Ahh, the power of cinema...

When movies and sports collide, the results can be a mixed bag.  A sports movie doesn't have to be Oscar worthy in order to be entertaining.  Most fans can be wooed with a predictable underdog story, and may not complain even if Keanu Reeves has the leading role.

But these movies serve another purpose.  They tell us what to do.

Take Top Gun as a non-sports related example.  In 1986, before Tom Cruise went all...well, Tom Cruise...the Navy set up recruiting booths outside theaters to try and bank off of the film's success.  At the time, the effect for the US Navy was a record amount of new applications.

And certainly, many guys got their clocks cleaned as a result of a Rocky movie...but we won't get into that.

Here is a look at just a few movies that had a significant impact on the world of sports:

Days of Thunder & NASCAR:

My apologies for mentioning not just one...but two Tom Cruise movies in a single post.

After Tom Cruise was done protecting the country as a fighter pilot, the adrenaline junkie set his sights on stock-car racing.  The movie came out in 1990, several years before NASCAR would see a huge boost in popularity.  Ironically, Dale Earnhardt drove a Chevy Lumina to his 1991, 1993, and 1994 championship titles.  This was the same car that Tom Cruise pretended to drive in the movie.

The movie is not solely responsible for the NASCAR boom, but it did gain some great exposure for the sport.  By 2002, NASCAR had hit the big time.

  Where did Nicole drive off to going that fast?

It's just too bad that this nauseating film is the most notable NASCAR movie out there.  It was good advertising, but the movie's depiction of the sport was very inaccurate.  The driving sequences appeared more like a demolition derby than a stock-car race.  Oh well, at least Nicole Kidman was in it.

Rounders & Professional Poker 

No doubt about it, this movie put professional poker on the map.  The 1998 flick featured Matt Damon as a less-than-eager law student, whose livelihood was made at the poker table.  The Hollywood exposure for the game would not be short-lived, with the World Series of Poker growing exponentially since the release of the film.  In 2003, there were only 839 participants in the WSOP main event.  This is the same poker tournament that boasted over 5000 participants just last year.  With a tournament buy-in of $10,000...that is no small feat.

  If only we could play this well in real life.

In an unrelated news story, golfer John Daly has yet to find a sponsor for the 2006 WSOP.  I wonder why...

Dodgeball &...Dodgeball?

The influence of this movie is still in the making.  Since the 2004 release of Dodgeball:  A True Underdog Story, dodgeball leagues have been forming across the country.  Even our own NGS veteran, mustang17, is an admitted dodgeball enthusiast.  The movie exposed this lesser-known sport as one that any average Joe could play.  And that's just what the country is doing.  The National Dodgeball League was even nominated at the 2005 Annual Horizon Awards in the category of Emerging Sports Property.

The only thing more disturbing than Ben Stiller's hair in this film is the fact that real sports announcers cannot be nearly as entertaining as Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks (thanks to MooreSports for that idea).  I might even watch pay-per-view boxing if those two were broadcasting from ringside.

Pepper needs new shorts!

So, I have to wonder...what sport will we be playing next?  Could it be Frolf, the game that is the perfect marriage of frisbee and golf?  How about backwards marathon running?  After all, anyone can run a marathon facing forward.  No, I got it...Extreme Curling.

Here's hoping that we don't have to wait too long for that next influential sports movie...