Combining sports, comedy, and romance is a prescription for a guaranteed good time in American film, as the seven movies below demonstrate. It is the cinematic equivalent of baseball, apple pie, and Chevrolet. After all, what is more quintessentially American than a character obsessed by a sport or sports and a potential love interest they butt heads with over that? It's not just romantic comedies that mine this subject either; Kevin Costner's For Love of the Game is one of the best examples of sports and romance interwoven into a compelling and interesting storyline. Field of Dreams (albeit in this one it's Costner's love of baseball at the center of the romance) and The Natural are other romantic dramas with sports at their center.

However, this time, we're focusing on more light-hearted fare. The seven films below feature some of the most major stars of the last couple of decades. Kevin Costner is a mainstay of this genre and appears in two films on this list. Rene Russo, Susan Sarandon, Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Queen Latifah, Common, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Paraminder Nagra, D.B Sweeney, and Moira Kelly are just some stars appearing in these films, some of the best sports-related romantic comedies we'll always love.

7 Tin Cup

Tin Cup was released in 1996 and stars Kevin Costner, Rene Russo, Don Johnson, and Cheech Marin. Costner played Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy, a middle-aged former golf prodigy that never fulfilled his promise. He owns and runs a dilapidated driving range in Texas and works just enough to have the money to hang out and drink with his friend Romeo Posar (Marin). A beautiful woman wanders into his driving range one day looking for golf lessons so that she can play with her pro-golfer boyfriend.

The woman, Dr. Molly Griswold (Russo), is a psychologist and her boyfriend is David Sims (a wickedly cocky Johnson), who played on the same college golf team as McAvoy. Naturally, McAvoy becomes attracted to Griswold and Sims tries to belittle McAvoy by hiring him as his caddie. McAvoy enters the U.S. Open and ends up in a battle for both the title and the gal.

6 Bend It Like Beckham

Technically the romance in Bend It Like Beckham is a side story between Parminder Nagra's Jess and Jonathan Rhys Meyers' Joe, but it counts! This delightful 2002 women sports film about Jessminder, "Jess," a teenager in a British Indian Sikh family in London, inspired countless people internationally. Jess loves soccer and is quite good at it, despite her parents not approving of her playing the sport. She is asked to be part of a woman's soccer club and lies to her parents, telling them she has a part-time job when she's really at practice. Rhys Meyers' plays Joe, one of her coaches and an Irish former professional soccer player whose career was sidelined by injuries.

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5 The Cutting Edge

The Cutting Edge starred Moira Kelly as Kate, a spoiled figure skater competing in pairs figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. D.B. Sweeney played Doug, the captain of the U.S.hockey team competing in the same Olympics. Kate and Doug collide in Calgary and develop an instant dislike for each other. In competition, Kate's partner drops her during a lift, dashing their chances of winning. Doug is injured in one of the games during the Olympics and his potential NHL career is over. Naturally, these two opposites are matched up to make a team for pairs figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville in this classic romantic comedy movie.

4 Just Wright

Just Wright is a 2010 film starring rapper turned actor Queen Latifah as physical therapist Leslie Wright. She is a passionate fan of basketball who randomly runs into the star player of the New Jersey Nets, Scott McKnight (Common). They hit it off, and she invites him to her birthday party where he meets her skinny friend Morgan (Paula Patton). Morgan's sole ambition in life is to become an NBA trophy wife, and she sets her sights on McKnight. She pretends to like the things he likes and just three months later they get engaged. There's only one problem, Morgan stops liking McKnight while Wright takes care of his injured knee, and sparks fly as a result. A sweet, rare rom-com with a plus-size lead set in the basketball world.

3 Bull Durham

In Bull Durham, Kevin Costner stars as Crash Davis, a 12-year veteran of baseball's Minor League who is sent to the perennially losing Durham Bulls to be their catcher and attempt to corral Ebby LaLoosh, their rookie pitcher with the million dollar arm who completely lacks common sense (Tim Robbins). Susan Sarandon plays Annie, a groupie of the Durham Bulls who makes it her mission to woo a different player each season. Annie is trying to decide between Ebby and Crash, which turns Crash off as he declares he's too old to compete for a woman. Annie and Crash end up both working with Ebby in their own ways to make him a better player in this film which perfectly blends romance, sports, and comedy.

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2 Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire was one of the big hits of 1996 with Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Regina King. Cruise played a sports agent representing some of the biggest professional athletes for Sports Management International. At least, that was the case until he finds a conscience, writes a mission statement, and finds himself ostracized from the business. When the dust settles his single mother assistant Dorothy (Zellweger) and brash NFL player Rod Tidwell (Gooding Jr) are the only two people who stand with Jerry and his fledgling new agency. The late Kelly Preston played Maguire's fiancé Avery. When they break up, he becomes closer to Dorothy and her young son. Along the way, Maguire not only found his conscience, but also his heart and soul in a classic film which uses the sports world as a setting perfectly.

1 Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch is a 2005 movie starring Jimmy Fallon as Ben Wrightman, a 30-year-old school teacher who is completely obsessed with the Boston Red Sox. He is a super fan and his life revolves around his beloved baseball team and his season tickets. While he's on a school trip, he meets a corporate executive named Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore) and they begin dating. Lindsey doesn't know anything about baseball or the Red Sox, and to make things words, is knocked unconscious by a line drive at a game and stops wanting to accompany Ben at the stadium. What follows is a sweet internal battle between Ben's two loves: the Red Sox and Lindsey. A love letter to Boston sports and a kindhearted rom-com about priorities and compromise, Fever Pitch is a sports rom-com classic.