POP CULTURE SHORTS
3 Motivational Films A Top Football Coach Showed His Team
Nick Saban fires up Alabama’s Crimson Tide by having players watch movies like ‘The Gladiator’

How has the University of Alabama won six of the last 13 national titles in college football?
Coach Nick Saban’s strategies include showing his team inspirational movies on the night before games. Sportswriter John Talty says in his new The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban that Saban has rolled out these three:
The Gladiator A general-turned-gladiator, played by Russell Crowe, seeks to avenge the murder of his wife and son in ancient Rome.
The Last Samurai As an American military officer, Tom Cruise comes to respect the values of the samurai warriors he’s been hired to help the Japanese Emperor defeat.
Red Tails African American fighter pilots, based on the Tuskegee Airmen, distinguish themselves in a movie with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard.
