Times staffers select favorite football movies

The National Football League starts its season Sept. 10, and Times staffers have picked some of our favorite football-related movies (and one special TV show we just had to include) to get you in the spirit. We promise, you don’t have to be a fan of the game to find them entertaining.

Like a sports team, we had to make some cuts, and yep, some of them stung. You won’t see “The Longest Yard” (either version), “Varsity Blues” or even “Brian’s Song” here (sorry). All of the following are on DVD; we listed some streaming services with them, too.

Here they are, in no particular order (and may your team have a winning season):

“Remember the Titans”: You can bet that if Disney makes a movie that’s “based on a true story,” it very likely will be both good and powerful — and it’ll teach some kind of lesson.

All of this is true of 2000’s “Remember the Titans.”

It’s the story of Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), who is hired to lead a high school football team as it opens its doors — for the first time — to African-American students and athletes.

And football is just the backdrop for the bigger social issue at the center of the movie.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of tense, hard-to-watch moments; the film is set in a time when schools in the area were segregated — and to integrate them was a concept so foreign to the kids and their parents, which is clear in their actions and words.

The film also was a steppingstone for a few of young faces who would go on to be huge Hollywood stars: Hayden Panettiere plays the spunky, tomboy daughter of Coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), barking orders and showing these coaches how it’s done; Wood Harris stars as Julius Campbell, whose friendship with the team’s quarterback, Gary Bertier (Ryan Hurst), is one incredibly heartwarming bromance; and Ryan Gosling — all probably 98 pounds of him, in full uniform — is the quiet but significant Alan Bosley.

It’s no surprise here that when the players are forced to work together, they learn to depend on and respect one another — and even become friends to the point that they consider each other family.

Never thought you’d get the warm fuzzies from a football movie, did you?

Bonus: If you’re a fan of ’70s tunes, the soundtrack packs a killer punch. Available for rental on Amazon Instant Video, VUDU and Google Play. — Times Movie Addict Melissa King

“Rudy”: Even though I’m approaching a decade since I last secured a chin strap, there is a part of me that longs to take the field under the Friday night lights one more time.

Every summer throughout my high school years, I would need a source of inspiration to get me fired up about the ensuing four-hour long football practices that commenced every sweltering August.

For a blue-collar Irish Catholic like myself, there could be no stronger motivator than the 1993 film “Rudy.” Popping my brother’s VHS version into our old VCR became a preseason ritual.

“Rudy” is based on Dan Ruettiger’s improbable journey as walk-on member of the Notre Dame football team in the 1970s. Sean Astin plays the undersized and overmatched “Rudy” so well you can feel every thundering shoulder pad to his ribs.

Rudy has a dream to play football for the Irish, but his size and academic track record make getting into the gates in South Bend almost inconceivable.

However, his ability to persevere and buck the odds lands Rudy a spot on the practice squad with a vision to make the team and one day take the field at Notre Dame Stadium.

To quote one of my favorite lines from the movie: “Having dreams is what makes life tolerable.” I might have to upgrade and buy the DVD version; 10 years has been too long. Available on Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and VUDU. — Times sports reporter Jeffrey Haag.

“Friday Night Lights”: Entertainment reporter Kate Kompas asked us to write about our favorite football movies. So of course, as a loyal “Friday Night Lights” fan, I persuaded her to let me write about the TV show, not the movie (or the book). Because every FNL fan, (that’s the cool way to refer to the show) takes every opportunity to force, encourage, beg, pester and/or cajole friends, family and strangers into watching the series.

We have our reasons. Love for FNL runs deep. You’ve probably seen social media posts complaining about how Julie Taylor (the daughter of Coach Eric Taylor) is the worst (she is!) and that we will never give up our undying love for Tim Riggins (the fullback) or Matt Saracen (the first quarterback) — who can pick? — even though the show went off the air in 2011.

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The show, supposedly about football, uses the sport and its diehard following in Texas to explore family, growing up, disability, change, morality and even race and gender. It’s not the “special episode of the week” show either. All of these themes ebb and flow as you’d expect them to with high school relationships and small-town politics.

There’s love and sex and marriage and laughter (and even murder – a plotline we never speak of and pretend never happened). And there are fun, emotional football sequences, and an underdog you can root for. Convinced yet? Just give the first episode a try. It’s sure to surprise you. Pretty soon, you’ll feel the love, too. All five seasons streaming on Netflix; you can buy by the episode or by the season on Amazon Instant Video. Individual seasons can be bought on VUDU. Also on Google Play. — Living Greater reporter Stephanie Dickrell.

“The Blind Side”: There’s a reason Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress as Leigh Anne Tuohy in “The Blind Side:” Her performance will make you laugh, and this movie will make you cry.

But they’re tears of joy, I swear.

“The Blind Side” is based on the real-life story of gentle giant Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) — don’t call him “Big Mike” — a homeless youth whose gratitude and quiet demeanor prompted Leigh Anne, husband Sean (Tim McGraw) and their kids Collins and S.J. (Lily Collins, Jae Head, respectively) to take him in.

Oher went on to play for the University of Mississippi and became the Baltimore Ravens’ first-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft; he currently plays for the Carolina Panthers.

