(AUDACY) MLB's "Field of Dreams" game was such a smashing success that there are plans to do it again, with the Cubs and Reds set to meet in Dyersville, Iowa in the 2022 version after the White Sox earned a thrilling win last Thursday in the inaugural edition.
The game was such a hit as a phenomenon that on "Good Morning Football" on the NFL Network on Tuesday, Peter Schrager suggested the NFL could do something similar. His idea: a "Friday Night Lights" game between the Cowboys and Chiefs at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas.
That led us to think -- what else could sports do to tie in iconic movies or locales to the actual leagues or tours they represented? We came up with a few more ideas:
NFL: Washington Football Team vs. Titans at Alexandria City High School
A "Friday Night Lights" game is the ultimate nod to an iconic football movie that doesn’t involve NFL, college or upper-level adjacent nonfiction, but right behind is "Remember the Titans," the story of the integration of football at TC Williams High in Alexandria, Virginia in the 1970s. Williams High is now known as Alexandria City High School after a name change this summer, but the fact remains that it's the locale of "Remember the Titans" – so why not have the actual Titans come play the local NFL squad in another high school-inspired game?
NBA: Pacers vs. Bulls at the Hoosier Gym
An outdoor basketball game at either Rucker Park in New York City or one of the courts from White Men Can’t Jump might be a blast, but given the NBA plays inside, what more iconic basketball movie to pay tribute to than "Hoosiers"?
Back in 1954, Milan High School won the Indiana state championship and spawned the tale told three decades later by the Academy Award-nominated Gene Hackman vehicle. As Chicago is the closest geographical rival to Indianapolis proper, this seems like a fit, and the teams could play the game at any of three locales: Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (the site of the championship game in both real life and the film), Milan’s tiny gym or the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, which isn't regulation but was the filming site for Hickory High’s home games in the film.
MLB: Dodgers vs. Giants at the Sandlot
This is definitely not regulation here, but if they can build it (and people came) in Dyersville or Fort Bragg or Williamsport, why not out in Utah, where the ultimate movie about childhood friendship and sports was filmed? Yes, "The Sandlot" takes place in the San Fernando Valley in the film, but the movie was filmed in various spots out in Utah – and since the final scene where "The Jet" steals home takes place in a Dodgers-Giants game, why not have the East Coast-turned-West Coast rivals play out in the Mountain time zone?
MLB Twitter wants it, and Danielle McCartan of WFAN actually asked some Dodgers and Mets about it last week:
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Perhaps pregame festivities could include a ceremonial bungee jump from Timmy and Tommy Timmons and a wrestling match featuring The Great Hambino?
NHL: Sabres vs. Penguins at the Cambria County War Memorial Auditorium
The Mighty Ducks actually exist, "Miracle" was based on an actual event and a game in Mystery, Alaska would see more frostbite than anything else … so of course we have to go with "Slap Shot"!
That film that features the Hanson brothers playing for the Charlestown Chiefs was loosely based on a now-defunct team in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour east of Pittsburgh. The Chiefs’ biggest rivals were in Syracuse, and the closest NHL team to the ‘Cuse is in Buffalo. It would also be an intra-divisional clash, so why not have the two play at the home of those Johnstown Jets, which the “Chiefs” called home?
PGA Tour: Any tournament relocated to “Bushwood CC”
Whether you like comedy ("Happy Gilmore"), drama ("Tin Cup) or something in between ("Bagger Vance"), the ultimate iconic golf movie is almost universally revered as "Caddyshack." Bushwood Country Club doesn’t exist – the basis of the film was memories from Brian Doyle-Murray’s days as a caddy at a club outside Chicago – but the movie was shot at what's now Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie, Florida, just outside Miami. What better way to kick the new PGA season into high gear late in the fall than a tournament full of gophers and slouches? Bonus points if Bill Murray, as Carl Spackler, gets a sponsor’s exemption, and a Cinderella story takes the title.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter @LouDiPietroWFAN.