Based on a true story, Gibsonburg is my favorite type of sports story.  It’s about a team that won even though everyone expected it to lose.

During the 2005 regular season, Gibsonburg High School’s baseball team compiles a desultory record of 6 wins and 17 losses.  With a record like that, no one gives them much of a chance in the state’s championship tournament.  But, against the odds, the Gibsonburg Golden Bears not only win the first game of the tournament but the second one and then the third one.  Soon, it starts to look like Gibsonburg could actually come out of nowhere to win the state championship!

I liked Gibsonburg.  There’s a lot of baseball scenes but, even more importantly, the movie is about what the underdog baseball team does for the spirit of its hometown.  Gibsonburg has been hit hard by the recession and businesses are shutting down left and right.  One of the team’s best players had just been told that the family’s bakery is going to be closed in a few weeks.  The team’s victories gives the entire town something to believe in and it shows that you can succeed even when everyone is expecting you to fail.  The team starts to win after the player comes across as valuable coin that might be lucky but, as the movie shows, the coin had nothing to do with it.  Gibsonburg won because the team came together and refused to give up.  The movie is a heart-warming celebration of community, friendship, and baseball.