Surprise, surprise, I’m not that big of a sports fan. However, I did grow up with brothers who love sports way more than I do and movies just about as much as I do. So it was just a matter of time before I began to watch the sports movie genre. Making movies about sports or historical events in sports has always been a fun genre in the film industry and we’ve all grown up with some personal favorites, like “Mighty Ducks” or “The Sandlot.” Now here’s the unfortunate thing about sports movies. They are almost always very predictable. Now, before you sports fans begin to curse me, hear me out. I will admit to the old phrase, “There’s nothing new under the sun”, and I will accept that. Movies coming out today are just carbon copies of older movies and books with just a few subtle differences in the plot.
The difference in the sports genre is that you can predict the entire plot from beginning to end. Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a team rises up with the spark of hope in their hearts. They learn to act as teammates, they go on a surprising winning streak, something happens that diminishes their team spirit and they lose a game, and then they band together just in time to win the big championship game against their bitter rivals. Also, these movies usually involve something that seems almost ridiculous, like a Jamaican bobsled team or a dog that can play basketball. Like I said, predictable.
So I ask you, should we continue to make sports movies? As I said before, I’m not the biggest sports fan, however, I am a fan of this genre. What people seem to forget is that the main message this genre brings to the table is all about teamwork and achieving the impossible. These movies may be predictable, but not all sports films end how we think they will. For example, “Bad News Bears,” a story about a little league baseball team that was reputed as the worst in the town gets a new coach who used to be big in baseball. This movie (spoiler) does not end like most sports movies do, which surprised me. At the same time, I wasn’t upset by the ending. Instead, I felt the happiness the little league team felt when they went from being the worst team in the league to one of the best. It also taught valuable lessons in sports and friendship that I can’t say without spoiling the entire movie for you (which you should take as a cue to watch it!).
Another sports movie that is unpredictable is “Field of Dreams.” This Kevin Costner classic is about a corn farmer who heard the voices of dead baseball players telling him to build a baseball field on his farm so that they could come and play ball. Baseball played a huge role in this movie, yet most of the story dealt with matters off of the baseball field. This movie’s message dealt with getting a second chance, something which is rare to us in real life.
From just these two movies, it’s clear that sports are more than just a game to us and have valuable lessons that we learn. I will say this on the topic of predictable outcomes: if it is based on a true story like “Miracle” or “Glory Road,” then don’t complain because the ending was obvious from a mile away and it was the journey that we cared about seeing. If not, then I will admit that Hollywood should spice things up a bit to give us a few more twists to make the movies unpredictable while retaining their message. Maybe, for instance, the team splits up and joins the rival team for the final game? That’d be pretty surprising, no? (Whoops, gave it away) In any case, I don’t think the sports genre is done nor do I think that its films are too predictable for viewing pleasure. As another saying goes, “Life’s a journey, not a destination,” and the lessons we learn from the journeys of these sports teams are valuable to us in growth and living.
