The only rationale would be to get better odds and press the bet, as in MAS*H (the movie). I’m assuming Coach wasn’t betting on his team…because that would be a bit much, for a TV sitcom.
Back to Rocky: the most implausible thing, as alluded to in #4 by Snake-Hips, is that 2 heavyweights can whale on each other’s skulls for 15 rounds. Any normal human would’ve been in a coma after Round 2.
Starters have been known to close games in high leverage situations. Heck, the example given above by HelloNinja isn’t even Randy Johnson’s BEST close out. I’d have to say Game 7 of the 2001 World Series when he (AFTER winning Game 6) pitched the last 11/3 innings to get the win when the D’backs rallied against Mo Rivera.
Also, John Smoltz of the Braves closed out a couple of games in the 2000 (I think) playoffs against the Astros, leading him to become the closer for the Braves the next season.
The eyeball popping out scene in Any Given Sunday.
In the movie “Dreamer”, ostensibly about horse racing, the horse Sonador comes off of a layoff to run in a claiming race at lowly Delta Downs. Which she loses.
In her next start (and I can’t believe I’m posting a spoiler about this dumb kid’s movie):
Sonador wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic!
But an even more implausable thing did happen on August 22, 1957 when World Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson fought a title bout against Pete Rademacher who was fighting his first fight as a professional. Pete knocked Patterson down in an early round and then was knocked out in the 6th.
The way I remember it was he sent his starting QB out at the beginning of the second half, not just for the final play. He wanted to screw up the other team’s second half strategy. On the final play of the game, they scored a TD to get to within 1, and converted for 2 to win the game instead just playing for a tie.
Still completely unrealistic.
Just thought of another baseball movie: The Scout with Albert Brooks and Brendan Fraser. Fraser’s character makes his Major League debut for the Yankees in game 1 of the World Series. But if he wasn’t on the team’s roster by August 31, he wouldn’t be eligible for post-season play.
But to make matters even worse:In his Major League Debut, in the World Series, he pitches a perfect game by striking out every batter on 3 pitches!At that point, the film went from implausible-yet-enjoyable to absolutely friggin’ stupid.
That movie was originally intended to be about Formula One, Ayrton Senna in particular, but the F1 guys wouldn’t let them near their cars.
The Scout, w/ Brendan Fraser & Albert Brooks, ends with Fraser coming in without warming up or even having pitched in some time, into a WS game. He proceeds to throw 27 straight strikeouts, or 81 consecutive pitches where no contact is made.
It’s not much of a movie to begin with, but the ending is utter crap.
The Scout is a really awful baseball movie. Albert Brooks is a scout who finds a phenom played by Brendan Fraser playing in a small Mexican town.
The kid is not just talented, he’s talented to an absurd degree. He not only throws 109 mph and strikes out everyone he faces, he also hits home runs almost every time up.
Brooks signs him after promising that he can pitch the first game of the World Series for the Yankees. He then finds out he’s a severe head case, and he has to be sent down to the minors. He does well there, and is actually brought up to pitch game one of the Series.
Now this is completely ridiculous. No team, much less the Yankees, are going to bring up a head case, no matter how talented, and allow him to start the first game of the Series. But beyond that, it would be against the rules: AFAIK you can’t put someone on the Series roster if they haven’t played on the team during the regular season.
ETA: Posts #48 and #50 weren’t there when I started to write this. 
I think this falls under “Rule, Exception that proves the”
The most unbelievable scene in that film is the CGI or makeup they used to make that guy’s full frontal nudity scene so unrealistic. What’s that you say? That was REALLY his junk!?
I feel bad about myself now…
Ya know, something else that occurs to me now that you brought it up…
If someone was not only the best pitcher ever by half, but also hit an HR nearly every time up… any agent worth his salt wouldn’t put the guy with the Yankees. The Yankees are AL, pitchers don’t hit in the AL.
Pitchers can hit in the AL. They just don’t (barring unusual situations involving substitutions) because the manager doesn’t have to let them him. If you had a pitcher who could hit like that, you would probably not use a designated hitter when he was starting. The problem is that if he was pulled from the game, you wouldn’t be able to put in a DH later.
I haven’t seen The Scout but there are also roster issues with that ending.
I realize it isn’t a sports movie, per se, but the ending of Caddyshack makes no sense to me. If I remember correctly, Danny is lining up a putt and if he misses, he loses. When the putt goes down, he win. I can’t think of any situation in golf where that is true.
Was it just a case of the bet hanging entirely on the last putt instead of the entire round at that point?
Al Czervik: “Hey, Judge! Double or nothing he makes it!”
I remember Wade Boggs sh**ing his pants in the on-deck circle!
Driven again: How about the scene where Sylvester Stallone helps his young teammate win the race by having them drive side by side through the entire lap while Stallone gives him pointers over the radio? Even somebody who has never seen a car race should understand that driving side-by-side makes the cars slower, not faster - it’s common sense. And of course the drivers can’t talk to each other over their radios either.
I don’t actually think they say he will lose if he misses, although I am not sure. What I do remember is that Dangerfiled and the Judge had bet a massive amount of money on that particular putt, upping the stake son it considerably.
In Major League my recollefiton was that the owner could sell/move the team if attendance didn’t reach a certain level, so she tried to make them really bad. But they turned dout to be good and clearly attendance was not down, so at least that aspect of it seemed to be a totally moot point by the time the final game is played.
In the movie Miracle the coach brings together a bunch of kids from college who had never played together and then in the climactic game they beat a Soviet team that was considered te best in the world. And this just 10 days after losing to the same team 10-3. I was just shaking my head.