Two events occurred in 1994 that altered the course of my relationship with the NFL for the rest of my life: I won my first serious football wager, and the film Little Giants was released. I’m not quite sure what the football odds were when I bet $60 that my San Diego Chargers would make the Super Bowl that season, but it was certainly more than the 2-1 my Uncle’s bookie ended up giving when he paid me $120. It didn’t matter though because I only cared that I could now afford to buy Donkey Kong Country and Final Fantasy III for my Super Nintendo. That was all it took for me to become a slightly-more-than-casual bettor at the early age of eleven.

How does Little Giants fit into all of this, you ask? It ended up being the reason I even placed the wager. It was one of the funniest, most resonant, and inspirational football movies I had ever seen. Giants also happened to be the first at the time, and it made me think, “if this ragtag group of rejects could beat the odds, why not my Chargers?”

Not wanting to ruin its nostalgia, I was hesitant to go back and watch Giants at first. I leaned towards chalking it up as a movie there was no way I’d enjoy as much now as I had back then, but low and behold, it just happened to be a film my prepubescent cousin got in the mail. So I took it as a sign and watched with him.

It might have been my cousin’s shared experience of laughter, or it could have been the sentimentality. Whatever it was though, I still enjoyed the movie a great deal. I never got a chance to play Peewee football and I really wish I had after the film. It had Rick Moranis and Coach Al Bundy going for it, a cameo appearance from John Madden, some insanely quotable lines (if you’re still eleven), and a group of kids (including one of my favorite TV nerds ever - Minkus from Boy Meets World) that were nearly impossible not to root for.

Little Giants is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t yet seen it, haven’t seen it in more than ten years, or need something tolerable to watch if you’re stuck babysitting. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you do. Who knows - maybe it’ll even inspire you to pick that underdog Super Bowl winner! (Probably not…)

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