Funny or Die Puts Football Stars Back in Action in Field of Dreams 2

Funny or Die has tackled a lot of targets in its viral comedy sketches. But now the website has gone after the NFL lockout, doing what no negotiations have done in the last several months. While the NFL is still trying to get its stars back on the field, Funny or Die actually got Ray Lewis, Tony Gonzalez, DeSean Jackson and many more athletes in gear again, albeit to spoof the baseball classic Field of Dreams.

The comedy website's latest parody recast Taylor Lautner, of all people, in Kevin Costner's role as a farmer who builds a sports field for ghosts. In this case, the ghosts are the locked out NFL players, with Lewis, Gonzalez, and at least a dozen more stars appearing as themselves.

Given how starved fans are for the NFL to survive the lockout, even seeing these players on the field for an Internet parody is a landmark. It also has ironic timing, since it came out as negotiations reach their most crucial stage to date.

At the end of the video, Lautner announces that the lockout is over, causing the players to leave him behind with his field. Fans across the country hope it will be a sign of things to come, since the real players and owners are supposedly closer to an agreement.

If a deal is made by the end of this week or next, then the lockout will be nothing more than a distant memory -- only if the season starts on time. At that point, the Funny or Die sketch will indeed become a fantasy, not something football-deprived fans would actually wish for.

Football is regularly cited as the biggest game in America these days, although baseball held that position for almost a century. It held that when the original Field of Dreams came out, the film worshiping America's pastime before the strike of 1994 and steroid era helped tarnish it.

As such, since the NFL is No. 1 for now, it is the most fitting sport to satirize in a fake Field of Dreams sequel. To that end, Funny or Die brought on board two stars from the original movie to make cameos, and got Dennis Haysbert to fill in for James Earl Jones.

The site has always managed to bring in big stars for its sketches, turning Internet comedy videos into a prime destination. In any case, it's not like the biggest stars in the NFL have anything else to do at the moment, although everyone prays that won't be the case by next week.

Should negotiations break down and put the season in real danger, even Funny or Die will find it hard to make the lockout funny then. But should the standoff end shortly, the last few months will actually be something to look back and laugh at after all.

Sources

Funny or Die- "Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout with Taylor Lautner"