The Halftime Snack Sports Movie Bracket
Vote on the bracket daily by visiting our Instagram Story @thehalftimesnack
It was difficult to understand how much sports were a part of our culture/identity/lives until they were gone. We’re a resilient species, so we have found alternatives to watching live sports, but its absence has left a large void to fill. Some of our fillers have been nutritious (yard work, house projects) while others are more alike to empty calories. Us being TheHalftimeSnack.com, we love an empty calorie. So, to help fill our void, we put our heads together and came up with a March Madness style bracket to determine the greatest sports movie of all-time.
Similar to the NCAA Tournament, not necessarily the 64 best sports movies made the dance. We broke the bracket up into 4 regions (Baseball Movies, Basketball Movies, Football Movies, and Miscellaneous Sports Movies) and a couple of the weaker regions (Basketball and Football) contributed the Farleigh Dickinson’s or the North Dakota State’s of sports movies (unquestionably 16-seeders). But who is to say they can’t pull off a few upsets? Additionally, with a bracket-style structure, there will inevitably be a few movies that missed the cut. Our five-person selection committee each submitted a little write up about the movie we felt was snubbed hardest at the bottom of this article.
The selection and seeding process for these movies went through multiple weeks of debate as well as the creation of a popularity algorithm. First, the five-person committee brainstormed and wrote down all suitable sports movies with the restrictions that it is actually a sports movie, it is NOT a documentary, and someone on the committee has actually seen it. Next, the committee debated and ultimately selected (using a “Key Wins” “Bad Losses” format) the 16 movies that would represent each region. Each committee member then ranked their 16 movies in each region, and after a little more debating we came up with a committee consensus list. Additionally, an algorithm (populated from movie reviews of professional critics from various sources as well as audience “scores” from a number of sources) was created to produce an alternative ranking (1-16) of the movies in each region. Finally, we compared our seeding with the algorithm’s seeding and produced our ultimate seeding selection for the bracket.
Starting tomorrow, May 19th, you will be able to vote for your favorite movies to advance them in the bracket. Voting will take place in the Halftime Snack’s Instagram story @thehalftimesnack and will be tallied up each day at 6:00 PM PST. The bracket will be updated daily on TheHalftimeSnack.com as well.
Baseball Region
Key Wins: Unreal cast. “If it wasn’t hard everybody would do it...the hard is what makes it great”. Tom Hanks. “There’s no crying in baseball.”
Bad Losses: Could have used more Marla Hooch, Madonna was the third highest billed actor
2. Moneyball
Key Wins: Aaron Sorkin. True story of the spark that ignited a revolution. Ugly girlfriend means he’s got no confidence. 6 Oscar Nominations. Statistics. Made us realize Jonah Hill is actually a good actor. Top scoring movie in region according to algorithm
Bad Losses: the guy who played young Billy Beane is not nearly cool enough
Key Wins: Makes you want to play catch with your dad. James Earl Jones. Artistically woven mythology. Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Score. Voices from Cornfields
Bad Losses: Hot dogs as choking hazards. Confusing Iowa with Heaven
4. Bull Durham
Key Wins: The Church of Baseball opening monologue by Susan Sarandon. (6’4”) Tim Robins as a naturally gifted pitcher. Kevin Costner as a washed-up never quite made it baseball player. Nominated for Best Screenplay. Gets away from sports movie cliches
Bad Losses: The love scene in which Susan Sarandon gets lost in Costner’s chest hair. Hair in this movie in general
5. The Sandlot
Key Wins: Wendy Peffercorn. James Earl Jones. Porter’s shit talk. PF Flyers. S’Mores. “You’re killin’ me, Smalls.” Fake Drowning
Bad Losses: Nobody wants Dennis Leary as their stepdad. The extra-long bill on Smalls’ hat. Chaw. Squints’ actions at the pool don’t hold up well in the #MeToo era
6. Major League
Key Wins: Bob Uecker with the play-by-play (“juuuuuuust a bit outside”). Wild Thing lives on in today’s game. Willie Mays Hayes. Pedro Cerrano. Cleveland franchise attempting to tank
Bad Losses: Really leans into a few stereotypes. Cultural appropriation
7. The Natural
Key Wins: It plays out like mythology, change the scene and era and the story could be about an Arthurian-esque knight. Inspired one of the greatest episodes of The Simpsons. Four Oscar Nominations
Bad Losses: Feels rushed at times. A few plot holes (who put out the hit?, why introduce the son?). 47-year-old Robert Redford playing a thirty-something year old
8. 42
Key Wins: Chronicles one of the most important stories in baseball history and really modern sports history. Great cast
Bad Losses: Did many people see this, was it “too easy”? Too light for such a momentous story?
