Putting Ralph Macchio on the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame ballot (for his work in the Karate Kid Series) was not a problem for us, but we were struggling whether to include him for his incomplete effort in “Crossroads”. As struggling Blues musician, Eugene Martone, we had a hard time buying him as anyone who even heard a Blues record, let alone someone who could score with an in her prime, Jami Gertz. We aren’t even going to tell you what we think of him defeating Steve Vai at the end in a guitar duel.

First off, let’s get something out of the way. For our purposes; the Karate Kid Remake starring Will Smith’s snotty kid never happened. With that out of the way, one of the great underdogs in sports cinema history has to be Daniel LaRusso. In the first film, LaRusso got the crap beaten out of him constantly by a group of karate fighting California teens with a merciless trainer. With the most unlikely help (the iconic Mr. Miyagi), LaRusso managed to learn the art of self defence…while learning how to paint a house.

He had the chance to face his bullies in a fair fight, the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, and we were treated with the best opening round wins in the perfect 80’s montage. (Come on, you were humming “You’re the Best”, right now, weren’t you?) Of course he won, even after his opponents used unscrupulous tactics (Sweep the leg!), and gave us an athletic heartwarming story.

On the flipside, let’s forget Part III, where he defended his All-Valley championship (at the age of 40 it looked like, and again he was getting the snot pounded out of him prior to) and won by doing a dance (kata) and a basic palm thrust to the chest; which won him the match but inflicted no damage to his opponent. Really lame, Daniel-San!