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When it comes to sports films, there are a few things that separate the good ones from the great ones. Sure, cheesy motivational music and 80s style montages never hurt, but a truly great sports film often has elements of truth and inspiration. Over the past 10 years, we have been subject to some pretty amazing sports movies.

Here is my list of what I consider to be the best sports films released over the past 10 years.

When it comes to great movies about football from the last 2000-2009, one would be foolish not to include Disney’s Remember The Titans on their list. The true story of the first racially integrated football team stars Denzel Washington and the always great Will Patton.

Another football movie that was unbelievable (literally) is The Blind Side. This is definitely a movie worth seeing, and coming from someone who read Michael Lewis’ book of the same title, it does this incredible true story complete justice. Sandra Bullock also knocks it out of the park as the part of Leanne Tuohy.

What list of sports films from this past decade would be complete without mentioning The Wrestler. You can argue that professional wrestling is not a sport, but there is nothing fake or funny about the way the industry is portrayed in this film. This is an incredibly moving film and Mickey Rourke nails the part.

A boxing film that I thoroughly enjoyed, which I did not think would be possible, was Rocky Balboa. Stallone returns to the role that got him his own statue in the city of Philadelphia, and this film was more than enjoyable. This was Rocky at his best.

Another sports movie that I absolutely loved, and is definitely worth watching on an HD television is Riding Giants. This film tells the story of the pioneers of big wave surfing and is so visually stunning you may feel the need to get to the beach following watching it.

On a more comedic note, I really enjoyed Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell! If you are looking for a comedic sports movie to watch, it fits the bill.

This author also often publishes articles on things such as wood floor repair and floor cleaning.

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One of the biggest men in college football in 2009, Terrence Cody, at 6 foot four in tall & 350 lbs, has transformed the way that colleges look at larger players. A tremendous run stopper can make a world of difference for football teams hoping to free up their linebackers.

I think that more and more we will see giant players, obviously like Terrence Cody, arriving onto the scene in college football. A huge guy at that stature in the middle of the defense playing middle guard or nosetackle is an extremely precious tool.

Now don’t misunderstand me, folks the size of Terrence Cody with his quickness do not come around every day. The NFL football team, the Baltimore Ravens discovered great potential in this big guy’s actual physical skills, size, and speed enough to draft him at number 57 in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft.

It isn’t really simply proportions that makes the difference in a lad like this,it is also the explosiveness. The fast 1st step from the line, when coupled with the leveraging of the weight, it is 100 % pure physics of mass times acceleration equals momentum… and momentum he does have!

The Baltimore Ravens saw a sizeable drop-off in it’s run defense the very first time this past year, 2009. Cedric Benson of the Cincinnati Bengals ran for the first hundred yard performance against the vaulted Ravens defense in over 39 games. Part of the reason is the soft middle of the defensive front. In 2010,the coaches of the Ravens came to the realization that they needed the big man up the middle of their defense to totally free things up and so they drafted massive “Mount Cody”.

Look for big things (no pun intended) out of Mount Cody in the NFL, as well as other massive guys doing a lot more in college football. Recruiting will heat up for these types of players given it proved successful for the Alabama Crimson Tide in earning a 2009 national championship.

So the next time you think of great defense, see if you can locate a nearby mountain and take a look at it. Your favorite college football team will almost certainly be looking for the same thing but only a bit more human!

Read related articles on the fan site of Alabama Crimson Tide! More also on Terrence Cody Baltimore Ravens news. Check here for free reprint licence: Mount Cody Changed The Landscape Of College Football.

Youngsters from all over the world love to play football. It is still one of the most popular sports and not only keeps the body healthy but the minds too. Playing football has many advantages attributed to it. It builds a sense of teamwork and keeps athletes in phenomenal, top notch physical shape.

Football is not just a relaxing sport; it takes dedication and plenty of discipline to be able to perform at a high level. Anyone who makes it to any sort of competitive level will tell you how hard they worked to get there.

The daily workout is a pivotal part of keeping a footballer fit in both body and mind. To become a professional footballer you must be fully committed and be able to handle the disciplined regime.

