world into Jamaican fans, but they wiped out so badly they needed to physically lift their sled to the finish.
That's precisely where the problem lies. ESPN recently ran its "Greatest Sports Highlight" competition, and it was captivating… if you're a hardcore sports fan.
In light of this, it's time for some sports highlights everyone can enjoy. Introducing the "Greatest Sports MOVIE Highlight" competition. The rules are simple.
1. Only one highlight per movie or franchise allowed. This prevents the contest from being littered with too many moments from the "Major League" series or "The Sandlot II."
2. Highlights must be sports-related so they can be judged on things like circumstance and degree of realism. This also eliminates non-action, over-emotional moments like Adrian coming out of the coma in "Rocky II."
3. No "Miracle." This won the ESPN competition, and now other highlights deserve their moment in the sun. While we're at it, I'm also eliminating Disney channel original sports movies and the "Air Bud" franchise. The 7-10 spare pick up in "Alley Cat Strike" is the best of that bunch, and that isn't even on the "Brink" of placing well in this competition.
Based on those parameters, here's how the selection committee of one thought this would play out. If you're wondering, the tiers are based on how good each of the "Mighty Ducks" movies were. No one likes old ducks so naturally we start with…
"Rudy" is one of a select group of movies men will admit to crying over, but the film's climax is just a special-teams tackle.
It's incredibly moving how the team can unite a country and turn the world into Jamaican fans, but they wiped out so badly they needed to physically lift their sled to the finish.
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