I Believe in Them

Am I the only one who's really excited about the upcoming movie Miracle? Sure it looks like a fairly jingoistic, family-friendly take of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, but I can't help but get pumped up after seeing the trailer and commercials for it (I'm a sucker for Aerosmith's "Dream On" and Queen's "We Will Rock You"). It's kind of surprising that there's never been a movie made about it, but Miracle seems to have done a good job in creating a legitimate reenactment. Kurt Russell looks like he was born to play coach Herb Brooks and I love those retro "USA" block jerseys. Here's hoping Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione and the rest of the original Team USA players will be prominently involved in the promotion of this film- they deserve the chance to tell their story to the younger generation (even though we all know the ending). Folks, we could have the next Rocky on our hands- something the whole country can rally around. I'm envisioning people going to the cinemas draped in the American flag and theater-wide chants of "USA! USA!"

And this reminds me- about a year ago, I read an item in the Hollywood Reporter about another inspirational sports movie in development. American Beauty's Wes Bentley is set to star in The Game of Their Lives, about America's second-greatest international sports upset: The United States' 1-0 victory over England in the 1950 World Cup. It appears that the movie is on track to get released this year, but no date is set. I hope the filmmakers do a good job with this, since 1950 World Cup win is one of the truly underrated sports moments in our history.