Footballers require a whole lot of stamina to be able to perform at the highest level all the time. They must also be able to concentrate for the entire match and beyond. The slightest lack of concentration or discipline can be the difference between winning and losing the match.

Professional footballers are the role models that young kids always look up to. This is why they should always act in a responsible manner. Football is all about working as a team and working with the right attitude and commitment. You have to prove that you are competitive but that you are also fair minded.

Carrying the right attitude is vitally important as it can have a major bearing on not only the game but on how people see you. There have been many instances of bad attitude in football that has led to players getting into trouble. Behaving like this on the pitch could make people behave the same in the real world and that is not acceptable.

Football teaches people very early on how they can handle success and failure in equal measure. This is a good trait to carry with you into life outside of football.

Schools and colleges have implemented football as an extra curricular activity because of the influence it can have on student’s lives away from the pitch.

See various other tips created by this very author dealing with topics including fixture fluorescent light and brass table lamp.

Nebraska fans have witnessed this very scenario previously over the last four seasons.

There were the Texas and USC situations in ‘06, USC again in ‘07, and then the Hokies last year in Lincoln, all having the same outcome – the “Nebraska not prepared for primetime players.”

The latest time the Nebraska defeated a ranked opponent on the road was during November 2006, when the Huskers topped then-ranked number 24 Texas A&M, 28-27, in College Station.

Although that was a distinct time, a different coach, and, more or less, different players.

Everyone realizes that when you go up against a Frank Beamer franchise you can expect good execution on both ends of the field, in addition to imposing play by special teams. They demonstrated that yet again in their 1st game this year vs. Alabama.

Alabama outgained Virginia Tech by nearly a 2-to-one margin, although the team was only leading by a FG late in the 4th quarter because of a kickoff runback for a touchdown.

The one thing that Husker Nation has realized with this season’s team is that the botched assignments and out-of-position plays have all but vanished. There’s less muddling on the defense and therefore, a handful of plays are being successfully executed since the players are analyzing and reacting rather than thinking.

Head coach Bo Pelini now sees a team that entirely understands the value of giving things their all.

This season, the franchise knows what it requires to be successful. It knows what its role is on both sides of the ball.

I really do think that the Huskers have now turned the corner, and have the ideal players in the right positions come through with their 1st huge away victory in three seasons.

I see the Nebraska football team victorious in a low-scoring, tight game in overtime by a 27-24 score.

Enjoy the best college football forum and some great college football pick em at RootZoo.

The Red Raiders football team is the representative of Texas Tech University – often referred to simply as “Tech” – in the Big Twelve Conference of the NCAAs. Football has been an integral part of the Texas Tech tradition since 1925, with varying degrees of success. Overall, the program has garnered eleven total conference championships in its history, and maintains a positive record of wins and losses. One of the brightest periods in its history occurred during the prior decade, when the Red Raiders had a winning season during each year between 2001 and 2009. Much of the team’s success during that period can be attributed to the coaching of a man who had never suited up for a football game in his life.

Coming to Tech

The fact that Leach had no college football experience as a player did make his hiring something out of the ordinary, but Texas Tech seemed nonplussed by the notion. It has been common -almost expected, in fact – that college coaches have had at least some personal experience in a college football uniform prior to entering the coaching ranks. Leach had none. He did possess ideas, however, and it was those ideas put into practice that enabled Leach to have the success that he did. His teams all believed in what he wanted them to do, and because they believed, they achieved. Leach’s first season with the team was a winning one, beginning a pattern that would be repeated throughout his tenure with the school. His years at Tech saw the team playing in a bowl game every season, with them winning five of the nine they played. Those wins gave Leach the record for Texas Tech coaches in the postseason.

His secret

When evaluating the true secret to Leach’s success as the Texas Tech coach, it is important to look at this offensive history. As an offensive coach at several schools prior to his head coaching job at Tech, Leach built a reputation for developing explosive passing offenses that could quickly put points on the board. It was his personally unique style of the spread offense, and it caught fire with many other coaches across the nation – with varying degrees of success. He also established himself as a coach who knew what it took to help a raw talent quarterback such as Tim Couch and help them develop into players who could be drafted in the NFL’s first round.