The sports aspect is secondary; the movie isn’t so much about football as it is about redefining “family” and watching this kid learn to trust and feel safe — and seeing the profound effect he has on the lives of the people who gave him a chance.

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There’s a great scene during which Leigh Ann is having lunch with her pretentious friends who think she’s doing this for charity; one friend comments that Leigh Anne is “changing that boy’s life.”

“No,” she says matter-of-factly, “he’s changing mine.” Boom.

Bullock is fantastic as this quick, witty and smooth-talking Southern belle. She knows a thing or two about football and is street-smart to boot. Her banter with McGraw is believable and fun, and her scenes with Aaron take heartwarming to a new level. “The Blind Side” is a treat for the whole family. Available for rent on Amazon Instant Video, Google Play and VUDU. — Movie Addict Melissa King.

“Jerry Maguire”: My favorite football movie is widely considered a “chick flick,” even though ESPN ranked it as the 12th best sports movie of all time. When “Jerry Maguire” came out on Dec. 11, 1996, I didn’t know what to expect when I went to go see it on a bad blind date. It was a bad date, but at least the movie turned out to be great. It turned out to be my favorite football move of all time.

Writer/director Cameron Crowe managed to show the greed and selfishness that had overtaken professional sports from an agent’s perspective and make it compelling. Jerry’s (Tom Cruise) relationship with his client, fictional Cardinals receiver Rod Tidwell (Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr.), showed what a real friendship could mean when a career was on the line. Rod has Jerry’s back and Jerry eventually had his.

That was the real heart of the movie, not Jerry’s relationship with Renee Zellweger’s Dorothy Boyd. The movie has some of the most quotable lines in the history of cinema and Gooding makes you believe he could actually play in the NFL.

“Jerry Maguire” is more about a great bromance than anything else. A four-year, $11.2 million contract never felt so good. Streaming on Amazon Prime, Google Play and Netflix. Can rent on VUDU. — Times sports reporter Andy Rennecke.

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“From Elway to Marino”: I’m cheating a little here, because this is technically TV, too, but I’m considering it a documentary film — and it’s an excellent one.

I’m a proud, near-lifelong Chicago Bears fan, but I enjoy watching the games (well, not last season’s) and typically couldn’t care less about the details of forming a team. You won’t catch me watching much of any draft day.

But “From Elway to Marino” makes every detail of the 1983 NFL Draft fascinating, and the people interviewed are extremely candid. (It probably helps that more than 20 years have passed, right?) Like the title flat-out says, the movie follows every selection in that draft, from the Denver Broncos’ No. 1 pick to the Miami Dolphins’ 27 pick (Marino, the future Hall of Fame quarterback, was indeed dead-last after a rough senior season and some rumors that he partied way too hard).

Of course, both men went on to have incredible careers, although only one won a Super Bowl (two in fact). Still, I learned many things (George Steinbrenner was apparently really interested in John Elway for the New York Yankees?!), and the movie takes the viewer inside one of the most high-priced, delicate dances in pro sports. Streaming on Netflix; you can buy the film on Amazon Instant Video. — Arts and entertainment reporter Kate Kompas.

“The Replacements”: Even if you don’t like football (but how can you not?), “The Replacements” is such a fun movie.

The story involves the owners of the fictitious Washington Sentinels football team filling the squad with scrubs during a strike, hoping to finish the season strong and have a shot at the playoffs.

And it’s up to Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman) to assemble and coach a “team of poor nobodies who play to win, not a bunch of bitchy millionaires.”

Amen, brother.

Everyone loves an underdog, and “The Replacements” is full of ’em. It’s the gridiron version of the Island of Misfit Toys.

There’s maniacal SWAT team officer Daniel Bateman (Jon Favreau), who’s pain infliction meter is always on; Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones), “the fastest S.O.B.” who’s unfortunately a bit of a fumble-fingers; the gambling, chain-smoking, “wiry”(spoken only with a Welsh accent, thank you) Nigel Gruff (Rhys Ifans), nicknamed “The Leg” for his ability to kick a soccer ball the entire length of the field; not-even-ex-convict Earl Wilkinson (Michael Jace), whose orange D.O.C. jumpsuit doesn’t stand for District of Columbia; an athletically gifted and deaf tight end Brian Murphy (David Denman — yep, Roy from “The Office”); and the “never-was” quarterback Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), whose biggest claim to fame is a disastrous Sugar Bowl performance that no one can forget.

You wonder how these guys can possibly work together; the chemistry between them is great, though, whether they’re jelling with or jarring at one another. And there are so many differing personalities that it makes for a fun — sometimes volatile — mix.

“The Replacements” is infused with catchy tunes (good luck getting Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” out of your head — not that you’d necessarily want to) and music montages, so there’s seemingly never a dull moment.

Reeves looks the part, right from his close-up, slow-motion jaunt onto the field for the very first time. And that slow-motion technique is used a lot, but it effectively creates drama and keeps the audience rooting for these guys.

It’s “another shot for some; a last shot for others,” and it’s the perfect flick to get you pumped for the season. — Times Movie Addict Melissa King

What movie did we leave off that deserves to be here? Go to Up Next’s Facebook page to weigh in.