Fav Football movie?

There are numerous football movies out there. What’s your favorite? We asked the team and want to hear your input too.

Bruce: There are two football movies I enjoyed watching growing up. The two movies are Rudy and The Longest Yard.

First, growing up as a USC fan, it felt strange that one of my favorite football movie that relates to a rival. But the movie gives a great inspirational message to future college players. The movie tells the story of real-life Notre Dame football player Daniel Ruettiger (“Rudy”), a short, slightly built young man whose dream in life was to play football for the famed Fighting Irish. But his short size didn’t stop him to pursue his dream to play for Notre Dame. One famous part of the movie was when he finally gets to suit up on the final home game of his senior year and ended the movie being carried on by his team.

For the second football movie I like, The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler became a football fan favorite during the mid-2000s. This movie became one of my all-time favorites because it had a lot of famous former football and WWE wrestlers in it. Also, it had some famous actors that Adam Sandler plays within all of his movies. This a good underdog story of a bunch of inmates playing against the guards to earn their respect. The guards treat the cons like garbage throughout the movie. People think that this will be an easy win for the guards, but Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler) and the cons had something coming to them. The cons later called themselves the “Mean Machine”.

Matt: The obvious answer will always go to The Waterboy. Because mama says that foosball is the devil, and alligators are angry because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush. It was at the peak of Adam Sandler making good movies and was a surprisingly heartfelt movie. Henry Winkler as the coach of the Mud-Dogs, plus, we get to see Ed Orgeron in an early role as Farmer Fran. They need to make the Bourbon Bowl a real game. It would be a lot better than some of the bowl sponsors we have now. *glares at Cheribundi Tart Cherry Bowl*

Also, Rudy was offsides. That is all.

Zach: For me this easy, it is Remember the Titans. It was a movie about football, life, and character. It covers a vital time in our nation’s history and shows how sports like football can bring a community together. I would also throw Waterboy in there for comedic relief, “that’s some high-quality H20.”

Alex Wright: I am absolutely baffled that no one has picked the greatest football movie ever, The Game Plan, yet. It stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as he handles his football career while finding out he has a daughter during the season, it is Oscar gold, (I’m joking, obviously). I love Waterboy and Remember the Titans, but a movie that stuck with me is Radio. It is based on a true story about a man with mental disabilities and how he develops a relationship with a local high school football team and a community. It is called Radio because the man always has a radio with him and is constantly listening to it. I feel some weird personal connection to this because I fell in love with UNLV athletics by listening to Jon Sandler and Russ Langer call basketball and football, respectively, on the radio. There are also many great life lessons taught in the film we should apply in our daily life.

Mike: Remember the Titans is not only my favorite football movie, but it’s one of my favorite movies ever. It’s quotable, memorable, has a great cast, and is based on a true story! The character growth is great. It’s very well-written, as you notice little nuances and dialogue that subtlety point to how relationships change and become stronger or weaker over the course of the movie.

I also want to highlight a personal favorite of mine, The Replacements. If you like football and Keanu Reeves, this movie is for you. Again, a star-studded cast playing a team of misfits trying to get a second chance in the NFL. I find myself quoting it surprisingly often and the dance scene in the jail cell is an all-time classic. Complete with John Madden and a great song at the end, it’s worth watching or trying again.

Jake McNeil: Typically I have nothing but great respect and admiration for my friends here at MWC Connection. Today, I have nothing but disdain for terrible movie choices. Some of your choices are certainly fine movies that include plenty of football, but to call them your favorites? Shame!

Friday Night Lights is the greatest football movie ever made. Spending most of the last year working in West Texas has only solidified my opinion on this matter. In a place where football is truly the only thing people have as an escape from an otherwise brutal, hard life (skeet shooting and business golfing aside), these kids become genuine celebrities as teenagers. While the era of dominant West Texas high school football is over, FNL serves as a reminder of what is one of the strangest, coolest pieces of football culture. Add in a stellar cast, amazing music from Explosions in the Sky, and Peter Berg as director and you’ve got the greatest football movie ever made.

I will be accepting counter-arguments for any other football movie that was so good it generated a spin-off television series. Otherwise, keep your bad opinions away from me.