From Sports Illustrated Volume 99, NO. 4, August 04, 2003
Illustration by: Richie Fahey
The top 50 Sports movies of all time were covered in the Sports Illustrated issue listed above. Here are the top ten, the comments for “Rocky” and the illustration that accompanied the article.
1: Bull Durham
2: Rocky
“In America‘s bicentennial year Rocky Balboa became the first of the post-Vietnam War heroes, a frenzied expression of old-fashioned individualism. A slow-on-the-uptake palooka who gets a chance to survive a fight with the heavyweight champ (Apollo Creed, played with panache by Weathers), Balboa has a Philadelphia story with heart and purity and just enough cruelty for resonance. Stallone informed his loser with a colossal goofiness that was impossible not to watch. He was so convincingly sincere that audiences actually jumped up and screamed for him to win.
3: Raging Bull
4: Hoop Dreams
5: Slap Shot
6: Hoosiers
7: Olympia
8: Breaking Away
9: Chariots of Fire
10: When We Were Kings
Thanks to Big John Beatty!- Craig Zablo