The Insight Bowl

The best example of the speed with which his Tech teams could score occurred during the Insight Bowl game of 2006. At one point in the third quarter of that game, the Minnesota Gophers enjoyed a thirty-one point lead over the Red Raiders. With the little more than a quarter left to them in the game, the Red Raiders stormed back to tie the game by the end of regulation play, then won by a field goal in overtime. That 31 point turnaround is the greatest deficit any team has ever overcome in postseason play.

None of his success or the glory achieved in moments like the Insight Bowl would prove sufficient to save Leach’s job from his own quirky nature, however. After being accused of player abuse in 2009 – and subsequently refusing to admit that he was sorry for his actions – Leach was first suspended and then terminated by Tech. His lawsuit for wrongful termination has yet to be decided.

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: Michigan Swimwear or his LSU Bikini

A lot of things have changed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Bowl Championship Series over the last few years. With teams like Boise State and Texas Christian finally beginning to get their due as legitimate national title contenders, the major conferences with automatic BCS berths seem poised to lose their stranglehold on the championship title. To look at the true origins of the breakdown of that stranglehold, one need only go back to Urban Meyer’s time as the coach of the Utah Utes. The Utes play in the Mountain West Conference, one of the smaller NCAA groupings that were not afforded the automatic berth provided to major conference teams when the BCS was first established. As a result, no team from a conference such as the MWC was invited to a BCS game – that is, until Urban Meyer arrived at the University of Utah.

Ready to go

From the start, Meyer made it clear that his team’s goal at Utah would be to play the fastest, hardest type of football possible, and provide everyone a show they would never forget. With his spread option offense, he was determined to make the Utes a national powerhouse. Of course, the Utes’ 118 year history had already provided many highlights, including 22 titles in their conference and more than 600 total wins. They also held the best postseason record in history, with twelve victories in the fifteen bowl games they had played. Obviously, Meyer knew that he had a team that could contend for any title, ad he set out to d just that.

Shattering the barrier

Meyer’s first campaign with the Utes demonstrated that his style of play would reap huge rewards for his team. After using Meyer’s spread offense to win 10 of the 12 games they played and their conference crown, there was no doubt that the Utes were a real power. Their bowl game that year was a complete shutout of a quality Southern Miss. Team. Not content to rest on their laurels, the following year’s team repeated as conference winners while establishing a new Utes’ scoring record – all while going undefeated. The BCS was eventually forced to acknowledge the Utes’ dominance, and gave them a slot in the Fiesta Bowl of 2005 against Pittsburgh. The Utes won that contest going away. Their season results earned them a number four ranking in the Associated Press’s final season poll.

Meyer’s two seasons as the Utes’ coach had broken new ground with the Bowl Championship Series, as the BCS selection committee was forced to finally acknowledge that top level football was being played in places outside of the traditional power conferences.

As a sign of just how much things had changed, the Utes earned another BCS spot in 2008-2009- a bowl match up in which they crushed the Alabama Crimson Tide team that would win the national title just a year later.

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: South Carolina Watch

The Georgia Bulldogs football team has been one of the most successful in history, having won nearly two thirds of all games they have played since 1892. Members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the “Dawgs” can routinely be found in the top 25 polls of the best teams in the nation, and are usually considered amongst college football’s elite programs – though recent years have seen them somewhat less successful than they have been in the past. Their stadium in Athens, Georgia is the fifth largest of its kind to exist on any American campus, and seas more than 90,000 fans. The Bulldogs have fielded a host of great players in their history, but perhaps none have been as well known as Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, who carried the ball for the Bulldogs from 1980 to 1982.

Hershel Walker at Georgia

When Herschel Walker arrived on the campus of the University of Georgia, he made an immediate impact. Despite being a freshman running back, Walker ran over, around, and through the competition that season to set freshman records for rushing and help the Bulldogs to an undefeated season. His freshman performance garnered him so much attention that he managed to get enough votes for the Heisman Trophy that he came in third that year – a rare and almost unheard of feat for an underclassman at the college level. That year’s Bulldogs went on to play Notre Dame in the 1980 Sugar Bowl, with their victory over the Fighting Irish earning them a consensus national championship. After two more impressive seasons with the Bulldogs, Walker finally broke through in the Heisman voting and won the award in 1982 as a junior.

