The first sports documentary in 15 years to receive the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Undefeated embeds the viewer into the lives of the students on the Manassas Tigers high school football team in Memphis, as well as coach Bill Courtney. It hits all the beats of your "standard" football story: the coach who doesn't make time for his own family, players from difficult backgrounds, and locker room tensions that build into unlikely friendships. But without the heightening that comes with a fictional film, witnessing the very real Tigers try to claw themselves back from a losing streak reminds you that these stories of academic agony and varsity valor are playing out in every city and small town in America ... every single year. Have you seen "Undefeated"?

Where author H.G. Bissinger's stirring non-fiction work Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a largely damning portrait of the state of high school sports and the towns that build their lives around them, director Peter Berg condenses all the tension, but also the heart, of coach Gary Gaines' story into a powerful — and at times overwhelming — story of struggle, disappointment, and the agony of defeat in high school sports. Some people may not even realize that the critically acclaimed TV series Friday Night Lights was originally a movie. Have you seen "Friday Night Lights"?

The story of the Marshall University football team rebuilding itself after the horrifying 1970 plane crash that claimed the lives of 37 members of the football team, eight coaching staff, and 25 boosters could have easily been turned into a cloying, feel-good film. But a nuanced performance from McConaughey carries the audience on a genuine journey through grief and rebirth, and of a community coming together in a moment of crisis. Have you seen "We Are Marshall"?

the story of Ernie Davis has received a reappraisal, with many recognizing it as one of the best sports films of the 2000s. Rob Brown (Treme) beautifully embodies the role of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy, whose career was tragically cut short by leukemia. The film grapples with the brutal bigotry Black athletes endured in the early '60s. With a supporting cast including Omar Miller and Dennis Quaid, The Express also features the film debut of the late Chadwick Boseman. Have you seen "The Express"?

There's something special about this Alan Alda-led comedy based on the real-life experiences of writer George Plimpton. It's like Almost Famous for the sports set, if Patrick Fugit actually had to front Stillwater by the end. It never tries to be inspiring, as so many sports movies do. But in a way, that makes it easier for the average viewer to project themselves onto Alda. Most of us know we could never survive a Super Bowl game, but it would be incredible to take the field just once and score a touchdown. So, in the end, Paper Lion truly is "crackerjack wish fulfillment." Have you seen "Paper Lion"?