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(#1) The Simpsons
- TV Program
Sport: Softball
Who Are They? Homer and the guys from the plant are supplemented by a group of major league superstars, including Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey Jr., Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, José Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, and Mike Scioscia.
Why Do We Love Them? Homer and his friends persevere even as they lose their spots on the team to the MLB ringers Mr. Burns has brought in.
Greatest Triumph: Mr. Burns pulls Strawberry and puts Homer in at a crucial moment of the game. Homer wins it for his team by getting hit with a fastball on the head, earning a free pass to first base.
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(#2) DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
- Film
Sport: Dodgeball
Who Are They? A dodgeball team led by Vince Vaughn as Peter LaFleur. The team is sponsored by LaFleur's gym, Average Joe's. His archenemy is White Goodman, played by Ben Stiller, the evil capitalist who wants to make off with LaFleur's gym.
Why Do We Love Them? Because they're funny. There's also something about saving a gym from evil business people... but mostly we root for them because they're funny.
Greatest Triumph: LaFleur submits to a dodgeball version of "The Force" and plays blindfolded in the championship game against Goodman's Globo Gym squad.
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(#3) The Bad News Bears
- TV Program
Sport: Baseball
Who Are They? A Little League team made up of all the kids picked last on the playground.
Why Do We Love Them? They are the ultimate underdogs. Things that come easily for most kids daunt them. They are the weakest of the weak. The most uncoordinated of the uncoordinated. Yet, somehow they manage to hold on and keep going. Occasionally, they even win.
Greatest Triumph: The coach, played a brilliant Walter Matthau, has the chance to win the championship. However, he realizes that winning at any cost is far too high a price to pay. Instead, he gives every single kid on the team the chance to play. It's a decision that costs him the game and the title. Yet, the Bears are all the better for it, both as players and people. Never have the words "Wait 'till next year!" sounded so victorious.
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(#4) Space Jam
- Film
Sport: Basketball
Who Are They? Bugs and the Looney Tunes supplemented by Michael Jordan in the live-action/animation hybrid from 1996.
Why Do We Love Them? If you don't love Bugs Bunny, there's something seriously wrong with you. Jordan also fights the good fight and puts himself on the line for the greater good.
Greatest Triumph: The Tune Squad take on the Monstars and play for the skills they've swiped from NBA players like Larry Bird. Only by surrendering himself to the physics of the cartoon world is Jordan able to pull off the victory and restore the skills to their rightful owners.
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(#5) Field of Dreams
- Film
Sport: Baseball
Who Are They? A team of MLB players from the past, all with something yet to prove. Among them are Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven other players from the disgraced "Black Sox," the team that threw the 1919 World Series. Eventually a whole bunch more ghosts of baseball's past join in, and the games can officially begin.
Why Do We Love Them? "If you build it, he will come."
Greatest Triumph: Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) builds his baseball diamond in the cornfield out of pure faith. When Shoeless Joe turns up, it's vindication that he was right.
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(#6) Hoosiers
- Film
Sport: Basketball
Who Are They? A small-town high school basketball team led by temperamental coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman).
Why Do We Love Them? The way they talk. Here's just one of oh-so-many examples: "Stick with your man. Think of him as chewing gum. By the end of the game, I want you to know what flavor he is!"
Greatest Triumph: The Huskers beat the very good - and very large - South Bend Central Bears to win the championship.
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(#7) Semi-Pro
Sport: Basketball
Who Are They? A semipro team in the ABA trying to survive by becoming a top-four team, thus getting selected to merge into the NBA. Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, and Andre Benjamin are among the not-very-good players. Ferrell's Jackie Moon also owns the team, coaches the team, and sings the team's unofficial disco anthem, which he also wrote and produced.
Why Do We Love Them? Their hearts are in the right place even if they don't quite have the skills to match. Also, they invent the alley-oop!
Greatest Triumph: They run a special play called "The Puke" in the final minutes of a critical game. It's enough to get them a free throw and a rebound to win.
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(#8) Slap Shot
Sport: Hockey
Who Are They? A consistently terrible minor league hockey team with a coach, played by Paul Newman, who uses brawling to keep the fans entertained.
Why Do We Love Them? They might not be any good, but it's sure fun to watch them mess with the other team. The Hanson Brothers are particularly skilled at such antics.
Greatest Triumph: After the Chiefs resort to their trademark brawling ways in the climactic moments of the championship game, star player Ned Braden steals the show with a striptease on skates, which eventually leads to the other team forfeiting the game, handing the Chiefs the title.
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(#9) The Longest Yard
Sport: Football
Who Are They? A team of prisoners led by a former pro quarterback. Their opponents are a ruthless team of prison guards. The warden, played by Eddie Albert, will do anything - no matter how evil - to make sure the Mean Machine lose.
Why Do We Love Them? Throwing a football at someone's nuts has never been so funny.
Greatest Triumph: Quarterback Paul Crewe, played by Burt Reynolds, decides against selling out his team - even if it means possibly being framed as an accessory to homicide.
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(#10) The Freshman
Sport: Football
Who Are They? A suspiciously USC-like football team featuring Harold Lloyd as an incredibly inept player. It is considered one of the greatest silent comedies of all time.
Why Do We Love Them? They let Harold Lamb (Lloyd) join the team because of his pure enthusiasm. Even if it's only as the waterboy.
Greatest Triumph: When Harold is the last possible substitute in a big game, the Tate coach has no choice but to put him in. Harold forces a fumble and returns it for the winning touchdown. It's an accomplishment that not only makes him popular, but finally wins him the girl of his dreams.
