The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were hoping if they built it, Tom Brady would come.
And he did.
The team poured its efforts into signing the new-former New England Patriot and was rewarded by Brady signing this NFL offseason, and it was all — per the Tampa Bay Times — thanks to a plan that got a code name straight out of Field of Dreams: Operation Shoeless Joe Jackson.
“The name was hatched by John Spytek, the Bucs’ director of player personnel and a former teammate of Brady’s for one season at Michigan,” wrote the Times’ Rick Stroud. “Oh, and Spytek is also a huge fan of the movie Field of Dreams.”
Why the need for a code name? Spytek said the Bucs wanted to keep their pursuit as quiet as possible. And of course, the director had to use the line:
“If we build it, he will come,” Spytek used to tell general manager Jason Licht, repeating the famous line from the 1989 movie. “Go the distance.”
A very cool little detail … but should Brady be insulted that he was referred to as a ghost of a player from the early 1900s? I kid.
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