Nick Saban Radio Show in Miami

Alabama Coach Nick Saban named off his top five go-to movies to help motivate players before big games this season. Above, he talks strategy as he visited the Nick Saban Radio Show on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, Saturday, Jan. 05, 2013, at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami, Fla. The Crimson Tide take on the Fighting Irish Monday in the BCS National Championship game. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com

-- Motivational pregame movies have been a source of debate for not only Alabama fans but others speculating on what exactly fuels the Crimson Tide football program to stay hungry for titles on an annual basis.

The team made public that

prior to the Alabama-LSU BCS Championship Game in 2011, which the Tide won 21-0.

And we know

on the eve of whipping Notre Dame 42-14 in the same game a year later.

But until Alabama coach Nick Saban, his staff and players tell us for sure, there's no way of knowing how much the pregame movie really affects the team going into games.

Saban didn't hesitate to share which films he knows have motivated players this year and in the past during the grind of their seasons, which are full of film sessions of a different sort.

During his weekly radio show on the Thursday night before the Alabama-LSU game, the coach fielded a question from an AL.com reader asking which movies he specifically likes to show his teams. Saban shared his current top five.

"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.

What movies get you motivated to either play or coach the big game, or just get you fired up in general? Please share your picks in the comment section below.