Key Wins: College Culture. A lot of fun. Zoey Deutch. Nothing dramatic happens- pleasant throughout. Written and directed by a former college baseball player, so captures college baseball culture and camaraderie really well.
Bad Losses: Very Bro-y. Maybe 10 whole minutes of actual baseball. No real conflict
Key Wins: Delivered one of the most timeless scenes/lines “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” 11 Oscar Nominations, 1 win.
Bad Losses: Massive generational gap - released in 1942
11. Hardball
Key Wins: Keanu. Great soundtrack. Real tearjerker. Young Michael B. Jordan
Bad Losses: Wealthy guy swoops in to save underprivileged black kids. Worst scoring movie in the region according to the algorithm.
Key Wins: Kevin Costner in a baseball movie. Kelly Preston
Bad Losses: It’s definitely Kevin Costner’s worst baseball movie… but still pretty good.
13. Eight Men Out
Key Wins: Great story, great cast, interesting look into history. “Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so.”
Bad Losses: Too many main characters. Too much happens in a short period, either focus on 1 or 2 characters or make it into an 8-episode mini-series on HBO. Hollywood plays fast and loose with facts
Key Wins: Foul mouthed kids. Funny. Sweet. Walter Matthau perfectly cast - “This quitting thing -- it’s a hard habit to break once you start.”
Bad Losses: Too many have seen the Billy Bob Thorton remake. The sequels are a tough watch
Key Wins: Sneaky good. Sneaky smart. Ken Griffey Jr. cameo. Mom’s a babe
Bad Losses: It’s in a weird limbo between “fun/fantastical kids movie” and a “take this serious sports movie”
16. The Rookie
Key Wins: Good story. True story. Dennis Quaid is pretty well cast. Great scene with the traffic speed detector. Great movie poster
Bad Losses: Doesn’t quite deliver on the feels. Too predictable
Football Region
Key Wins: Left Side! Strong Side! Making Warm-Ups fun. Killer soundtrack. Denzel at the top of his game. Young Ryan Gosling. Younger Hayden Panettiere. Sunshine’s Hair.
Bad Losses: Blue’s leopard-spotted undies. Legendary Coach fooled by double reverse & QB blocking. Denying water breaks during training camp. Takes a lot of liberties with the actual true story (big one: misrepresents the timeline of Gary Bertier’s injury).
2. Rudy
Key Wins: All-time slow clap. A Vince Vaughn so young he went by Vincent in the credits. D-Bob and Elsa. 5-foot nuthin’, A hundred and nuthin’, hardly a speck of athletic ability. Chubby Jon Favreau
Bad Losses: Rudy will forever live in the shadow of Samwise Gamgee. Notre Dame
Key Wins: So much heart. Best Picture Oscar nomination. Super cute kid. Cuba Gooding Jr. A sports movie that finally focuses on the underpinning of all professional sports: Show me the money. Top scoring movie in region according to algorithm
Bad Losses: More Rom-Com than Sports Movie. How many cumulative minutes of sports are actually in this movie? Rod Tidwell definitely has CTE after that hit.
