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The Best Sports Movies On Netflix Right Now, Ranked

Buena Vista

Last Updated: January 19th

Live sports might be the last thing keeping streaming options from swallowing cable television subscriptions whole. And those barriers are beginning to fall, but that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of sports content currently on Netflix. In fact, you should have a long list of good sports movies available to watch should your favorite teams have the night off.

While shows like Glow are great for sports fans looking for a slow burn, the best place to start is movies and documentaries. From Netflix originals to classic documentaries and ’90s nostalgia, the Netflix catalog has a little something for everyone. There’s even a bit of romance on the list.

Let’s take a look at the best sports movies Netflix has to offer.

Related: The Best Netflix Original Movies Right Now, Ranked

Netflix

15) The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)

Run Time: 80 min | IMDb: 8.0/10

Did you know Kurt Russell’s dad owned a baseball team? And Kurt played on it? The saga of the scrappy Portland Mavericks is not the most well-executed film on the list, but it’s lovingly done and the archival footage carries the day here. If you’re curious, in need of a true underdog tale, and want to add a bit of baseball trivia to your brain, this might be for you.

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Getty Image

14) Iverson (2014)

Run Time: 106 min | IMDb: 7.0/10

This 2014 documentary — which debuted at Tribeca a few years ago — takes a look at the career of former Philadelphia 76ers great Allen Iverson and the perception that many had of him. The film is a satisfying nostalgia trip for AI fans but it doesn’t introduce a wealth of new footage or offer anything new about The Answer. It’s still better than watching him in the BIG3, though.

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Warner Bros. Pictures

13) Trouble With The Curve (2012)

Run Time: 111 min | IMDb: 6.8/10

Clint Eastwood stars in a film that uses baseball as a backdrop for a story about an out-of-touch scout and his complex relationship with his lawyer daughter (played by Amy Adams). John Goodman and Justin Timberlake also pop up in supporting roles with the latter having a bit of chemistry with Adams. If you need a baseball-themed drama, this is the best Netflix has to offer, presently.

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Netflix

12) The Short Game (2013)

Run Time: 99 min | IMDb: 7.4/10

This 2013 documentary is a delightful look at a youth golf championship. Chronicling the 2012 championship at Pinehurst, it follows a handful of charming golf proteges from around the world as they vie for the title of best 7- and 8-year-old players in the world. Golf greats like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Annika Sörenstam provide commentary on the difficulty and drama of the game while we watch young golfers deal with the stress of the tournament, parents, and some nitpicky rules. It has its fair share of Sports Parent moments, but the kids are genuinely interesting and full of character.

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HBO

11) Mascots (2016)

Run Time: 89 min | IMDb: 5.8/10

Christopher Guest’s absurd Mascots features Guest mainstays Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey and Ed Begley Jr. It also co-stars Chris O’Dowd as a mascot called “The Fist,” which is a hockey-playing hand with a six-pack that can give the crowd the finger.

The joy of Guest’s movies is that these super weird and specific subcultures like the mascot world really exist. It makes you realize it’s possible that the fringe people in your life are as much into being a mascot as they are into Garfield or seltzer or whatever entirely earnest secret Facebook group you’re a part of that you never knew existed. While crude at times, Mascots doesn’t make fun of these people as much as it humanizes them in an entirely relatable way.

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Netflix

10) All Work All Play (2015)

Run Time: 94 min | IMDb: 6.1/10

This 2015 documentary chronicles the growth of pro video gamers and the ESL, a competitive e-sports league that features League of Legends and Starcraft II pros duking it out across the world. It also does a great job explaining those two games, so you might actually know what is going on if you stumbled across a match online sometime.

The film is an in-depth look at something that some feel isn’t a sport, but it goes a long way toward disproving that notion by smartly juxtaposing dramatic e-sports moments with major traditional sports moments and showing how fans of these sports fans react with the same enthusiasm and understanding as the fans of more traditional sports fandom. With the NBA getting involved in e-sports next year, this is the perfect Netflix documentary to give you a primer for exactly what will be happening there.

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The Weinstein Company

9) Southpaw (2015)

Run Time: 124 min | IMDb: 7.4/10

Every sports movie list needs a boxing movie, and this is a good one to start with. Jake Gyllenhaal as a boxer may not sound believable to you given his other roles, but he fills out nicely as Billy ‘The Great’ Hope here.
The movie follows a classic arc — hubris, tragedy, redemption — but that’s not to say it isn’t well-executed. Gyllenhaal follows the hero’s journey to a tee here, putting out an emotional journey that defines the sports drama genre. Even 50 Cent makes an appearance, so you know it’s going to be interesting. Forest Whitaker’s Tick Wills really shines here, and he’s given a lot to work with as the reluctant trainer of a former superstar.
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IFC

8) Pele (2016)

Run Time: 107 min | IMDb: 7.2/10

Even if you’re not a fan of futbol, or soccer as we call it here in the States, you know the name Pele. The Brazilian star is widely regarded as the best player to ever grace the pitch, winning three World Cups and breaking countless records in his storied career. But before he was cementing his legend, he was growing up in the slums of Sao Paulo and practicing the sport with rotten grapefruits, struggling to survive rampant poverty and crime in his neighborhood. This biopic shows his upbringing, his influential relationship with his father, and a journey to becoming one of the most beloved athletes in the world.

