Movie Time: Sports Characters We Love
“Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever.”
Keanu Reeves as Shane Falco in The Replacements. Credit:
We love Top 10 lists. Love them! What makes them fun isn’t so much the order, but reading them and remembering the first time you saw or heard those characters and quotes. So in honor of that, this list is in no particular order of favorites. They are all just great!
These characters were the ones that lifted you up. The ones that made you wish they were on your team, because you’d run through a wall for them! Their effort, their heart, or maybe even just their words all made you feel the best of sports.
Note - admittedly, there are some REALLY off the wall choices on this list. No doubt about it. It would be easy to pick Rocky Balboa or Roy Hobbs. So, we tried to look past the main characters and go for some unlikely choices that deserve a little shine for their performances. There are a few obvious ones as well. Enjoy!
Credit:
10. BENNY “The Jet” RODRIGUEZ - The Sandlot
“Man, this is baseball. You gotta stop thinking. You just have fun. I mean, if you were having fun, you would've caught that ball.”
9. SHANE FALCO - The Replacements
“Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever.”
8. GARY BERTIER & JULIUS CAMPBELL - Remember The Titans
You can’t have one without the other. “Left side…STRONG SIDE!”
7. WILLY MAYS HAYES - Major League
This movie came out in 1988 and we remember seeing in the theater in Cleveland. Every time it’s on, it’s a must watch. There were so many great performances and iconic moments in this movie from Bob Uecker’s Harry Doyle, to Pedro Cerrrano to more here.
But one of our favorite characters has to be Willy. Uninvited to Spring Training. His bunk, with him in it, left outside of the clubhouse only to leap up and smoke everyone in the 40 yard dash.
You just knew when he was on base in the 9th he was going to steal second, and make it all the way around on Jake Taylor’s called homerun shot turned bunt to score! Here’s to Willy Mays Hayes!
6. FULTON REED - The Mighty Ducks
"Remember: strength, not concentration."
We don’t know about you, but there was no chance we would jump in front of a puck hit by #44.
5. VONTAE MACK - Draft Day
Sometimes a movie doesn’t have to be your favorite film in order to develop favorite characters. The late, great Chadwick Boseman played Vonta Mack in Draft Day. Even if the movie wasn’t a complete hit, we loved Vontae. We loved the real emotion when he watched with utter shock that the Browns chose him number 1 overall, instead of the highly hyped Bo Callahan. Vontae Mack, No Matter What!
4. DANNY DIAZ - McFarland USA
The movie was based on a true story. It’s a great movie that we watch anytime it’s on. We still get chills when we here “Is that Danny Diaz? That’s not Danny Diaz!!!”
3. ATOM - Real Steel
We know - it’s a robot boxer. Choosing Adonis Creed or Rocky Balboa, or a TON of other great characters from other boxing movies is undoubtedly the way to go. But we have to admit, we got swept up rooting for this little underdog machine!
2. BECKY “ICEBOX” O’SHEA - Little Giants
“Call me Becky!”
1. GORDON - Dodgeball
Don’t get Gordon angry! Unless he’s on your team… then definitely get him worked up! Single-handedly, Gordon kept Average Joe’s alive in the tournament. Heck, they wouldn’t have competed without Gordon’s knowledge of obscure sports. Here’s to the brains and the brawn of Dodgeball.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS MOVIE CHARACTER? Send them our way!
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