Young Brendan Fraser is a talented schoolboy quarterback embroiled in a cheating scandal at a prep school in the 1950s. Getting into Harvard is on the line. (Talented players wanted to go to Harvard? Remember, this is a movie and not real life.) The thing is, he didn't cheat on his exam, it was actually his teammate Matt Damon, who then hits Fraser over the head with a rowboat paddle and -- oh wait, that was the other movie Damon played a villain -- and also this was before he was Jason Bourne, where he just would have killed anyone who got in his way with his pinky finger. Just when it looks the darkest for Fraser (it would be seven long years before he would do "The Mummy" and become a big star), star wide receiver Rip Van Kelt tells the school brass Fraser was innocent. I was only 21 when I saw it, but I freely admit I had no idea how the close was going to play out -- because everyone had ganged up on Fraser and didn't take his side because he was Jewish. And it was so different to

Hey, I would dance too if I played on the Cardinals circa 1996 and just caught a touchdown pass to beat the Cowboys. It was over the top and syrupy, but who didn't laugh and almost cry when Rod Tidwell had some serious celebration after getting up from what could have been a serious injury. That's one of those scenes that when the crew shoots it, the director says, "Boy this feels right, but man could it go over like a lead balloon and ruin the movie." It was a huge risk, but the fact that the rest of the movie was so good helped audiences swallow that -- even though in a vacuum the scene was sort of eye-rolling.

Sometimes players choose to stay in college over going to the NFL. Peyton Manning did it, and so did Andrew Luck. But a young Bobby Boucher also made that decision, although he did it on his wedding day to Vicki Vallencourt. He goes against the wishes of his father, who wants him to go pro, and listens to his new wife and his mom -- agreeing to get his degree first. It's quite a shocker coming from a guy who had like 55 sacks in his only season of college football and was more excited about taking his bride on an oversized lawn mower than making millions of dollars. There's a lesson in there somewhere. I can't find it, but there is.

This was a movie ahead of its time. Seriously, it was. Steve Lattimer was a three-year reserve before gaining 35 pounds and becoming a monstrous linebacker his senior year at ESU. He even paints his face to look like a skeleton -- maybe he was just a big "Karate Kid" fan -- so you know something's up. Yep, steroids. In the final scene, while the team is celebrating a big win, Lattimer sits on the bench crying for three reasons: 1) he knows the only reason he's become good is due to performance-enhancing drugs; 2) He can't escape them; and 3) How is this all going to work in the NFL? In a movie filled with characters who all fight their own demons, it's clear Lattimer will never be free of his. And this movie was made in 1993, well before steroids became the watchword it currently is.

Two high school rivals replay a tie game some 20 years after it occurred. Robin Williams is the wide receiver who dropped the game-winning pass for underdog Taft against high-powered Bakersfield the first time around, and you know the entire movie that it's going to come down to him catching a game-winning pass again. Despite realizing that, I was a sucker for that final play where a wide open Williams bobbles the ball so painfully -- including at one point in which he almost loses it under his arm, which I would almost guarantee was real and not scripted. Only a genius filmmaker can execute a scene that everyone knows is coming, and still pull it off.

This one I love just for the sheer absurdity. Al Pacino's character gets pushed out of his head coaching job with the Miami Sharks. At his farewell press conference, he announces not only that he's taken a job as head coach of a new expansion team, he signed away Sharks quarterback Steamin' Willie Beamen to be his quarterback. The bombshell is met with shocked faces from team owner Cameron Diaz and new head coach Aaron Eckhart, who simply says, "I thought we had him locked up?" Like it could ever play out like that in the NFL. "In a huge surprise, Rex Ryan, let go by the Jets, said at his press conference today he'll be taking over the new team in Los Angeles, and that he's bringing Mark Sanchez with him." Okay, so the Jets might actually be okay with that but you get my drift.

My God man, the pressure! During the final game of a winless season (with one tie) the Texas State Fighting Armadillos, a rag-tag group of collegians of all ages -- most of them playing both ways -- has a chance to upset the No. 1 team in the country. Down a point and with no time left, the Armadillos run a fake extra point to try to beat the Texas Colts. (This was back when you could have ties in college football.) Scott Bakula -- no doubt thinking "I just had so many great years on 'Quantum Leap' and this is the best movie my agent can get me?" -- sees a little-used wideout open in the end zone. Just before he gets sacked by Texas' best player (who winds up getting hit so hard his facemask comes off and his face turns into a pool of blood), Bakula lets fly and the pass is caught for the winning score. It's one of those movies you can watch over and over again to help time melt by. It's funny, sappy and corny, but I loved how it ended. This movie is also by far the film with the most

This ending simply cannot be beat. At a game, ex-NFL QB Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) prevents an assassination by throwing a football that knocks a Senator out of the way of a bullet (talk about a pressure throw!). The would-be assassin is then shot by police at the top of the stadium (thanks to help from Bruce Willis) and he falls into the blades of a helicopter. Imagine that postgame presser: "Um, before I ask about the game, your reaction to an ex-quarterback saving a politician's life, and after seeing that, can he make a comeback into the league?"

So, why no "Rudy"? I just didn't like the movie as much as other people. It was a great story, and a tremendous success for Rudy to make a play at the end of the game. But they were crushing Georgia Tech, 24-3. There were no real stakes. Rudy had already won his battle just by getting on the field. So the final scene and his sack wasn't nearly as powerful as, for instance, "So long, farewell, see you when the clouds come home."