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Netflix

7) GLOW: The Story Behind The Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling (2012)

Run Time: 76 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

If you liked the Netflix original, it’s worth watching the documentary that covers the history of the real show. It’s a good look at what the show is based on, and the interviews with the women who made up the show’s cast allow for a fascinating story about wrestling in the ’80s. It’s also a serious look at the physical toll wrestling takes on its competitors.

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Magnet Releasing

6) Goon (2011)

Run Time: 92 min | IMDb: 6.8/10

Goon is the Slap Shot of this millennium, in that it’s utterly ridiculous and also somehow wildly entertaining. In the film (which spawned a recently released follow-up), Seann William Scott plays bruising bouncer Doug Glatt, who is brought onto a hockey team to do one thing: pound the opponent’s face in.

Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg (of Superbad fame) co-wrote the film with Baruchel appearing on camera as Doug’s foul-mouthed friend. Allison Pill also co-stars as Doug’s love interest, but it’s Liev Schreiber who steals the show as a veteran enforcer and rival. There’s even a cameo from Georges Laroque. If you can take the brutality of fighting in hockey, you’ll love this film.

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Buena Vista

5) The Waterboy (1998)

Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 6.1/10

I wouldn’t say this movie has aged great in a modern world where every hard impact in sports makes you wonder how dangerous it was for the players involved. Still, of all the Adam Sandler and Happy Madison sports movies, this is probably the best one not named Happy Gilmore. All of these titles follow the same basic pattern: scrappy underdogs get to kiss girls and win despite being extremely unconventional and actually borderline bad.

The fun here is in the direct homages to real life. The rival Louisiana Cougars team, for example, is clearly an LSU clone, including the southern drawl and a trickster coach right out of a Les Miles casting call. The LCSU team also beat Iowa in improbable fashion, and the movie has lots of cameos from NFL legends like former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor and former coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmie Johnson. Though he’s not a real coach, Henry Winkler does his best to nail his role as a slightly-damaged small-time coach who sees something in Bobby, Sandler’s character.

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Legendary Pictures

4) 42 (2013)

Run Time: 128 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

Before he was king of Wakanda, Chadwick Boseman took on the role of Jackie Robinson, who became the first black baseball player in the major leagues. After signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson realizes what’s in store for him: facing the prejudice and racism of 1940s America. A biopic of Robinson had been in the works for years, with Spike Lee and Robert Redford both attached at different points. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie, was involved in the production process to make sure the film presented an accurate look at her late husband’s career.

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Universal

3) Happy Gilmore (1996)

Run Time: 91 min | IMDb: 7.0/10

The cornerstone of the Adam Sandler movie empire is undoubtedly the titular Happy Gilmore’s romp through the stodgy world of professional golf. This 1996 classic sees a bad hockey player with a rage problem channel that into absolutely crushing drives on the links. He then tries to win the girl and add a hockey-stick equipped short game to his arsenal as he butts heads with Shooter McGavin, played by an inspired Christopher McDonald. But the main villain here, of course, is an extremely strong-chinned Bob Barker.

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Netflix

2) Icarus (2017)

Run Time: 121 min | IMDb: 7.9/10

This Oscar-winning documentary dives into the world of doping in competitive cycling. Netflix bought the distribution rights to Icarus after a strong showing from director and co-writer Bryan Fogel’s film at Sundance. The documentary plays out as a thriller, with Fogel chasing the truth about cycling cheats and stumbling onto a major International doping scandal. Watch as a chance meeting with a Russian scientist turns a story that started as a simple experiment into a geopolitical thriller and one of the biggest scandals in cycling history.

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Disney

1) Miracle (2004)

Run Time: 135 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

Everyone knows the story of the 1980 United States men’s hockey team that takes down the Soviet Union during the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. That might be the thing that makes Miracle such a delightful movie: Despite the fact that everyone knows how it ends, it’s still a captivating film, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat by telling the story behind the team that won gold. This is the case even though you know that when the clock hits zero against the Soviets, you’re going to hear Al Michaels give arguably the most famous call in sports history: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

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This post first appeared on Meet The Cast Of The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Porn Pa, please read the originial post: here

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The Best Sports Movies On Netflix Right Now, Ranked

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