On to the pros

With his junior year at an end, Walker felt that he had nothing left to prove. Though the existing National Football League rules of the time forbade any team from drafting players until they had completed their senior season, Walker decided to find another way into the pro ranks. It made sense to him from both a personal and financial sense – after winning a national title as a freshman and the Heisman as a junior, it was unlikely that his stock in the NFL draft would be elevated by a return for his senior season. In fact, an injury could have made him less attractive.

For Walker, the situation could not have been any better, as Dallas was one of the few teams for which he had expressed an earlier desire to join.

A legacy of unorthodox decisions

Though often cited as one of the greatest college football players of all time, his accomplishments off the field have been just as important to the game. Widely recognized as having helped to force the NFL to change its rules regarding college juniors entering the NFL draft, Herschel had an undeniable impact on the lives of the many college players who followed in his footsteps.

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: South Carolina Watch

One of the most startling things that can happen to any college football fan with only passing knowledge of the game is to look up onto their television screen during a highlights recap and see the Boise State Broncos football team playing at home. To be sure, the quality of play that the team delivers is definitely an attention-getter – the WAC team has been making waves in the NCAAs for some time, with particular attention drawn to them during the 2006 season. They went undefeated in that year, and their 13 victories included a Fiesta Bowl win over storied Oklahoma. That success has continued right up to the present, including another undefeated campaign in the 2009 season – a season in which many believe they had as much right to contend for a national championship as any of the other unbeaten teams at the top of the polls. Still, the team’s success still isn’t the most attention-grabbing aspect of the Boise State program. That distinction would, in the minds of most fans, center around the unique color of the football field on which the team plays – a bright shade of blue.

Bronco Stadium

That blue field in Bronco Stadium has been the subject of much consternation and conversation over the last several decades. Alone among all college football programs, Boise State decided to make their field blue in part out of a desire to get the most out of their three quarters of a million dollar Astro turf change in 1985. Since the turf was going to be so expensive anyway, the decision was made that there was no reason to settle for the new Astro turf looking exactly the same as the old. In an attempt to gain publicity for the turf’s installation, the decision makers at the school opted to install the new field covering using one of the team’s uniform colors – blue and orange. Blue got the nod, and the rest is history.

Is there an advantage?

Of course, it was only natural that there would be much speculation over the course of the next two and a half decades that perhaps the blue field, when seen against the blue of the Boise State players’ uniforms, would serve to camouflage the Broncos players and force opponents to play at a disadvantage. Comments to that effect were, however, quickly dismissed in light of the fact that many colleges and professional teams have worn green uniforms that have been similar in color to the grass on which they played, without serious suggestions that they were somehow invisible to their opponents due to the blending of the colors. One coach of another squad was so adamant that the blue field provided no real advantage to the Broncos that he is famously quoted as saying that the real disadvantage his team had in facing the Boise State team came from the fact that the players on those Broncos units had so much talent.

The blue exception

Nevertheless, Boise State is fated to be the sole college team with a football field of blue. The NCAA has made any other such designs illegal, though they still allow the Broncos to retain their field color for as long as they have Bronco Stadium intact.

Fortunately for the Broncos, the rule made an explicit exception for them, leaving them as the only team that has or ever will have a blue football field.

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: TCU Watch or his Texas Tech Watch

In the course of the last half century, there has not been a college football program that has seen more success in terms of wins than the Nebraska Cornhuskers. As one of only seven NCAA football programs to garner 800 or more wins in their history, the Cornhuskers have been a college football power for most of their 119 seasons, holding the fourth highest number of wins in Division 1 football. In addition, they have achieved five national championships, with three of those coming in the last quarter century. Those three national titles were earned under the guidance and tutelage of the legendary Thomas “Tom” Osborne, who coached the Nebraska Cornhuskers between 1973 and 1997.

