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First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for their patience. This has been an arduous battle. I am hoping that you all feel that the final round went pretty smooth, and if we had not had two major holidays right in the middle of it, we would have been done two weeks ago.
That being said.....HERE WE GO!
Here is Ssigmans article.
American cinema and sports have a long history together dating back to the early 20th century. Sports movie have all types of story lines, from touching stories like “Brian’s Song” to autobiographical stories like, “The Babe” to fictional stories like, “The Mighty Ducks I-MMCVXII,” but no sports movie has touched so many people as much as a movie about golf. How many people have gone into a pool as a child and threw a candy bar in it and yelled, “DOOOOODIIEEEE!!” If you don’t know what movie that quote is from, well then I have already lost this competition, but my choice for greatest sports movie of all time is Caddyshack. So please as you read this article, please remember to just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball…Naaa naa naaaa naaaa.
Caddyshack was made in 1980 and still reigns supreme even today. It’s a movie that doesn’t get stale with time. Actors like Chevy Chase and Bill Murray were at the peak of their comedic routines. Throw in Rodney Dangerfield with his quick witted lines and Ted Knight as the straight and narrow country clubber and what you have is an instant classic. If you have seen this movie, you can probably rumble off quote after quote from that movie. I could write a 3 page article from quotes alone that I know from the movie, but I won’t obviously.
Sure Caddyshack wasn’t 100% sports movie; it was also a comedy, but it had the makings of all the other fictional sports movies. You have a competition; a round of golf, you had the underdog, Danny Noonan, a kid who can play golf but hadn’t been given the chance. Ty Webb, a great golfer, who gets hurt and allows the underdog to come into the spotlight. Judge Smails, the antagonist of the movie and the one they have to beat. In the end, the “good” guys prevail and win the competition. The only difference is they had great comedy in between to keep you interested and laughing.
How big is Caddyshack? I went to Google and typed in quotes, “Caddyshack” and resulted in 616,000 links. Now I didn’t go through each one so I can’t be sure they are all for Caddyshack the movie, but even so, that’s a lot of links. It is a staple movie of our society and it is recognized by Men’s Journal as #9 on the top 10 Guy movies of all time, the highest rated sports movie on the list. Sure I could’ve gone the easy route and picked Rocky or Field of Dreams, but Caddyshack should be thrown into the forefront for all to see. And remember win or lose, Al Czervik says it best, “Hey everybody, we're all gonna get laid!”
And here is Mark's rebuttal
I am going to start this rebuttal in a most unconventional way by saying- Caddyshack is a great freaking movie. One of the greatest of all time, no question. It just can’t be the greatest of all time, and for one big reason- it’s just not good enough.
No sports movie has touched as many people as a movie about golf? Come on, you cannot be serious. Is it great? Yes. Is it timeless? Yes. It just isn’t great enough or timeless enough to be considered number 1. I think the big problem here is that it is a comedy and frankly, some of what is funny then just isn’t as funny now. I hate to say this, because a part of me dies when I do, but kids today aren’t watching Caddyshack, they are watching Happy Gilmore. How big is Caddyshack? Well, you google-ranked them at 616,000 links, which, admittedly, is a ton of links. Next time you are looking to google something, why don’t you give “Happy Gilmore” a whirl, and you will see it bringing a solid 614,000. And then try Rudy, which will give you a little over 13 MILLION.
I know Caddyshack had some great performances and some great quotes, but so do many comedies. I think Wedding Crashers and Old School had some great quotes. But wait, those aren’t sports movies? Right, but they are comedies, and comedies just don’t have the shelf life that other movies do. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love Caddyshack and it has gone far above and beyond what most sports movies and comedies can achieve, but for it to be the best sports movie of all time, there has to be a stronger message coming from it (and as I said in my article, it has to be a real story to have a strong shelf-life).
Another problem with Caddyshack is that it is a golf movie, and golf just isn’t as popular as football is. Rudy will resonate with more people because everyone knows about football. Little kids can play football, but how many 7th graders are playing golf? Not that many. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that football is a bigger spectator sport (which is why it has such a more stable following), but if you don’t really get golf, some of Caddyshack is lost on you.
In the end, Rudy just appeals to people on many more levels. You have the advantage of working with a real story, the whole storyline appeals to so many people and more importantly, it can cross sport barriers. That message applies to anyone playing a team sport (it actually goes even far beyond that). I love Caddyshack, I really do. But at the end of the day, Rudy has changed how some people approach sports entirely, whereas Caddyshack has never had that emotional attachment with anyone. Great movie, but not the best.
