I have assembled the 26 best football-themed movies and in true March Madness style, created a bracket to determine the best football movie of all time.

 

Myself and three other sports-minded people ranked the movies 1 to 26, with seeds determined by the averages - low to high.

 

I will post a thread at different intervals throughout the next few weeks and months. Everyone will have the same amount of time to vote before the polls close. The winner advances.

 

You will not know the list of movies until the first round is over. I'm sure I have forgotten one or two, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Some you won't see are:

 

Jerry McGuire, which was more about agents than football

• Black Sunday, more about terrorists than football
  
• Air Bud, more about being terrible than football
  
• Forrest Gump, MASH, Lucas, Last Boy Scout, etc. all had football in it but wasn't the central plot.

Use whatever criteria you wish in casting the vote. In the spirit of the MVP Award, "Best Football movie" can mean whatever you want it to mean.

 

Play-In Results

 

#23 Wildcats over #26 Gus 51-18

#24 The Replacements over #25 Quarterback Princess 54-2

 

First Round

 

#9 Everybody's All-American over #23 Wildcats 18-14

#17 The Longest Yard (2005) over #16 Gridiron Gang 36-23

#13 The Program over #20 The Best of Times 51-17

#21 Little Giants over #12 Necessary Roughness 32-27

#11 All the Right Moves over #22 Radio 28-26

#14 Varsity Blues over #19 The Waterboy 55-36

#24 The Replacements over #10 Heaven Can Wait 30-13

#15 Any Given Sunday over #18 Semi-Tough 48-6

 

Second Round

 

#8 Brian's Song over #9 Everybody's All-American 35-7

#1 Remember the Titans over #17 The Longest Yard (2005) 72-3

#13 The Program over #4 North Dallas Forty 33-25

#5 Rudy over #21 Little Giants 66-9

#6 We Are Marshall over #11 All The Right Moves 37-15

#3 Friday Night Lights over #14 Varsity Blues 42-30

#7 Invincible over #24 The Replacements 30-28

#2 The Longest Yard (1974) over #15 Any Given Sunday 31-26

 

 

#13 The Program (James Caan, Omar Epps, Halle Berry)

 

 

vs.

 

 

#5 Rudy (Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Charles Dutton, Ned Beatty)

 

Rudy was nothing but ND propaganda. Vote The Program!

Rudy's a great movie, and against the other movies in this competition that's probably who I vote, but The Program is just outstanding. No chance of winning here, but it is a better movie.

How can you not like Rudy???

How can you not like Rudy???

 

Just don't..

Rudy is and always will be my favorite football movie.

Rudy was nothing but ND propaganda. Vote The Program!

 

Well put. "The Program" is important if for no other reason than its insight into the ugly side of college FB. "Rudy" is just sentimental schlock.

Rudy just doesn't do it for me....The Program is much, much better.

This one was tough! I had to go with The Program though, I loved that movie, and it was much more real that Rudy.

This one was tough! I had to go with The Program though, I loved that movie, and it was much more real that Rudy.

 

Except for the fact that Rudy actually happened.

Except for the fact that Rudy actually happened.

 

Yeah, it may have happened once, in an extremely unlikely sequence of events, at a school that has taken on a (fair or not) mythological aura. But the scenario in "The Program" goes on every day at football factories across America. Which one's more real?

Love them both...Own them both, but went with Rudy.

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.

Except for the fact that Rudy actually happened.

 

I've always heard that Rudi is grossly exaggerated....

This one goes to Rudy. I never was a big fan of The Program, whereas Rudy is porbably my favorite.