Sports Movies 2011 List

In shock and denial over his Marine father's death in combat, high school lacrosse star Conor Sullivan (Kellan Lutz) starts acting out in self destructive ways until he's kicked off the team and sent to a wilderness lacrosse camp run by his dad's combat buddy (Adam Beach). Strengthened by the support and understanding of his new found love (Ashley Greene) and though a deep understanding of the game and its Native American roots, he opens his eyes to the true meaning of sportsmanship, love and life.

Set against the backdrop of the 1972 feminist movement, "Victory" tells the true story of sassy newlywed Cathy Rush (Gugino), who becomes the head basketball coach at a tiny, all-girls Catholic college, a team with no gym and no uniforms. She eventually leads the team to the first national championship in women's basketball, while the school's nuns fight to keep the owners from selling the institution and its land to developers.

An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family. Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father.

But when Brendan’s unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense, winner-takes-all battle of their lives.

Based on a true story, Moneyball is a movie for anybody who has ever dreamed of taking on the system. Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's and the guy who assembles the team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball's conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It's more than baseball, it's a revolution - one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he's tearing out the heart and soul of the game.

Senna's remarkable story, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of SENNA, a documentary feature that spans the racing legend's years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later. Far more than a film for F1 fans, Senna unfolds a remarkable story in a remarkable manner, eschewing many standard documentary techniques in favor of a more cinematic approach that makes full use of astounding footage, much of which is drawn from F1 archives and previously unseen.

In 1957, former baseball player Cesar Faz returns home to Mexico as he is defeated by the racism of the Major Leagues. He coaches a local youth league team, leading them all the way to the Little League World Series.

After Luke Abbate is killed in a car crash, his family donates his organs to five people. His brother, Wake Forest Junior Jon Abbate, begins to honor his brother by holding up five fingers just before the fourth quarter while his parents do the same while sitting in the 5th section of the stadium. News spreads, opposing players and fans begin to do the same and the team goes on to win a record of 11 games and a trip to the Orange Bowl.