How good are sports films? A View from the Top loves a good sports film almost as much as it loves live sport itself. The genre is split into two camps; films based on a true story and straight out Hollywood fiction.
While there is no doubt films like Remember the Titans,
Glory Road and We are Marshall are some of the best sports films of all time, right
now we’re going to bring to you the Greatest Fictional Sports Characters of the
last twenty years (plus Rocky).
While we might all love Gary Bertier and Julius Campbell keep
in mind they haven’t been considered for this list.
I've gone a less than traditional podium finish, with a top two that I am most certain a lot of people won't agree with. But you know what? I don't care. Read the banner above - Often conflicting opinions that are always right.
As always if you don't agree with AVFTT let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page.
I've gone a less than traditional podium finish, with a top two that I am most certain a lot of people won't agree with. But you know what? I don't care. Read the banner above - Often conflicting opinions that are always right.
As always if you don't agree with AVFTT let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page.
10. Rocky’s Opponents
Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago (Tommy Who and Antonio
Tarver don’t make the list) are some of the coolest anti-heroes in all of
sport. All bad and all beaten by Balboa, they play their role in the huge
success of the Rocky franchise. As characters they are impossible to split.
9. Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell Sports Characters
These two play so many great sports characters that you just
have to make room for them in the Top Ten but including one over the others
just wouldn’t be fair. Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore and Bobby Boucher paved the way
for Ricky Bobby, Jackie Moon and Chazz Michael Michaels of Will Ferrell fame to delight crowds.
8. Rod Tidwell
The Arizona Cardinals wide receiver from the movie Jerry
Maguire, Rod Tidwell was a preview of what to expect in the NFL over the next
two decades. Tidwell has served as the prototype flamboyant wide receiver as
the sports world has watched fiction form fact through the career of Terrell Owens.
Hell Chad Ochocinco even admits to modelling his personality on Tidwell.
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| I am a valuable commodity! I go across the middle! I see a dude coming at me, trying to kill me, I tell myself "Get killed. Catch the ball!' BOO YA! Touchdown! I make miracles happen! |
7. Tony D’Amato
Do yourself a favour and watch this speech. By the time this
speech ends I’m ready to chew concrete.
6. Patches O’Houlihan
The Tommy Raudonikis of the Dodgeball world mentors the Average
Joes in his own unique kind of way. The ever so obvious ‘if you can dodge a
wrench you can dodge a ball’ is Patches’ coaching philosophy in a nutshell.
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| Necessary? Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No, but I do it anyway because it's sterile and I like the taste. |
5. Gordon Bombay
The story is familiar. Man does wrong. Man sentenced to
community service and ordered to coach a little league team. Man is changed by
the experience.
While Rod Tidwell might have inspired a generation of brash
American footballers the Bombay coached Mighty Ducks actually paved the way for
their own professional sports franchise the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the NHL.
The Bombay coached multi ethnicity and gender Mighty Ducks always find a way to
overcome their larger and completely male opponents.
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| Bombay and 'The Mighty Ducks' |
4. Rocky Balboa
The original underdog Balboa kick started and continues to
define the sports film industry. The first sports movie to win an Oscar for
Best Picture the Rocky character isn’t the most talented or gracious but he
just never stops trying, and that’s why people love him. Routinely voted
amongst the Greatest Film Characters of All Time he just misses out on a podium
to finish here.
3. Shooter McGavin
If ever there was a sports character I wish existed it is
Shooter McGavin. Played to perfection by Christopher McDonald, Shooter is the
perfect sports villain - a complete jackass, Shooter
would rather see his closest opponent kicked off the Tour then rise to the
challenge of beating him. In spite of this Shooter remains one of the most arrogant and charismatic fictional sports character of all time. I would sit and watch Shooter play 18 holes week
after week purely for the entertainment value.
2. Kenny ‘Squeak’ Scolari
Squeak is a little bitch and I love him. This is what it
means to be a part of a team. Your teammates can put shit on you and its all
good, because well you’re on the team. Squeak wasn’t even that good a BASEketball
player but he’s the type of morale boosting little bitch you’d want on your team.
#1 Shane Falco
Shane Falco is my favourite sports movie character of
all time. I see a lot of myself in Shane Falco. He never made it as a pro -
neither did I. He plays quarterback - the American football equivalent of the position I've played most of my life -
halfback and well he gets the girl.
You can’t help but love Shane ‘#16 in your
programs #1 in your hearts’ Falco. He’s the College football failure that finds
himself cleaning shit off the bottom of boats before the Washington Sentinels call him in after their players go on strike. Finally ‘Footsteps’ Falco gets his
chance in the big league. Danny Bateman and Nigel Gruff are some other memorable characters from The Replacements but predictably Falco is the hero in the movie’s final
game. Just because you know its coming though, doesn't make it any less satisfying.