10 Iconic Moments from Great Sport Movies

Rocky IV might not be the best of the Rocky movies, but it was the one I watched most recently.

Seeing Sylvester Stallone draped in the American flag sent my mind racing about many of the iconic moments in sport movies over the years.

Rocky IV was directed by Stallone and released in 1985. It was in the last days of the Cold War, so the battle between the USSR's Ivan Drago and Rocky Balboa is a timeless tale of a political era that no longer pervades our pop culture.

The rivalry was enhanced by Drago beating Apollo Creed to death as well.

With Rocky in mind, I created this list of some of other iconic moments from the best sports movies.

Miracle

Keeping with the USSR vs. USA theme (as well as underdogs), we move onto Miracle. The Soviet hockey team was invincible, as the 1980 Olympics came to Lake Placid, N.Y.

Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell) wore plenty of plaid and coached his rear off, as he led the young American team to an iconic victory over Russia and communism.

The team grinding out "Herbies" after a tie in an exhibition game is my pick for an iconic moment.

The coach wanted them to say they played for the United States of America, and those kids kept skating back and forth until finally Mike Eruzione (Patrick O'Brien Dempsey) gave the coach what he wanted.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor, Miracle also showed how Coach Brooks had to fight numerous obstacles around his team as well as the trials within the team to lead them to a gold medal.

"I'm not looking for the best players... I'm looking for the right ones."

Rudy

Rudy Ruettiger is the champion inside all of us. And this whole movie is iconic.

The list of iconic moments goes on and on, from the family watching Notre Dame and the tragedy at the steel mill, to the practices and everything that Charles Dutton did and said.

Directed by David Anspaugh, Sean Astin gave a wonderful performance as Rudy. He was five-foot-nothing, weighed a hundred-and-nothing and had not one speck of athletic talent.

But he had heart, and it took him all the way to Notre Dame.

Rudy was fun from a pop culture angle, and it teamed Jon Favreau and a stunningly quiet Vince Vaughn. And the two would later collaborate on Swingers.

Hoosiers

David Anspaugh directed this ode to underdogs as well. I guess he was busy when they made Miracle in 2004.

The Indiana high school basketball tournament up until 1997 was a one-shot deal. There were no divisions, so when tiny Milan High School and their enrollment of 161 students went to state, they had to beat the big boys.

The iconic moment here was the measuring of the rims. They were ten feet, just like everywhere else.

Friday Night Lights

This is one of my favorite all-time movies.

Directed by Peter Berg, Friday Night Lights, like Rudy, is full of iconic moments, including the perfect speech by Coach Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), the coin toss to make the playoffs for Odessa and the Lord's Prayer recited before the game.

The players, coaches and fans might change, but there will always be lights on Friday night in Texas (and in a bunch of other states around the union).

Remember the Titans

Friday Night Lights had racial undertones. But Remember the Titans, directed by Boaz Yakin, had race relations.

TC Williams High School becomes integrated in 1971, and a black man is chosen to coach the team. An icon himself, Denzel Washington tackled the role of Coach Herman Boone with his usual excellence.

And Will Patton played Coach Bill Yoast, who was the white coach that most wanted to lead the team.

The team came together in a hot and humid training camp but had to maneuver through a world that was still coming to grips with integration. The iconic moments in this movie are the breaking down of barriers that separate races. Plus a ton of great quotes from Denzel...

"We will be perfect in every aspect of the game."

"You make sure they remember, forever, the night they played the Titans."

"You're already winners 'cause you didn't kill each other up at camp."

Raging Bull

This epic by Martin Scorsese shows the torment of prizefighter Jake LaMotta, played by Robert DeNiro, in an Academy Award-winning performance.

The flash of the light bulbs still resonates. The slow motion shot of LaMotta punching the air is still amazing.

A movie without humor, Raging Bull is a cinematic masterpiece — the stuff icons are made of.

Jerry Maguire

Director Cameron Crowe used the life of super-agent Leigh Steinberg to create the iconic character of Jerry Maguire.

And Tom Cruise lit up the screen as the flawed man who had it all, as he brokered big money deals for big money players.

One of his clients gets a head injury, the client's kid calls out Jerry for lying and then Maguire writes his mission statement.

There was the fish with manners, the deaf couple expressing their love, air drying and two men trying to be friends in the ultra competitive world of the late 1990s.

There was also that one quote, how does it go again?

Oh yeah...

"Show me the money!" 

A League of Their Own

Penny Marshall directed this 1992 epic about girls playing baseball in the World War II era.

Tom Hanks played manager Jimmy Dugan. A former big leaguer who has fallen hard on the booze, Dugan doesn't even know he is useless until he wakes up in the middle of a game to see Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) coaching his team.

The kid with the chocolate bars was great. And Tom Hanks thanking God for the waitress that kept calling out the Lord's name was hilarious.

And this one has a great quote too...

"There's no crying in baseball."

Bull Durham

Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is on his way out of the game, as Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) is on his way up. They are both on the Durham Bulls but find themselves in a competition for Annie (Susan Sarandon).

Ron Shelton directed this amazing tale of minor league baseball.

There was the meeting between Annie, Nuke and Crash, and there was also Crash spoiling Nuke's shutout. Robert Wuhl was hilarious as the bench coach, and his trips to the pitcher's mound are the stuff of legends.

Dan Patrick's favorite line is when LaLoosh asks, "Why does he keep calling me meat?"

The movie is also a timeless tale of growing out of your youth. Crash Davis put off growing up for a long time, but as his career wound down and the dream of making the show dimmed, he was forced to figure out the next step in his life.

LaLoosh also wore panties, and Davis had to help the rookie out with that too.

"The rose goes in the front, big guy." 

Field of Dreams

Kevin Costner was ever so charming as Ray Kinsella in the iconic Field of Dreams. Phil Alden Robinson directed this magical tale of how baseball can bring us all together.

It starts with the voice in the cornfield. Some thought it heaven, but it was always Iowa. Some thought he was crazy, but his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) supported him on his odyssey around the country.

If you told me that I could hop into a VW bus and pick up James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster, well, sir, I would trek through all of the showers at gas stations around this great land.

The Best of the Rest

Oliver Stone made Any Given Sunday, and Jamie Foxx threw up a few times.

Costner was also great in Tin Cup, which was directed by Ron Shelton.

Mark Wahlberg has been in a couple, including The Fighter by David O. Russell and Invincible from director Ericson Core.

The Sandlot (directed by David M. Evans) had "You're killing me, Smalls," and the chewing tobacco escapade.

Major League, by David S. Ward, had the Cleveland Indians (and Charlie Sheen?) winning. Major League II had the mascot in bandages after an in-team fight. Both movies also had the memorable Bob Uecker...

"Just a bit outside."

Slap Shot had Paul Newman, George Roy Hill and the Hanson brothers.

And The Bad News Bears, by Michael Ritchie, is a fine iconic movie to leave you with.