Open Court: Setting the tone

What’s that, off in the distance?

We might have to squint, but I think I see something glorious approaching. I can’t quite tell what it is, but something tells me I’m going to want to give it my undivided attention for the next five months.

It’s the start of football season. Finally.

Within the next fortnight, we will no longer aimlessly wander through the barren television landscape desperately searching for an adrenaline boost.

Granted, things haven’t been as bad this summer thanks to the wall-to-wall Olympic coverage, but there’s nothing quite like the controlled mayhem football provides.

To help tide me over until the real thing gets rolling, I’ve been digging through my film collection to help heighten my excitement level.

Even though I was clearly too small and too slow to ever play football on any meaningful level, I feel like I can run through a brick wall after watching enough football movies.

These are my top-five can’t-miss, let’s-get-ready-for-some-football films Hollywood has been kind enough to produce to help pigskin fans through the other seven months of the year.

No. 5: “Any Given Sunday.”

OK, I will be the first to admit this movie is a little, um, unfocused. Actually, it’s an unequivocal train wreck that signaled that perhaps Oliver Stone had started to lose his marbles.

Despite the numerous flaws, I always get sucked in when Al Pacino makes his famous “inches” speech. By the time he wraps it up, I get the urge to throw on a helmet and hit somebody. That is, until I remember that every NFL athlete — even the kickers — would inflict serious bodily harm if I stepped anywhere near the field.

No. 4: “Jerry Maguire.”

Moments like “You complete me” and “You had me at hello” don’t work for this purpose, but that’s why we have the skip button on our DVD remotes.

If you zoom through all the sappy Renee Zellwegger stuff and go straight into the Rod Tidwell sections, you’ll see that few other movies get you in the proper frame of mind to enjoy a football game.

There are countless moments where the shady behind-the-scenes dealings and the “show-me-the-money” attitude can overwhelm what attracted us to football in the first place, but by the time Tidwell starts break-dancing on Monday Night Football, we remember that once all the nonsense is stripped away, this game is supposed to be fun.

No. 3: “Friday Night Lights.”

One of the 10-best sports books of all-time somehow became an equally great sports film.

Not only did director Peter Berg nail the nuances of Texas high school football, he effectively sketched out a template for small-town America.

If you haven’t yet seen this film and the ending doesn’t give you goosebumps, then I don’t know what else to say.

No. 2: “Rudy.”

He was five-foot-nuthin. One-hundred-and-nuthin. And the lead actor later went on to play a Hobbit in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Still, Rudy was somehow able to sneak onto the Notre Dame roster (back when Notre Dame still meant something) and tally a sack in his final college game.

I’m not entirely sure if this film was all that accurate to what actually happened, but 15 years and three dozen viewings later, I still leap out of my chair when Rudy gets that sack.

No. 1: “Brian’s Song.”

Brian Piccolo was a friend of mine. I loved Brian Piccolo (starts to break down), and I hope you loved him, too.

Only two movies in history have ever made me cry (“Field of Dreams” being the other), but I was a total mess by the end of this one.

I put all of these movies ahead of preseason football, but there’s no substitute for the real thing. Let’s get this show on the road.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747