Key Wins: Great story. Helped open the world’s eyes to Texas High School football. Was the catalyst for a terrific television show
Bad Losses: Not as good as the show
Key Wins: Great speech about inches - making every man feel a little better about himself. Al Pacino. In-your-face filming. Cameos galore (Barry Switzer, Dick Butkus, Terrell Owens, Warren Moon, Johnny Unitas, Ricky Watters, and Emmitt Smith.) Mike Leach’s favorite sports movie because it captures the chaos of the sideline perfectly.
Bad Losses: It’s unnecessarily long. Arguably Oliver Stone’s worst movie. Still self-conscious after watching the locker room scene
Key Wins: Whipped-cream bikinis. Team-teacher bonding. Billy Bob’s hook and ladder. Was incredibly prescient about future trends of modern football (spread offense, concussions, pain killers).
Bad Losses: Empowered a generation of terribly overbearing sports parenting. Tweeder does not age well. James Van Der Beek’s Texan accent.
Key Wins: Lily Collins in a sports movie. Nick Saban cameo. Taco Bell. Great moment in the sun for offensive linemen.
Bad Losses: Not Sandy Bullock’s best work (even though she won the Best Actress Oscar for it). Michael Oher himself reportedly does not view the movie as a positive in his life. Recruiting violations masquerading as charity.
Key Wins: Keanu. Keanu’s hair. A choreographed dance number. The movie is fun. The fear/quicksand scene. Shane Falco is a great QB name
Bad Losses: Really leans into some stereotypes. Cost 50M to make has made (Net gross) 50M
Key Wins: Probably the most realistic look at football culture in the 70s and maybe today. Great glimpse at locker room culture. Early analytics
Bad Losses: A little rape-y. Unrealistic/unnecessary love story. Not many Millennials have seen it
10. We Are Marshall
Key Wins: Terribly true story. Great cast
Bad Losses: Football is more of a supporting character. Matthew Fox is Jack Shepherd and only Jack Shepherd.
11. Brian’s Song
Key Wins: Heartbreaking true story, 5 Emmys (11 Nominations)
Bad Losses: Made for TV before it was cool
12. Heaven Can Wait
Key wins: 8 Oscar Nominations, including one for best picture. Sisk the butler
Bad Losses: Sports are in the movie, but is it a true sports movie? Not many of our generation have seen it
13. The Waterboy
Key Wins: Water. Chock-full of great quotes. Adam Sandler at his peak. Kathy Bates. “Mud Dogs, Mud Dogs…”
Bad Losses: Gatorade. Real real dumb. A lot of unnecessary screaming
14. Little Giants
Key Wins: Tons of fun. Heartwarming. The Annexation of Puerto Rico. Rick Moranis.
Bad Losses: Not sure the Annexation of Puerto Rico is a legal play. Rick Moranis but no one gets shrunk
Key Wins: Burt Reynolds at his finest. It’s the original. It’s more believable as a drama
Bad Losses: Might not be as entertaining as the 2005 version. It feels long
16. The Program
Key Wins: Great cast. QB1 has phenomenal hair. Best trailer ever
Bad Losses: Steroids. Too much testosterone in general. Worst movie relative to its trailer. Worst scoring movie in region according to algorithm
Basketball Region
1. He Got Game
Key Wins: Young Rosario Dawson. Ray Allen’s acting. Denzel and Spike with a raw and real collaboration. He Got Game Soundtrack by Public Enemy
Bad Losses: Rick Fox’s acting
2. Hoosiers
Key Wins: Heart, miles and miles of it. Chitwood off the picket fence
Bad Losses: The real Milan High School team made the state-semis the year before, so getting to the title wasn’t quite as dramatic as the movie makes it out to be. Some perceive it to be racially problematic.
