Every year, Fall rolls around and we think to ourselves, “I don’t really know if I’m feeling football this year”. Then the first football game or football movie you catch throws you into that immediate football frenzy where suddenly you’re all in on that football obsession. It’s almost tradition. For some reason or another, as the pumpkin spice flavors pop up and the foliage drops down, those football fanatics can’t help but let it consume them! To better prepare for your football fandom, here’s a list to get your juices flowing before or during the Regular Season! Remember the Titans (2000) Remember the Titans is an absolute classic with themes relevant to today's culture and a nostalgic feel that just does not get old year-after-year! Remember the Titans in Winter, Spring, or Summer has a little bit of an awkward feel, but there is never a Fall that goes by when Remember the Titans does not require attentive eyes. Featuring the likes of a powerful Denzel Washington and adjusting Will Patton, an emotional bond between Wood Harris and Ryan Hurst, and casual cameos for Ryan Gosling, Donald Faison, and Hayden Panettiere, Remember the Titans is undoubtedly the football great when that season reaches us! We Are Marshall (2006) We Are Marshall is a true story football movie that strikes up the ultimate underdog tale! The look and feel gives off an independent storyline that you can’t help but feel attached to. However don’t get it twisted, We Are Marshall is a giant with how many well-known faces (especially today) make their way through this narrative. Ultimately there may not be another true football storyline brought to screen that is as heartfelt overall as We Are Marshall! Friday Night Lights (2004) Friday Night Lights is a gritty, rugged style story of team appreciation with a heavy dose of realistic challenges that happen every season, for every team. The thing that makes Friday Night Lights so unique is that it really has an emotional feel that high school athletes or former athletes will relate to. The music is rowdy, sincere, and emotional. The acting is awkwardly accurate to the mindsets of most late teenagers. And the story arc ends as abruptly as the majority of athlete tenures tend to do. Friday Night Lights may not be a great family sports film, but it is a great football film for the faithful! Rudy (1993) Rudy, the heartfelt classic that stands for decades watching one student's Notre Dame pride get the opportunity to really support his college's football program. In full disclosure, Rudy is not as much of a football film as you may think upon committing to watching it. Ultimately you are following a college loyalist chase down his dream of playing for the school he is devout to. It is based on a true story and one of the joys in Rudy’s writing is the accuracy of that. This is not your “underdog becomes a beast driven by heart that leads him to being a superstar”, this is a truly heartfelt depiction of Rudy Ruettiger seeking an opportunity he has to help his favorite football program. The Express (2008) The Express, the true story of Ernie Davis, and often overlooked college football legend. It follows our lead in an era of racial tension as he follows in the footsteps of the great Jim Brown. The thing that makes The Express an absolute joy is that we are given this legendary figure in Jim Brown, but young Ernie Davis is just trying to navigate his own way through life and football. The accomplishments of Ernie Davis are shocking as you engage fully in this story. You will find yourself not only rooting for Ernie Davis, but even Rob Brown who portrays him. The Express has a ton of great acting, it tackles real issues, and an early career appearance from the late great Chadwick Boseman!
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