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Some of the greatest movies have been about football -- "North Dallas 40", "Brian's Song" and "Any Given Sunday". All right, maybe we can try to erase "Any Given Sunday" from our minds.
But let's not forget one of my all-time favorites, "Heaven Can Wait". In that movie, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback is accidentally taken from his body by his guardian angel but is reincarnated into the body of a wealthy businessman who buys the team and inserts himself as quarterback.
That might seem a little far-fetched, but in the movie the Rams beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. The film nearly foreshadowed Super Bowl XIV the following year, however, the good guys lost in real life.
With that in mind, we could use another NFL blockbuster. Here are six movies pitches for films based on actual NFL games and events.
All of these -- of course -- are based on a true story.
And without further ado ...
An evil, sweatshirt-adorned coach along with his cocky, good looking all-American quarterback with the model wife continues to make their awe-shucks Southern rival look foolish. Finally, as the coach and GQ quarterback are on the verge of a perfect season, the dim-witted brother of the Southerner rises to the challenge to take them out in this true underdog story. And as a bonus, the sequel is pretty good, too.
A former Pro Bowl quarterback is callously released by the team he led to prominence, and his last chance comes as the backup for a pretty-boy Heisman Trophy winner in Arizona after a failed stint in New York. But when fate hands him another chance, he responds by taking the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. (Sure, the Cards lost in the Super Bowl, but the film stops on a high by ignoring it -- just like in "Moneyball".)
This could be the prequel for "My Brother's Keeper", exploring a time when people actually rooted for the sweatshirt-adorned coach and his cocky, good looking All-American quarterback with the movie star girlfriend. The flick also features a side-story to serve as a prequel for "Redemption."
The only drawback -- doesn't Tebow look like the bully from every sports movie of the 80s? Isn't he like a modern-day version of Billy Zabka? That said, I already have the perfect cast for this movie. We just need to punch it up a bit, playing up Brady Quinn as the brooding, conniving understudy. Have the "South Park" guys write this and it could be a comedy with hit songs: "Blame Orton" and "Tebow: (Expletive) Yeah!"
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I Guarantee It: The Story of Super Bowl III
Seriously, how has this never been made into a movie? The underdog AFL represented the free-love, counterrevolutionary, carefree side of the 1960s, while the NFL was the stodgy, buttoned up establishment. There are many layers to this story. I'm surprised it hasn't been made yet.
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Last Stand: Story of the last Browns game in 1995
An evil owner pulls the plug on one of the beloved teams in NFL history in order to move his franchise to Baltimore. While the city fights back to keep its history, the players make one last great effort for some of the best NFL fans by winning the final football game in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The climactic scene has the Browns players pouring into the Dawg Pound after beating their cross-state rivals, the Bengals.
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Agree or disagree, contact Rank via Twitter or via Facebook. Also be sure to catch the latest on the Dave Dameshek Football Program.
