It’s easy to remember what sporting events you either personally attended or watched that left a lasting impression, but what about sports movies?

While live sporting events are a different form of entertainment than movies with sports themes, those types of movies usually seek to inspire their audience, which is why they can end up being memorable, especially to people who enjoy athletic competition. I’ve found the movie “Field of Dreams” tends to have a special place in the hearts of older baseball fans, for example, though I’m not sure how much that movie is beloved by today’s young baseball players.

Here’s my list of sports movies that I remember really enjoying at the time I saw them, even though some of them I haven’t seen in years. It’s possible that on a current viewing I might find that some of these movies haven’t aged particularly well, but for now, I can let nostalgia do it’s thing and act like I’m listing off some classics.

•”Space Jam” — A few years ago I wrote about how Golden State’s Steph Curry almost feels like a Michael Jordan-type figure to today’s young generation of basketball fans. To understand what I mean, you had to have been a child in the early and mid 1990s when Jordan was securing his legacy as arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.

I didn’t follow the NBA closely as a kid, but I knew who Michael Jordan was. It was almost impossible not to, as Jordan was a larger-than-life figure whose popularity seemed to go above basketball. Watching him in “Space Jam,” which was released in 1996, I saw first-hand how cool “MJ” was, even if the acting on Jordan’s part was pretty bad when I look back. 

A sequel to this movie has been in planning for several years, and now that LeBron James lives in Los Angeles, filming is set to begin in California following the current NBA season. I’ll probably go see it for no other reason than to feed my childhood nostalgia, but even if it’s a million times better than the original, I’m not sure it will ever have the special place in my heart that the Jordan-led original did.

•”Remember the Titans” — I saw this movie in theaters when I was 13 and enjoy hearing the story of Herman Boone, who led the 1971 T.C. Williams High School team to a state championship while integration was taking place. My enjoyment of this film was a mix of liking football, Denzel Washington’s acting and a football team coming together after racial tensions made that look impossible at first.

This film has good acting and brings out a range of emotions, as it includes moments of comedy, inspiration, tragedy and life lessons. It shows how athletics can offer its participants — and even spectators — life lessons.

•”For Love of The Game” — You probably expected my Kevin Costner movie to be “Field of Dreams.” I actually prefer this movie to “Field of Dreams,” as it tells the story of a man whose baseball days are about to be over as he tries to go out on top by pitching a perfect game.

The movie bounces between the present, where fictional Tigers’ pitcher Billy Chapel tries to get 27 straight outs while pitching against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, and the past, which focuses on Chapel’s off-again, on-again relationship with his girlfriend, Jane, who was supposed to fly to London for a job offer but ends up staying behind at the airport to watch Chapel’s game on TV.

Maybe I was young and impressionable, but watching Chapel battle through a perfect game while understanding a little bit of who he was though the flashbacks made me feel something I don’t often feel watching movies. Off all the movies on this list, this one is one I would like to revisit, as I wonder how it would stand up in 2019 without the benefit of childhood nostalgia.

•”The Sandlot” — This was probably a given, right? If there’s a sports movie it feels like everyone saw at least once when they were a kid, it’s this one. Who could forget poor Scotty Smalls not knowing who the Great Bambino was? (“Oh, I thought you said the Great Bambi.”) Lots of boys who saw this movie when they were a kid had a crush on Wendy Peffercorn. And, of course, every baseball young baseball player wanted to be Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez, who outran the monster dog following recovering Smalls’ stepdad’s baseball with Babe Ruth’s signature on it.

The movie ends with a grown-up Rodriguez playing for the Dodgers and stealing home. I never played baseball beyond the youth level, but I can think of few things so exhilarating as stealing home plate must be. I also acknowledge this movie as an all-time classic that isn’t limited to one generation of baseball fans, or children in general. Naturally, it made my cut.

•”Moneyball” — The last one on my list is yet another baseball movie, though this one isn’t so much about an inspirational athlete or a group of kids who love the game. It’s the fictional telling of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane as he takes over the team and tries to “buy wins” by targeting undervalued players who advanced statistics say are better than generally believed.

When I began following Major League Baseball more closely toward the end of high school, I was introduced to this concept and some of the stats that people can use to identify which players are the best. (Yes, advanced stats love Mike Trout.) Watching a movie about someone who helped mainstream the idea of analytics in baseball circles naturally struck my interest. Plus, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Phillip Seymour Hoffman all do a great job acting their parts.

I’ve seen many more sports movies over the years, but looking back, these are the five that stick out the most to me. I’m in no way saying they’re the best sports films ever, nor am I saying I would even enjoy them all as much if I watched them now, but I can’t deny loving them all at the time I watched them. Nostalgia truly is a powerful force.

Drew Kerekes is the sports editor at The Meridian Star. He can be reached at dkerekes@themeridianstar.com.