Key Wins: Woody and Snipes with some all-star banter. Great basketball scenes. Rosie Perez
Bad Losses: Very Very 90s
Key Wins: Tremendous portrayal of middle school romance. Most emotional game of one-on-one ever. Great stuff about the realities of women’s professional sports opportunities. Top scoring movie in region according to algorithm
Bad Losses: Basketball scenes are just average
5. Space Jam
Key Wins: The Monstars. Redemption for Bill Murray. Made the cut for The Last Dance
Bad Losses: Critics panned it. A theme park called Moron Mountain. It’s basically just one long chaotic commercial. Isn’t really about Space at all. Of all the NBA players, why steal Shawn Bradley’s “talent”?
6. Coach Carter
Key Wins: Samuel L. Jackson was meant for this role. The basketball is pretty entertaining. Young Channing Tatum
Bad Losses: It’s based on a true story, but it’s not all that unique, it feels like it’s been told 100 times before
Key Wins: Tupac steals the show. Great soundtrack.
Bad Losses: Pretty predictable script
8. Blue Chips
Key Wins: Lying and cheating in College Basketball recruiting feels pretty relevant
Bad Losses: The acting from some of our favorites (Agghh Shaq)… left much to be desired. Nick Nolte gives us Dan Hawkins PTSD
Key Wins: Kevin Bacon, Africa
Bad Losses: White man lures a kid from Africa to come to America and work for no pay
10. The Way Back
Key Wins: An authentic story full of authentic performances. Good Affleck performance, reflecting on some of his addiction struggles in real life.
Bad Losses: Would have liked a few more active coaching scenes to juxtapose the philosophizing. Not much different than Coach Carter and other underdog stories in this region
11. Glory Road
Key Wins: A true story and a very important story. Tribute to one of the most important basketball championships ever
Bad Losses: Flew under most people’s radar. The cast is just okay. Lost in the noise of underdog triumph sports movies.
12. The Sixth Man
Key Wins: Pretty entertaining. Surprisingly heartwarming. People finally watching Pac-10 Basketball
Bad Losses: A wannabe Angels in the Outfield, but with a single ghost… who’s also an asshole.
13. Sunset Park
Key Wins: 83% Audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Great 90’s hip hop soundtrack. A woman coaching men
Bad Losses: 13% Critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. White gym teacher parachutes in and helps undisciplined inner-city basketball team realize its potential.
14. Eddie
Key Wins: Whoopi. Seems like an accurate precursor to today’s Knicks and James Dolan
Bad Losses: This is the last time the Knicks were relevant. Worst scoring movie in the tournament according to the algorithm.
15. Semi-Pro
Key Wins: Will Farrel being Will Farrel. Andre 3000 killing it. Woody holding the whole thing together,
Bad Losses: It’s a bit of a mess – some story lines/characters are unbelievably ridiculous while other story lines/characters are very raw and real. Going for a Slap Shot-esque vibe, but they missed. It’s not as enjoyable as it should be
16. Teen Wolf
Key Wins: Michael J. Fox. Werewolves. Introduced millions to the Beer-Monster
Bad Losses: Teens. Werewolves. Lazy with “big game” & “girl next door” themes
Miscellaneous Sports Region
1. Rocky
Key Wins: Set the standard for training montages for decades to come. Oscar for Best Picture, Director, Editing, 10 total nominations. Yo Adrian!
Bad Losses: Some animal cruelty-chasing chickens. Potentially some health code violations when pulverizing beef racks
2. Raging Bull
Key Wins: DeNiro and Pesci and Scorsese. Excellent cinematography Won two Oscars
Bad Losses: terrible boxing scenes. Even more violent outside the ring
Key Wins: Blue-collar kids vs white (popped) collar university bros. An epic bike race that leaves you thinking Indiana isn’t basketball or NASCAR but cycling. Young Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern. Oscar for Best Screenplay. Nominated for best picture, best director, best supporting actress, best score
Bad Losses: Pretending to be Italian to trick girls into dating you
Key Wins: Miyagi. Agelessly quotable. Elisabeth Shue. Spawned numerous sequels, a 2010 remake, and a well-reviewed YouTube series “Cobra-Kai”
Bad Losses: Daniel LaRusso was an asshole and honestly deserved to be bullied a bit
Key Wins: One of the most iconic soundtracks - Mr. Bean’s reenactment of it for the London Games. Oscar for best picture
Bad Losses: The movie was released in 1981 about the 1924 Olympics, that’s a lot of history
6. Creed
Key Wins: Wonderful new spin on the perfect Rocky formula. Best Rocky movie since Rocky. The running montage with the motor bikes is one of the most hype-inducing moments in any sports movie. Everton
Bad Losses: Would it have been better if they killed off Stallone at the end of the movie, maybe?
