(Click to enlarge) (Stephanie Soto)
Get your popcorn ready.
In the spirit of March Madness we are starting arguments all for the sake of starting arguments and to claim the best sports movie of all time.
Sports movies are almost as iconic as the real-world games they depict. Hoosiers and Rudy references are bound to pop up at some point during the NBA and college football seasons. That’s because we use sports movies to understand the unpredictability of our favorite pastimes.
A highly intelligent selection committee, consisting of some friends and me, seeded a field of 64 of the best sports movies of all time. I work in sports, one of my friends works in an arena, and the other has never met a fantasy game she didn’t like, so obviously we are experts. Before you go writing complaints to the committee, remember that we are also '80s babies who live in the age of YouTube with attention spans of a hummingbird.
We seeded the movies and selected a winner depending on the four categories.
1. Quotability -- How often would you quote this movie in a bar or at a party?
2. Actual athletes -- Are actual professional athletes in this movie? If so, the credibility of the movie escalates.
3. Historic factor -- Does it cover an historic moment in sports? Is it a movie that you will tell your kids about?
4. Eye test -- The overall feeling the movie left you with.
We had the Inside College Basketball crew, including our top-notch researcher, fill out brackets, and while there were some complaints with seeding, most were happy with the overall field.
“Love and Basketball against Eddie is going to be an interesting matchup,” Jon Rothstein, CBS Sports Network Insider
Final Four: Above The Rim, Moneyball, Varsity Blues, Rocky
Championship game: Above the Rim, Rocky
Winner: Rocky
“These seedings are very Oregon-like. The fact that I have Major League winning as a No. 12 seed shows just how off these seeds are. Also, where is The Legend of Bagger Vance?” – Wally Szczerbiack, CBS Sports Network college basketball analyst
Final Four: White Men Can’t Jump, Major League, Jerry Maguire, Happy Gilmore.
Championship game: Jerry Maguire, Major League
Winner: Major League
“Rocky IV is the best movie ever made and Angels in the Outfield is a 16? I’m outraged. Also, how are you going to put Seabiscuit up against Million Dollar Baby in the first round That’s tough.” – Andy Tulin, CBS Sports Network researcher
Final Four: Space Jam, Friday Night Lights, Sandlot, Rocky
Championship game: Friday Night Lights, Rocky
Winner: Rocky
“Let’s be real, is Prefontaine even the best movie out about Steve Prefontaine? – Jamie Kaplan, CBS Sports Network researcher
Check back after each round of the NCAA tournament to see who advances in the March Movie Madness bracket. Also use #MovieMadness on Twitter to suggest which movies should advance.
Follow Adena Andrews on Twitter @adena_andrews.