Play 'Have You Seen It?' With These 90s Sports Movies To Reveal If You're Young At Heart
- by Ursula Nizalowski
- – on
- in Movies and TV
For a long time, sports movies have been a popular genre in the film industry. But while early films such as The Babe Ruth Story and the original 1951 Angels in the Outfield existed, it was Rocky that popularized the classic sports movie story. Starting with its easily relatable underdog Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone in his first starring role), the movie showed his progression to becoming strong enough to take down the champion boxer Apollo Creed with help from a wise-cracking mentor and a supportive girlfriend. Though he didn’t win the match, he still won the girl which still counted as a victory.
Then The Karate Kid came along in the 1980s and cemented this genre in the center of pop-culture with having its main underdog win the match and the girl. From there, sports movies were everywhere in the 90s which were mostly targeted at kids with a few aimed at adults. From The Sandlot to Space Jam, these films typically focused on a ragtag group or an individual trying to prove their worth by winning a competition against all odds usually with help from a mentor or unexpected help in general. So if every fan has seen these films, then they should come take this quiz and find out how young at heart they really are!
The Sandlot
A boy named Scotty Smalls moves to the San Fernando Valley in 1962, and meets a group of kids who play baseball. Though he’s not a good player, Smalls quickly improves and becomes part of the group who tell him about “The Beast” that lives nearby.
Rudy
For a long time, Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger has dreamed of playing football at the University of Notre Dame. However, he doesn’t have the grades and resources necessary to attend. So he attends Holy Cross College in the hopes of eventually transferring to Notre Dame after his grades improve.
The Big Green
Anna Montgomery is a teacher from Britain who’s sent to a small town in Texas and stuck with a group of rowdy kids. But when they bond over soccer, Montgomery decides to enter the kids into a competition despite their lack of experience.
Space Jam
After Michael Jordan retires from basketball to play baseball, he gets dragged into an underground world where the Looney Tunes live who need his help to win a basketball game against a group of aliens that want to enslave them.
The Mighty Ducks
Defense Attorney Gordon Bombay gets arrested for drunk-driving after winning a case and is forced to serve community service by teaching a minor hockey league of kids who have no talent for the sport or equipment for that matter.
Cool Runnings
During the 1988 Winter Olympics, a Jamaican bobsled team made their official debut. However, they were considered a laughingstock by other countries though in particular the Germans. But with help from a coach who has a troubled past, they manage to defy all odds.
Happy Gilmore
Though he’s obsessed with hockey, Happy Gilmore’s attempts at trying out for it always fail. On top of that, his grandmother owes a lot of money to the IRS. Then after Gilmore finds out he’s good at golf, he decides to compete for the Pro Golf Tour.
Angels in the Outfield (1994)
Hoping his deadbeat father will come back, a boy named Roger prays the California Angels baseball team will end their constant losing steak by winning for once. Later, he discovers real angels have been summoned to do just that though he’s the only one who can see them.
Ladybugs
Looking to get a promotion, businessman Chester Lee decides to coach a girl’s soccer team called the Ladybugs who’ve won numerous seasons before. However, the new team is utterly hopeless and so Chester has his fiancee’s son Matthew dress as a girl to help the Ladybugs win.
Little Giants
After his daughter gets rejected from minor league football tryouts for being a girl, Danny O’Shea gathers her and her less-talented friends into an independent team to compete against the town’s current one which is coached by his superior older brother.
Air Bud
Following the death of his father, 12 year-old Josh Framm is forced to move with his family to a new town and becomes withdrawn. That is, until a stray Golden Retriever with a surprising talent for basketball shows up whom he decides to name Buddy and keeps it.
Les Boys
Made in Quebec, this film tells the story of amateur hockey players who are all grown men that come from different backgrounds and have different jobs. Their sponsor owns a pub and he owes money to a crime syndicate after a bad game of poker.
The Cutting Edge
A spoiled figure skater named Kate and a retired hockey player named Doug are brought together to compete in the 1992 Winter Olympics as a figure-skating pair after neither of them won in their respective categories two years prior.
Jerry Maguire
The titular character of this film is a sports agent who realizes the dishonesty of his profession and decides to concentrate his efforts on fewer clients including a wide receiver named Rod Tidwell who’s looking for a better contract to live on.
When Saturday Comes
A British film released by New Line Cinema, it tells the story of an ordinary factory worker (played by Sean Bean) getting scouted by the Hallam Football Club and then later he gets recruited into the Sheffield United Football Club.
