Here are the 20 best sports movies to watch with your family this holiday season

Any successful holiday season rhymes with some warm family time, bundled up in your pajamas on the couch, with the TV controller in one hand and popcorn in the other for a movie night. At the end of a highly scientific consultation and vigorous debates, all the dedicated members of the sports team Newspaper spoke about their favorite sports films. There would be dozens more, but here is the ultimate compilation of the 20 best of all time, at least in our opinion, to brighten up your movie-loving moments.

1. Rudy

(1993)

This is the film that has been ranked first most times. This classic is more than just a football film. It’s impossible not to be moved by this story of perseverance of a small player and student without much scope, but extremely hardworking, who dreams of wearing the colors of the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. If you’re not motivated after that, take your vitals!

2. Rocky

(1976)

Does this film about the most overlooked boxer in cinema history still need an introduction? Our parents were thrilled by the exploits of the Italian stallion, just like us and our children. The saga has resulted in six films that will make you want to go watch series of push-ups and put on the gloves against the Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago who are ruining your life.

3. Slap Shot

(1977)

We hesitated before including this cult hockey film because we are talking about family moments here. But who says family doesn’t mean young toddlers with chaste ears! If you have teenagers who are fans of friendly locker room rudeness, they will enjoy repeating the salty lines from this immortal comedy by heart as much as anyone has for over 50 years.

4. The Boys

(1997)

How can you not fall under the spell of a wacky bunch of garage hockey leagues, with a Quebec twist? All of Quebec has fallen in love with the characters who made this franchise a cult suite of five films and a TV series. “In my book,” as Stan would say, it shows that Boys fans are insatiable for the antics of this cowardly team.

5. Moneyball (The Art of Winning)

(2011)

On a more serious note, Moneyball is rather consensual as our sports section’s favorite baseball film. This film based on the true story of general manager Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s explains this small organization’s highly analytical approach to surviving and performing at a high level against major league powers. Informative and captivating!

6. Happy Gilmore

(1996)

Purely absurd comedy about a hockey loser who accidentally retrains in golf, Happy Gilmore can only make those who take pleasure in making fun of golf etiquette explode with laughter. Notice that even the greatest lovers of the noble traditions of this sport end up bent double in front of so many madnesses of the actor Adam Sandler, in a role which suits him like a wood n^o 1.

7. Jerry Maguire

(1996)

This story, inspired by real-life NFL player agent Leigh Steinberg, played by Tom Cruise, took football fans behind the scenes of the sometimes heated negotiations between players and teams. Football is in the background, but above all it is a film about the relationships between agents and players, and the fierce world of sports agencies.

8. The Mighty Ducks (A New Power Play)

(1992)

You have to love the genre, because it’s Disney through and through! Still, this story about a Minnesota pee-wee hockey team is pretty irresistible. This team, which brings together all those left behind in society, with players who barely know how to skate, without equipment worthy of the name, is trying to become competitive. Unrealistic? Maybe, but who cares, at Christmas we drop out!

9. Maurice Richard

(2005)

Probably the most serious hockey film in our selection, but a must for anyone who wants to live or relive the incredible epic of Maurice Richard in the NHL. Admired for his exploits on the ice, the Canadiens’ star player transcended his sport by becoming a true Quebec hero. This film offers a return to an era where the Canadian offered more than promises.

10. Field of Dreams

(1989)

“Build it and they will come!”… That’s the basis of this story about a farmer who decides to build a baseball field in his field. He lives on the hope of attracting the late “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox players, whose reputations were tarnished during the 1919 World Series when they accepted money to lose. It’s fanciful, but it captures the imagination.

11. Friday Night Lights

(2004)

This film was fascinating because it explains how important high school football can become in many Texas towns. We clearly feel all the pressure that young adolescents can experience and the extent to which they are treated like professional players. If you think hockey here is a religion, you’ll see that football in Texas is literally a sacred cow.

12. Miracle

(2004)

Miracle, this is the feat of the American hockey team which surprised the world at the 1980 Olympic Games by triumphing over the Russians, the overwhelming favorites. This was, of course, a time when NHL players weren’t invited and head coach Herb Brooks had to use every trick imaginable to get the best out of his players. To see even if we have revealed the punch!

13. Hurricane (Hurricane Carter)

(1999)

It’s hard not to empathize with Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, whose story of social injustice is told here. Is this really a boxing movie? Obviously a little since Hurricane was a boxer on the rise, but the story is mainly based on the fact that he was unjustly accused of a triple murder. Canadian activists are trying to free him in a fight more painful than any other in the ring.

14. Major League

(1989)

When a crooked owner inherits the Cleveland Indians and wants to move the team to Miami, she orders her baseball men to put together the worst team ever. We obviously suspect that the gunner who throws everything wrong, the finished veteran, the little missile who doesn’t know how to hit and the striker with a voodoo cult may not have said their last word. Hilarious!

15. 61*

(2001)

Another baseball movie, this time in a more serious and biographical style. It tells the story of Roger Maris, a formidable Yankees player, but who lacks charisma and is unloved. Maris sets out to conquer Babe Ruth’s home run record, which dates from 1927. Poor Maris had to endure the taunts for a long time, under the pretext that his record of 61 home runs was achieved in more games than Ruth.

16. Any Given Sunday

(1999)

We’re talking about a rather harsh football film, supposedly fictional, but which nonetheless exposes certain failings of professional football players and teams. The behind-the-scenes wars between seasoned veterans and the young people pushing to take their place, as well as the excesses and abuses of power, are at the heart of this romanticized but realistic tale of a harsh environment.

17. American Underdog

(2021)

The saga of Rams quarterback Kurt Warner remains to this day one of the greatest fairy tales in football history. Believing his career was ruined, Warner found himself a grocery store bagger, before getting a chance in an arena league and NFL Europe. In 1999, the Rams trusted him in a desperate situation and experienced the apotheosis. Unforgettable!

18. We Are Marshall (Team Spirit)

(2006)

Well, I might as well warn you, this is the kind of film where you’d better hold yourself close to the box of tissues… It’s the very touching story of the Marshall University football program, which was devastated following the crash of the team’s plane in 1970. It is at the same time the ultimate story of resilience about the reconstruction of a team and a community in mourning. Tears guaranteed!

19. I, Tonya (Me, Tonya)

(2017)

You won’t blame us for only talking to you about professional sport! Tonya is Tonya Harding, the controversial ex-figure skater. In the 1990s, his rivalry with fellow American Nancy Kerrigan made headlines when Harding’s relatives hired thugs to go and injure Kerrigan after training. Sordid, but well told!

20. 42

(2013)

You have to see the film 42 to understand how hard it was for athletes of color a few decades ago to integrate into the conservative world of professional sport and be respected. In this case, it is the career of Jackie Robinson, the first black player to play in major baseball, which is told. The film appeals to both baseball fans and history buffs.