The philosophy of coaching

Although Osborn is most famous for bringing the option offense to the University of Nebraska, fans of the school’s football program know that the option was not the coach’s first choice. In fact, Coach Osborne didn’t implement the option offense until 1980, and was prompted to do that only after seeing how difficult it had been for his own team to confront Oklahoma’s option attack throughout most of the 1970s. That ability to adjust his offensive and defensive strategies is a large part of why Osborne was able to achieve such consistent success throughout his long career with the Cornhuskers. For opposing teams, Nebraska’s option attack would prove to be as difficult to defend as Osborne had found the Sooner’s wishbone offense to be years before. Though much of that difficulty certainly had to do with the quality of the option quarterbacks Osborne was able to recruit, his ability to coach the entire offense and ensure that each role player was doing his job properly was without peer.

Winning is easy

For an entire quarter of a century of Osborne coaching, Nebraska enjoyed the type of national prominence most schools’ fans would come to envy. With teams that won at least nine games in 25 consecutive seasons – a remarkable streak by any standard – and 13 Big Eight and Big Twelve Conference titles, Osborne amassed an impressive record of 255 all-time wins with only 49 losses and 3 ties. He also broke the record for the fastest coach to win 250 games, as his teams compiled a 60 victory and 3 losses run during his last five years at the coach’s helm. In addition, throughout his tenure at Nebraska, there were only three weeks in which the Cornhuskers were not ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll.

With undefeated teams in the 1994 and 1995 seasons – both of which resulted in consensus national championships, Osborne’s Nebraska teams had earned the right to be called a true dynasty.

The combination of Osborne’s creative coaching style, his teams’ devastatingly efficient option attack, and his often brutal defense made the Cornhuskers one of the most consistently powerful teams ever to don football jerseys. Osborne became such a potent force with the University of Nebraska that he is still with the school, having returned to serve as athletic director.

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: Pittsburgh Watch

The Wisconsin Badgers have, from the beginning, been a football program where success and failure have come in waves. Though the team’s overall 614-465 record is a positive one, it does not tell the entire story of Badger football – a tale that involves not only prolonged periods of success, but prolonged periods of failure as well. In the wake of their successful 1901 campaign, the Badgers went through a three and a half decade time of poor play that was only broken by their undefeated season in 1912. They nearly repeated that era of mediocrity with another after their defeat in the Rose Bowl of 1962 – another three decades of miserable results. However, the 1990 arrival of Barry Alvarez as Wisconsin’s Head Coach would signal the return of the Badgers to national prominence.

Alvarez’ coaching pedigree

Barry Alvarez was a fairly well known commodity when he was hired by the school. He had been a successful player under Coach Bob Devaney during the 1960s, and then landed coaching jobs at the high school level in Nebraska as well as in Iowa. He eventually caught the eye of the Hawkeye legend, Coach Hayden Fry, and was given a job as an assistant at the University of Iowa. From there it was on to Notre Dame to finish Alvarez’ time as an assistant coach. Arriving at Wisconsin in 1990, Alvarez made it clear that the team’s fortunes were destined to change. Unfortunately, there would soon be doubts amongst the school’s fan base as to whether or not that was true.

The early years

As often happens with new head coaches, Alvarez found the first several years to be difficult ones. It takes time to rebuild a football program, and such was the case for the Badgers. Their first Alvarez-led campaign was almost winless, as they lost ten of their eleven games. While the team improved to five win seasons over the next two seasons, they still remained in the bottom of the Big Ten standings. Alvarez stuck to his plan, however, ignoring the many calls for his dismissal. His faith was rewarded in the fourth year of his coaching tenure.

Success at last

The Badgers looked like a different team altogether as the 1993 season started. They went through that season with only two losses, earning their fourth trip to the Rose Bowl. Though they had lost the first three Rose Bowl contests earlier in their history, Alvarez had his team ready to play that year and they achieved their first Rose Bowl win ever. In addition, his 1993 squad was honored with an Associate Press poll ranking of number six. Throughout the rest of Alvarez coaching years, the Badgers would have winning seasons every year but two, become consistent bowl-goers, and remain at or near the top of the Big Ten standings. Best of all, the Alvarez Badgers would repeat their performance in the Rose Bowl twice more, winning the Bowl in 1998, and again in 1999.

When he left the program after the 2005, the most successful coach in the program’s history left behind one unassailable fact: Wisconsin football was back at last!

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: Central Michigan Watch