For the second consecutive summer, movie theaters will struggle. Sure, there is reason to celebrate in 2021. At least this summer most theaters, the ones that survived through the deepest throws of COVID anyway, get to be open. But studios are still wary of the public’s desire to go out.
That means most big budget popcorn movies are going to be available on demand while also being in theaters. There isn’t a big event movie that forces you to grab a date or round up the family and head to the theater.
Hollywood has always had a love of sports. Whether it is Oscar bait like Rocky and Chariots of Fire, feel good schmaltz like Rudy, or slapstick bafoonery like Caddy Shack and Slap Shot, competition just makes for a great plot device.
It makes sense to me to turn to the sports media industry to solve theater owners’ problem. So, I asked hosts from across the country a simple question. What sports story do you want to see turned into a movie?
I also asked them to cast their leading man. Here’s what they had to say.
STEVE CZABAN – 97.3 THE GAME, MILWAUKEE
“Deflategate! And Tommy Lee Jones has to be somewhere in it!”
LANCE TAYLOR – JOX 94.5, BIRMINGHAM
“Random AF but Bison Dele (Brian Williams). The Rock could pull it off. Fascinating and dark. Complete opposite of a Disney film.”
PHIL MACKEY – SKOR NORTH, MINNEAPOLIS
“My answer is more of a look into the future — a story I’d LIKE to see play out…
“I love me a Kevin Costner sports movie, and I feel like he needs to keep branching out into other sports to complete his sports movie portfolio. He’s done baseball, football, golf, etc. How about Kevin Costner as the renegade new head coach of U.S. soccer, as they make a miraculous push deep into the World Cup for the first time ever (say, 2026)?
“He takes a program besieged in embarrassment and turns it all the way around in his Costner way — fighting with his bosses, fighting a rotten culture, a broken system…
“They get beat in the finals. By Brazil. But they gain world respect for the first time.
“Oh, and Jennifer Garner is still his capologist. If there is such a thing in soccer.”
ALLEN SLIWA – ESPN LOS ANGELES
“The sports story turned into a movie for me would be Kobe’s final game. I think that would be amazing story. I don’t know of another finale for a career like that. Michal B Jordan would be the individual who can play his role.”
JAY RECHER – 95.3 WDAE, TAMPA
“It’s gotta be Tom Brady and this 2020-2021 Bucs season right?
“From the decision to come to Tampa, to Gronk and AB coming to town, to the Super Bowl win & Lombardi toss at the boat parade, what an awesome story to tell! Matt Damon plays Brady. Take my money and give them the Oscars.”
FRED FAOUR – 97.5 ESPN, HOUSTON
“Thought I would go a little off the beaten path….The 1993 Oilers, the team that played the year after the collapse in Buffalo. They had brought in Buddy Ryan as defensive coordinator, and the owner Bud Adams said it was Super Bowl or bust. They then promptly started the season 1-4. However, they reeled off 11 in a row to finish 12-4. Along the way, they had a defensive lineman (Jeff Alm) die in a car crash under suspicious circumstances, had openly gay players in the locker room long before it was acceptable, had an offensive lineman skip a game to be there for the birth of his first child (babygate), and of course the famous sideline fight between Kevin Gilbride and Ryan. They would lose their first playoff game at home to Joe Montana and the Chiefs 28-20, a team they had beat 30-0 in Week 2.
Michael B. Jordan as Warren Moon
J.K. Simmons as Jack Pardee
Kevin James as Buddy Ryan
Josh Brolin as Kevin Gilbride”
AARON GOLDHAMMER – ESPN CLEVELAND
“Now that the Browns are Super Bowl contenders, I’d embrace a comedy about the 1-31 seasons in 2016 and 2017. In a remarkable two year span, the Browns drafted countless busts and traded the rights to multiple franchise quarterbacks. They tanked for draft picks and wasted the final playing years of hall-of-fame lineman Joe Thomas. They unfurled a banner in the Dawgpound that said “GPODAWUND.” Somehow, they also set the stage for where the team is today.
“Dennis Haysbert stars as Browns coach Hue Jackson in…No Win Situation. Definitely not suitable for children.”
Seven interesting films for sure. And man, did we run the gamut? We heard everything from a murder mystery to prestige cinema to what could be one of the dumbest comedies ever written.
Personally, as a lover of film, I tend to gravitate more to Aaron Goldhammert’s way of thinking. I love absurd comedies, and nowhere is their more absurdity than in the world of college sports. It is where the richest guy in the room and the dumbest guy in the room get to run the show and they are both the same guy!
So, let’s go to the world of college football. I want to see a movie adaptation of the University of Tennessee’s 2017 coaching search. This is the one that began with a verbal agreement with Greg Schiano and ended with six different coaches saying no and an athletic director getting fired before former Vols coach Phil Fulmer orchestrated a coup to make himself AD and Jeremy Pruitt became the head coach.
If you are not a college football fan, trust me. It was wild. Have you ever seen the movie The Death of Stalin? I have to imagine that is what it was like in Knoxville during that time.
Jeff Bridges plays Phil Fulmer. Kyle Chandler has experience playing a beloved football coach as Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights. Let’s see how he does playing a man that doesn’t know what asparagus is. We’ll cast him as Jeremy Pruitt.
You want a drama suggestion? It is a lot less fun, but fine. Let’s go with the 2008 US Open. A virtual nobody, knocking on the door of 50 goes head-to-head with the greatest golfer to ever walk the planet, mere months before his downfall. Anthony Mackie plays Tiger Woods. Adam Sandler plays Rocco Mediate.
Boom! Hollywood, sports radio has solved your problems!
If you would like to turn any of these treatments into a movie, you can reach me at the email address and Twitter handle below. I will act as everyone’s agent and take 20% off the backend.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