Here is Mark's article:
Rudy
There have been many great sports movies over the years. Field of Dreams, Slapshot, Major League, Hoosiers, Remember the Titans, and Coach Carter all come to mind. However, there is one great movie that has changed sports for the better, and that movie is Rudy.
I’m a big Notre Dame guy, so obviously there are some great things about this movie that won’t appeal to everyone. That being said, this movie isn’t like too many others. First of all, it’s a true story, which is crucial for the best sports movie of all time. If I can only pick one great sports movie, I don’t want any contrived crap or stories about dead people in corn fields.
As far as great sports movies go, I’m picking a movie with an individual theme. I know most games are team games, but if you are saddled with a poor team or with poor teammates, a “team is good” message just won’t benefit the individual. And as far as individuals go, most people don’t have talent. Your kid plays little league? Hate to break it to you, but he probably sucks. You play pickup games still at the Y or maybe on a high-school team? Here’s some news, you suck too. Unless you are playing at a major college level or playing professionally, you aren’t the best. But that’s ok in Rudy, because Rudy sucked, which is why it resonates with so many people.
It’s rare for someone to have the talent and size to be a pro, but most people aren’t near the size you have to be to be a serious player and can get behind what Rudy is all about. Rudy is a tiny player, no skill, but 120% heart. Most people don’t have the talent, but any schmuck can have heart. Not only is it a great story about a player giving it 120% on the field, but in his personal life. It’s the ultimate story about chasing your dreams and accomplishing what most people called impossible.
Why is this story so great? Because everyone can be Rudy. Not everyone has the talent to play for the US Olympic hockey team or for one of the greatest high school football teams. Not everyone can play Major League Baseball, but everyone can be Rudy. There are plenty of great sports movies, but not many that have changed the way people play sports like Rudy has. Every team now has a Rudy and some people even aspire to play the Rudy role for a team. That movie has not only inspired so many people, but it has also made the benchwarmers and practice players for teams feel important.
Rudy, the best damn sports movie of all time.
And here is Ssigmans rebuttal:
I’m just going to sum up my opinion of Mark’s choice of movie and his article by using a few choice words we can all understand: Uch, Ech, Yuck and Ooof. Hollywood’s attempt at immortalizing a 4 year bench player who is in for one play cause his coach feels bad for him and this is the greatest sports movie of all time??
Why was this movie even made you might ask. I say to sensationalize the University of Notre Dame is the reason why this movie was made. Can anyone say honestly that no other school has had a guy sit on the bench for 4 years, play a minimal amount of time, was undersized and an “inspiration” to his team. So how come we don’t see the movie, “Charlie,” about an undersized basketball player from the University of Tennessee who scores one basket and wins the hearts of the whole school?
Mark says and I quote. “That being said, this movie
isn’t like too many others. First of all, it’s a true story, which is
crucial for the best sports movie of all time.” How does it being true make it any better than the other true stories like Miracle, Remember the Titans, Cinderella Man, Brian’s Song, etc. Rudy was more a story about a guy’s willingness to succeed in life than it was a sports movie.
To say people who don’t have the talent to make it to the collegiate level or professionally means they suck is real bold statement despite the fact you try to link it to an over hyped Hollywood film. Truth is, ninety percent of society can’t make it that high in sports yet it’s the single biggest hobby in the world. Why? It’s not because of guys like Rudy; it’s because of guys like Michael Jordan, Hank Aaron and Barry Sanders. These people and the ability they have awe us and we try to emulate them. We go to the basketball court as a kid and try to do Jordan moves because that’s what we strive to be.
“Most people don’t have the talent, but any schmuck can
have heart.” If that’s the case, then what makes Rudy so special? If any schmuck can have heart, how come we don’t see more movies like Rudy then? I revert back to Hollywood over hyping a movie to sell tickets and to make the great Notre Dame University look even better to the country.
“Every team now has a Rudy and some people even aspire to play
the Rudy role for a team.” One, every team has a Rudy because not everyone can be on the field at once. Every team will have a guy with more talent than the next which leads to people getting less playing time. Nobody aspires to be Rudy, that’s a straight out lie. Every kid who is in college tries their hardest to be out on the field as much as possible and not sit on the bench. If Rudy was a love story, the equivalent Hollywood film would be Bridges of Madison County.
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