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(#11) Harry Potter
- Fictional Character
Sport: Quidditch
Who Are They? Harry Potter and other kids representing the Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Why Do We Love Them? They're kids flying around on brooms playing a game. That's not enough for you? On top of that, Harry and the other Gryffindors are a bit mischievous but, generally, good kids. A sharp contrast with some of the other kids (cough Slytherin cough).
Greatest Triumph: Harry is named a Seeker and captures the Golden Snitch to win the game. Obviously.
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(#12) Friday Night Lights
- TV Program
Sport: Football
Who Are They? A team from Odessa, TX, that is always expected to win. Always.
Why Do We Love Them? The players are still just kids who somehow manage not to be overwhelmed by the expectations and demands of the entire town. They're treated like pro atheletes even though they're just as worried about who to ask to prom as they are about winning games. Also: Coach Taylor, of course.
Greatest Triumph: In the very first episode, a brand new coach watches his star quarterback go from dreaming of the NFL to ending up in a wheelchair. Yet, somehow, the coach, team, and injured player keep struggling on.
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(#13) Breaking Away
- Film
Sport: Cycling
Who Are They? The kids of "townies" who make their living working in the local quarry. They are constantly mistreated and degraded by the elitist university students who live in the area.
Why Do We Like Them? They refuse to be told they're not good enough.
Greatest Triumph: The Cutters take on the university students in a race called the Little 500. Even after their star cyclist gets into a mishap, the Cutters stay in the race and manage to pull off an upset victory.
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(#14) Whip It
- Film
Sport: Roller Derby
Who Are They? An all-girl team that includes Ellen Page, as "Babe Ruthless," in Drew Barrymore's debut as a director.
Why Do We Love Them? These girls play rough and play to win. Yet they're ecstatic to cheer "We're No. 2!" as long as it was hard won.
Moment of Greatest Triumph: By embracing her inner roller girl, Babe Ruthless attains the self-confidence to deal with her boyfriend and her difficult family.
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(#15) Rollerball
- Film
Sport: Rollerball
Who Are They? A team that plays a game that's a little like roller derby but also involves motorcycles. It is also much more violent. As in, "people getting slain during the game is just part of the deal" violent.
Why Do We Care? Jonathan E., played by James Caan, is being used by those in power to make rollerball more like a death match than a sport. It is a means of social control going far beyond just a simple game.
Greatest Triumph: Jonathan E. refuses to slay his final opponent and scores a goal instead. The crowd starts to chant his name - "Jonathan... Jonathan... Jonathan." Cut to freeze frame. Cue Bach's haunting organ work, "Fugue in D Minor." Commence with chills down spine.
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(#16) Shaolin Soccer
Sport: Soccer
Who Are They? A team that plays a version of soccer that combines the beautiful game with martial arts.
Why Do We Love Them? Martial Arts. Soccer. Comedy. Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle). What's not to love? Oh, and their biggest enemy is a team called "Team Evil." That should tell you something.
Greatest Triumph: A woman takes the field as a substitute goalkeeper in a game against Team Evil. Team Evil is even harder to beat than normal because they have injected themselves with enhancements. The Team Evil striker kicks an amazingly powerful shot on goal. The goalkeeper blocks the shot and sends it all the way to the other end of the field, resulting in a goal for Team Shaolin.
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(#17) Bend It like Beckham
- Film
Sport: Soccer
Who Are They? A local women's soccer team in London featuring Jess (Parminder Nagra), from a very conservative Sikh family, and Jules, played by Keira Knightley.
Why Do We Love Them? Jess struggles to keep her parents proud and adapt to the more modern ways of her teammates. She is determined to play soccer even though she's officially forbidden. To make matters even more complicated, she also starts to fall in love with the team's coach, Joe. It's all very messy and complicated.
Greatest Triumph: Jess leaves her older sister's wedding in time to catch the end of a huge game. By the time she gets there, the Harriers are down by a goal. Jess suits up and gets subbed in. She takes a free kick and executes it with precision, scoring a goal. It's the sort of free kick that would have made David Beckham proud.
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(#18) The Natural
- Film
Sport: Baseball
Who Are They? The team featuring Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) in one of the most romanticized versions of baseball ever filmed.
Why Do We Love Them? The 90-second footage as Hobbs hits the ball into the floodlights has become part of our collective consciousness. It represents everything we want baseball to be. A moment of pure magic.
Greatest Triumph: Hobbs at bat making his bruised, bloodied, and battered old body do the impossible.
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(#19) North Dallas Forty
Sport: Football
Who Are They? At the time of the movie's release in 1979, many considered the Bulls a thinly veiled version of America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys. The film stars are Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, and G.D. Spradlin. They fight against a very business-focused attitude regarding professional football that favors money over the health and well-being of the players.
Why Do We Love Them? They lose the fight but not without giving it one last, party-filled go.
Greatest Triumph: One of the players lays it on the line for the coach: "Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. And every time I call it a business, you call it a game."
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About This Tool
Sports film is an important type of film, and it is an important media form that expresses the status of sports, conveys the spirit of sports, and shapes the image of athletes. Fictional sports teams in various exciting movies or TV shows have played an important role in the development of sports events and the promotion of national fitness activities. A number of fictitious sports teams left a deep impression on the audience and inspired people's enthusiasm and confidence in sports.
With the random tool, you could find a list of fictitious sports teams which you may also remember. There are 19 items, such as the famous baseball teams from The Simpsons and Field of Dreams, click the new random button on this page then will show more random fictitious sports teams.
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