Rookie of the Year
After his arm gets broken during a Little League game, Henry Rowengartner discovers he can now swing his arm back and make extremely fast pitches with a baseball. Soon enough, the Chicago Cubs learn about this and sign him onto their team.
Any Given Sunday
Miami Sharks coach Tony D’Amato struggles to bring this once-great football team back into the limelight after numerous loses when a new quarterback arrives in the form of Willie Beamen who’s not very good but promises to get better.
Blue Chips
After losing several times, the coach of a respectable college basketball team called the Western University Dolphins resorts to bribing high school athletes with a lot of potential in order to sign them on for the next season though the practice is illegal.
Mystery, Alaska
In a town where hockey is taken seriously, Sheriff John Biebe is asked to coach the town’s team in their upcoming televised match against the New York Rangers as part of a deal made by the National Hockey League who consider the town’s team to be major competition.
Without Limits
Produced by Tom Cruise, this film focuses on distance runner Steve Prefontaine, who competed in the 1972 Olympics, and his coach Bill Bowerman who went on to co-found the shoe company Nike, Inc. Also, Tom Cruise’s cousin William Mapother appears in this movie.
Days of Thunder
Hoping to compete in the Indianapolis 500, racer Cole Trickle is recruited by a business tycoon to race in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series using a specially made car. But due to his inexperience, Cole's put through rigorous training in order to beat his rival Rowdy Burns.
A League of Their Own
During World War II, the Major League Baseball organization was on the verge of shutting down because of the lack of male players. So to make up for this, a women’s baseball league was formed made up of women from all walks of life.
Switching Goals
Despite being twins, sisters Sam and Emma Stanton are completely different personality-wise. While Sam is a tomboy and plays soccer, Emma is more girly by comparison but wants to compete in sports. So when Sam is transferred to a team she doesn’t like, she and Emma switch teams.
The Waterboy
After being fired, water boy Bobby Boucher is hired by South Central Louisiana State University whose team known as the Mud Dogs have lost several games. Despite being bullied, the coach sees potential in Bobby and recruits him for the team.
White Men Can't Jump
A former basketball player named Billy Hoyle makes money by hustling street players who think they can beat him because he’s white while most of them are black. This includes Sidney Deane, who gets in on his scheme and the two make big bucks.
Net Worth
Prior to the formation of the NHL Players Association, a handful of football players from different teams got together to oppose the NHL’s monopolistic tenancies which didn’t protect player’s rights during the 1950s. At the center was a conflict between player Ted Lindsay and his team’s coach Jack Adams.
Prefontaine
Prior to Without Limits, there was another film that told the story of Steve Prefontaine which showed him breaking the US record for 5,000-meter runs to participating in the Olympics to his untimely death at the age of 24.
By the Sword
At a competitive fencing school, former champion Alexander Villard hires ex-convict Max Suba to work as the school’s janitor. But with time, Suba proves he can fence well and challenges Villard's ruthless teaching methods as the two share a personal connection.
Little Big League
A Little League player named Billy Heywood loses his grandfather, who owns the Minnesota Twins baseball team. But when his grandfather’s will states Billy as the new owner, the adult manager isn’t too happy about it. So Billy fires him and becomes the new manager as well.
Fever Pitch (1997)
Before the 2005 baseball love story, there was a British film with the same title about a similar love story that revolved around Arsenal's First Division football (aka soccer) season from 1988 to 1989 and how it affected the romantic relationship between two school teachers.
Hoop Dreams
Despite coming from poor families, African American teens William Gates and Arthur Agee get the chance to be recruited into St. Joseph High School’s basketball team which is predominantly white but they work hard and persevere despite having to overcome various obstacles along the way.
The Program (1993)
After two bad seasons, the ESU Timberwolves’ coach is under pressure to have his team win this season at the risk of being fired. Meanwhile, one of the players has an on-and-off relationship with his girlfriend while another gets addicted to drugs and alcohol.
H-E Double Hockey Sticks
An apprentice devil named Griffelkin makes a deal with Dave, who wants to be the youngest hockey player to win the Stanley Cup. But overtime, Griffelkin has a change of heart and exploits loopholes in the deal so Dave can accomplish his dream without losing his soul.
True Blue (1996)
Also known as Miracle at Oxford, this movie focuses on the 1987 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race though some elements were changed. In it, a handful of American recruits for the Oxford team rebel due to a falling out with the coaches.
The Hurricane (1999)
Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter was a middle-weight boxer for many years until he was charged with murdering three people at a bar in New Jersey. However, these accusations later proved to be untrue and he was released from prison.
