Packers Free Agent signing...
As the Packers sit on their mountain of gold for another year of free agency, and offer measly one year tenders to their own free agents, and watch as other folks in their division actually try to improve their teams, news has come that they have picked up an odd free agent. Robert De Niro.
That's right, good ole Bobby De Niro has signed on with ESPN to star as Vince Lombardi in an upcoming biopic. This will probably suck, but maybe not. First off, it will have a theatrical release (an ESPN films first), which really guaranties nothing in terms of quality, but it does suggest a certain level of commitment to the subject matter. I'm not sure the Vince story will hold much appeal beyond Wisconsin, but we'll see. Vince has a certain aura about him that's legendary, and maybe it will appeal to folks that loved Kurt Russell in Miracle.
The Cult of Vince is kind of strange thing. As a Wisconsinite his presence is felt everywhere. There are annual banquets and golf outings in his honor. There is a Cancer Clinic named after him, as well as a few roads and schools. I've always thought it odd that a football coach made that leap into the pop culture consciousness so successfully.
Turns out, a big part of that how legend was born came after he coached the Packers to 5 NFL Titles. In 1968, Vince stepped down as the coach of the Packers, and ran the club as the GM for a year. He was approached to make a generic business motivational film, and the result was a movie called Second Effort. This film was full of all kinds of Lombard-isms, as he poked and prodded, and worked out a hapless salesman and implored him to give "the Second Effort" in all aspects of his life. That, according to the film, is the key to success.
Lombardi made more money making this 20 minute film than he had his entire coaching career, and the film went on to be the most successful business film of all time. People from all kinds of different professions watched this thing at conventions and in meeting rooms all over the country. And this helped turned Vince from coach to a legend, a legend that continues to grow. Anyway, here's a clip.
Click to viewDe Niro playing Vince is a curiosity, especially since ESPN almost made this film 6 years ago with Jerry Stiller as Vince. Now, if they can get Scorsese interested in directing...