Saban gives two thumbs up to five motivational movies

[jbcarol]

"The players really like 'Cinderella Man, they like 'Seabiscuit,' they like 'Secretariat,' they like 'Gladiator,' and Tom Cruise being the samurai soldier, 'The Last Samurai," Saban said. "Those are probably the five of the ones we've watched before big games that the players really, really like. That's kind of the go-to five.

"The thing about it is is you've got to wait about five years until everybody graduates," Saban said, noting showing the same movies over and over could get a little old for the players. "Once you've seen them, you can't show them over and over."

So two horse racing movies, a boxing flick and a pair of historical dramas featuring major battle sequences. Anything else?

"The other one they like is the Miracle on Ice," Saban said referencing the 2004 Disney film "Miracle" starring Kurt Russell as hockey coach Herb Brooks who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to in improbable victory over the heavily favored Russian squad.