Key Wins: 8 Oscar nominations, including 2 wins. Bale and Damon killing it
Bad Losses: Ford actually beat Ferrari, which when you think about it is kind of gross
Key Wins: Intense. Great acting Brutally real. Won 4 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress. Very original. Top overall scoring movie in algorithm
Bad Losses: Too sad? Hard to rewatch
Key Wins: Great underdog story. Changed the game. Sanka. One of the final great John Candy performances
Bad Losses: Bobsledding isn’t nearly as enjoyable to watch in real life. Really oversells how hard it is to walk on ice.
10. Slap Shot
Key Wins: Paul Newman. Hockey Culture. Immensely entertaining. Puttin’ on the foil. “They don’t want you to score goals! They want blood!”
Bad Losses: If you don’t know hockey intimately some of the banter could go over your head
11. Warrior
Key Wins: Amazing fight scenes. Great drama
Bad Losses: The handheld camera sometimes induces a little motion sickness. Did the brother who needed to win most actually win?
12. Happy Gilmore
Key Wins: Chubbs. Ben Stiller with an all-star performance. Changed golf culture. Great villain. Golf movie and hockey movie. Bob Barker doing his own stunts
Bad Losses: A lot of Adam Sandler screaming. Lee Trevino was left very disappointed
13. Without Limits
Key Wins: Great story of one of America’s most influential, lasting, and iconic athletes. Fairly true to the tale, which is incredible.
Bad Losses: More popular, but not sure it’s as good as “Prefontaine”.
14. The Mighty Ducks
Key Wins: Spawned an actual, real-life sports franchise. Who didn’t want to lace up some rollerblades and terrorize the mall after seeing this movie? Villain coach popping his collar. Everyone knew a team like the Hawks in youth sports
Bad Losses: The whole bit about Gordon Bombay trying to score with Charlie’s mom. Worst scoring movie in the region according to the algorithm
15. Tin Cup
Key Wins: Great villain. Lovable loser. Immensely quotable “you'd bury yourself alive just to prove you could handle the shovel”
Bad Losses: Hard to see Costner in a sports film that isn’t baseball
16. Miracle
Key Wins: The greatest US Hockey achievement told in an entertaining movie. “Great moments are born from great opportunity.”
Bad Losses: Gave coaches around the world too many ideas on conditioning. Poor acting
First Five Out “Snubs”
The miscellaneous region is very deep, but nonetheless the committee erred by omitting Invictus. The film checks an awful lot of boxes, including multiple Oscar nominations (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor), star power in front of and behind the camera, a compelling and important true story, and a bad ass name (literal translation means ‘unconquerable’). As much as we love our sports metaphors, and as tough of a sport as rugby is, it cannot come close to approximating the suffering endured by Nelson Mandela, or the courage he maintained on his life’s journey to transform a nation. Clint Eastwood drives this point home in the movie’s most powerful moment when Springboks captain Francois Pienaar visits the cell on Robben Island where Mandela spent 18 of the 27 years during which he was confined to prison. The movie powerfully conveys the message and story of Mandela’s unbreakable spirit set against a sports background, and sadly we don’t get the chance to see if that unbreakable spirit could have made a run through the bracket.
