After four weeks of voting, the Sweet 16 is set for the Greatest Sports Movie of All-Time Bracket. The round of 64 voting results are available for viewing here.
Things got a little wonky in the round of 32. I recently started having issues with my Instagram story getting buried in Instagram's algorithm. I posted a screenshot of last week's episode of the Jack Vita Show on my story, and it received roughly 180 views. Some of my polls last week were seen by a maximum of 55 viewers. Many of the regular voters reported that my stories weren't showing up in their feed, when my stories normally at the top of their feeds. I don't know what gives. Unfortunately, we had low voter turnout for some of these matchups as a result. In order to keep this from being a problem in the future, visit my Instagram profile each day over the next few weeks, so that you don't miss any of the polls for the bracket, as we get down to the nitty gritty! Here are our round of 32 results:
Region A
#1 Remember the Titans 63, #5 Dodgeball 28 — Remember the Titans, a prohibitive favorite, continues its march through Region A. Sunshine and the Titans simply gave White Goodman and Globo Gym more than it could handle.
#3 Friday Night Lights 45, #2 Rudy 45 — For the second straight week, Friday Night Lights has tied with its opponent, and once again, I get to cast the lone tie-breaker vote. My apologies to Sean Astin, but I will again be giving the nod to Friday Night Lights here, setting the table for a battle of the two best high school football movies of all-time in the Sweet 16.
Region B
#1 The Sandlot 84, #4 A League of Their Own 22 — To no one's surprise, The Sandlot continues to dominate. It isn't my favorite film by any stretch of the imagination — I always viewed it as a cute, fun film; NOT one of the greatest baseball or sports films compared to its competition — but it's a timeless classic nonetheless.
#2 The Blind Side 52, #6 Space Jam 49 — In one of the closest matchups we've had so far, The Blind Side just barely edged out a win over Space Jam. This was a tough call for the voters. Do you go with the comedy or the heartwarming drama? Our voters went with the drama, setting up a #1 The Sandlot vs. #2 The Blind Side matchup, another clash of the genres.
Region C
#1 Miracle 56, #5 Cool Runnings 19 — In a battle of Disney films, Miracle takes the cake. Perhaps Sanka is actually dead now.
#15 Like Mike 36, #11 Blades of Glory 32 — The Cinderella story of the bracket lives to see another day! 15-seeded Like Mike has shocked the world, winning its first three match-ups, defeating #2 I, Tonya, #7 White Men Can't Jump and #11 Blades of Glory, proving that Rotten Tomatoes' audience score wrongly seeded this film. Like Mike is one the last 16 movies remaining, an achievement in its own right, but it will have its work cut out for itself in this week's regional final vs. #1 Miracle.
Region D
#1 Field of Dreams 56, #13 Semi-Pro 24 — It was a great week for the Field of Dreams. Major League Baseball's "Field of Dreams game" was a huge success, the league's highest-rated regular season game in 16 years. An even greater accomplishment: the classic 1989 film blew out Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro in the Greatest Sports Movie of All-Time Bracket, 56-24.
#2 Bull Durham 37, #3 The Natural 26 — Bull Durham, a favorite of Albert Destrade's, advances to the Region D final this week, squaring off with another Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams. This was a tough loss for The Natural, one of my favorite films to watch with my dad as a kid. The ending of The Natural always made me emotional and inspired me to be the best ballplayer I could be. I only saw Bull Durham once and I didn't get the hype. The baseball scenes were fun, but the relationship angle of the film — which is roughly 60% of the movie — lost me. Kevin Costner's "I believe" speech is cringe-worthy for me. Nevertheless, the Costner bowl should make for great entertainment this week.
Region E
#2 Moneyball 63, #11 Angels in the Outfield 39 — Angels in the Outfield made a nice run to the round of 32, pulling off a pair of upsets over #6 Slap Shot and #3 Creed, however, Moneyball was just too much for Danny Glover, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and co. to handle. Moneyball is a legitimate contender to win the whole thing, especially if it beats Rocky later this week.
Region F #1 Happy Gilmore 86, #4 Jerry Maguire 14 — Happy Gilmore decimated Jerry Maguire in the largest blowout of the round of 32. Perhaps if Jerry had Shooter McGavin as a client, things would gone better. This is Shooter's tour!
#2 Caddyshack 53, #6 Talladega Nights 49 — In a very narrow defeat, Talladega Nights has been bounced from the tournament. Caddyshack will square off with Happy Gilmore in a battle for the greatest golf movie of all-time.
Region G
#4 42 39, #1 Hoosiers 32 — Hoosiers becomes the first number one seed knocked out of the tournament. The seven other one seeds all advanced to the Sweet 16. The problem Hoosiers faced in this bracket is the time period it came out in. Released in 1986, most of this bracket's voters weren't alive. Admittedly, I've never seen it myself. After Chadwick Boseman tragically passed last year, I have to think that a lot of people have watched his movies recently, 42 included.
#6 The Rookie 51, #2 The Fighter 19 — Stop the fight! The Irish Mickey Ward has been KO'd. This was a matchup I was torn on. The Rookie was one of my favorite movies as a kid, but The Fighter is one of my favorite films from the past decade. Thankfully, this decision was made for me. I may have had to flip a coin if I were in charge of a tie-breaker vote here. Dennis Quaid's The Rookie lives to see another day.
Region H
#1 Major League 60, #4 Rocky II 21 — Though Major League came out in the 1980s, it seems to have carried more weight with the millennial generation than Hoosiers did, at least in this bracket. My only guess as to why would be that Major League seems to run on TV more frequently than Hoosiers does. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I was scrolling through channels and saw that Hoosiers was on.
#6 The Waterboy 53, #10 The Rookie of the Year 26 — In a battle of classic sports comedies, The Waterboy came out on top. When Coach Klein told Bobby Bouche that Henry Rowengartner spit in the cooler, it was over.
Next up, the Sweet 16! Voting resumes Thursday, August 19, across my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
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