If you’re a child of the 90s, there are few films that shaped your expectations of sports fandom more than Angels in the Outfield. Some might view this movie as a fantastical, made-for-kids, farce… which it is, but it’s also (intentionally or not) a very real depiction of the power of the fan. It’s less of a movie about sports, and more of a movie about how sports can make us, as supporters, believe in something bigger than the game. AITO fosters our belief that we can have a tangible influence in the outcome of the game simply by willing it. Of course, we don’t believe we can summon angels to swoop down and toss our players 30 feet in the air to steal a homer, but we certainly believe the game is not just between the players on the field. Next time you’re at a game surrounded by a sea of strangers, stand tall, stare intently off into the distance, and gently flap your wings. You won’t be standing alone for long.
Although the baseball region is stacked, a movie with that kind of power deserved a spot in this bracket.
Bonus: Young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, young Matthew McConaughey, young Adrien Brody, eccentric Christopher Lloyd, scary pigeon lady from Home Alone 2
Every fan who's held a sustained interest in the phenomenon known as "March Madness" has inevitably been left dumbfounded when the selection show draws to a close, and their team finds itself without a dance partner. The 2011 CU Buffs omittance remains haunting.
So how does one of the funniest movies ever conceived, with tour-de-force performances from a star-studded cast, and unrelenting staying power find itself on the outside looking in. The answer, as always when something goes this wrong, lies in human error. In this case, the ambiguity that enters the process when the committee is forced to define what constitutes a "sports movie".
The subject film, of course, is Caddyshack. As if it needs an introduction, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray crush in an R-rated portrayal of the partying, sex, and shenanigans surrounding country club culture. The attempt to differentiate between the film's prospective designation golf movie and its ultimate classification as a film more focused on the aforementioned country club culture is where the committee lost its way.
Caddyshack is more than golf, but it's also all about golf. If you've made the circuit around 18 with any frequency as an amateur or professional for that matter, you've undoubtedly heard the classic lines over and over. NOONAN!!!! And, you've been struck by the ahead of its time sports psychology wisdom: "Be the Ball".
The tragedy when your darling misses the dance and you're sure they had DEEP run in them, no one will ever never know what kind of noise Caddyshack could have made. But this committee's error does secure the movie’s enduring place in the debate of history's most egregious snubs.
Coming in hot on the heels of Top Gun and during Tom Cruise’s first heyday, Days of Thunder scores major points with viewers, NASCAR fan or not. It is a true action-packed blockbuster; a scintillating watch, especially for those lucky households with LaserDisc and Dolby Digital surround sound. And let’s not forget that the electricity off the track was just as hot as on given Tom and Nicole’s relationship at the time.
However, what makes it highly watchable and allowed it to strike box office gold in 1990 might also be its demise. This redneck bildungsroman is commercially predictable, cheesy, and strikingly similar to Top Gun.
Even regarding recency bias, Ford v Ferrari laps this one. We love it, we gave it real consideration, I’ll watch it anytime on TBS on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but just couldn’t give it the nod.
As Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Jerry Rice, and many other superstar athletes learned in the twilight of their careers: father time is undefeated. Mr. 3000 takes this notion of an old, past his prime ball player and turns it into a charming story of redemption, teamwork, and learning from your mistakes. Sometimes an otherwise mediocre sports movie is elevated solely by the charisma of its lead character, and that is certainly the case with Bernie Mac and his portrayal of Stan Ross. Bernie Mac is one of the funniest and most likable comedians of his generation, but the movie somewhat surprisingly leans into the dramatic elements even more than the comedy. Bernie brings his signature charm and a lovable quality to the initially selfish Stan Ross. His egocentric quest for three more hits to reach 3,000 for his career ultimately becomes a delightfully endearing evolution of Ross becoming a better teammate and a better guy, making friends and finding love along the way. Like many good sports movies, Mr. 3000 is mostly just pure comfort food – the sort of thing you can casually throw on the TV in the background and be happy every time it comes on. It may not be amongst the best baseball movies ever made, but Bernie Mac's performance makes it an enduringly fun rewatch and a very worthy honorable mention for our list. Rest in power, Bernie.
