5 Best Surrogate Dads Vol. 1

Father's day is this week and as always I have to shout out my fellow dad's. I'm kicking things off with surrogate dad's in film and TV. The role of surrogate's in real life and in entertainment is often overlooked, but they play a very important role in folk's they affect life. So, here we are with 5 of the best surrogate dad's.

Coach Bombay

One of the greatest coaches' in sport's films history. Gordon Bombay was a successful but troubled lawyer who took a team of kid's who just needed someone to believe in them, and teach them the way's of winning. In the meantime, the team taught him that winning wasn't everything and helped him gain closure on some lingering issues from his youth that still haunted him. Coach Bombay mentored those kid's well into their adult years throughout the franchise. Making him one of the best surrogate fathers ever.

Bernie Mac

Based on his stand up routine, Bernie Mac's 2000's sitcom The Bernie Mac Show highlighted how anyone can be a dad. Taking in his nephew and two nieces, Bernie's style was a little rough and blunt (which the kid's needed), and sometimes he displayed annoyance with the situation he was put into. However with his wife Wanda by his side, Bernie Mac showed everything he did with those kid's was out of love.

Hopper (Stranger Things)

Hopper was the Chief of Police in Hawkins, who just went about life flowing a bit. When he became entangled in Will Byer's missing case and the things that lurk underneath Hawkins, he took to the young runaway Eleven. Eventually bringing her into his home to keep her safe and raising her as his own. Hopper at times could be over protective and hard on Eleven, but he wanted to give her as much of a normal childhood as possible. He also would fill in as the surrogate dad for the other Hawkins kid's when called upon, making him a great surrogate dad.

Rocky

Rocky Balboa had a son that he didn't pay full attention to nor have the best relationship with. He tried the surrogate dad role once in Rocky V, to an ungrateful Tommy Gunn. It wasn't until 2015's Creed that he truly took on that fatherly role. Strong armed into mentoring him by a persistent Adonis Creed, Rocky took his years of boxing wisdom and life mistakes to help mold Adonis. Training him to be a boxer, while acknowledging the hurt he had inside from never meeting his father. Rocky's relationship with Adonis, helped him work towards severing his relationship with Rocky Jr. 

Mr. Miyagi

Mr. Miyagi was a calm, philosophical older man who took a young man under his wing and helped him believed in himself. Daniel LaRusso was the new kid in town, angry at being in a new city and school. As well as still grieving from the loss of his father several years prior. Once Mr. Miyagi assisted him in learning martial arts to win a karate tournament, Daniel started to learn how karate and life are intertwined. Although still hot headed he learned to temper his anger and that everything doesn't require a fight. 

Daniel wasn't Mr. Miyagi's only pupil. He also trained young Julie Pierce who had similar issues as Daniel. She lost both her parent's and was an outcast at school, and Mr. Miyagi also took her under his wing. Teaching her as well to control her temper and make the best of things that make her happy. Taking on two youth's who just needed some guidance, is why Mr. Miyagi is the best surrogate dad ever.

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MIghty Ducks Season 2: Who We Need To See Return

Season 1 of Mighty Ducks Game Changers just concluded on Disney plus. I personally enjoyed the show more than I thought, it had some flaws and room for improvement. Overall it was a strong season with a very nostalgic ending for diehard fans. 

Spoiler Alert 

The Don't Bothers win back the Mighty Ducks name.

Spoiler Alert Over 

While Disney has not officially announced a Season 2, much like the Cobra Kai series it has become customary for fans to make a wishlist of which franchise characters they'd like to see in forthcoming season(s). Like I did at the end of Cobra Kai season 3, here's my wishlist of Mighty Ducks characters I'd love to see in the next season.

McGill & Larson (Mighty Ducks)

McGill (Michael Ooms) & Larson (Casey Garven) were teammates of Adam Banks when he played for the Hawks and frequent bullies of the District 5 team. The three seemed inseparable but it turns out they really weren't friends once Adam moved to the Ducks.

McGill & Larson were last seen in D2 along with an unnamed teammate tied to a tree by Fulton when they attempted to sabotage the Ducks. It'd be interesting to see if they're still living the cake eater life and how far their hockey careers went. It also be cool if one of them was the modern day coach of the Hawks using some of Coach Riley's philsophies for a new generation. 

Bringing the Legacy Hawks back into the fold would also allow Bombay to revisit his past as a member of the team, and looking back what's wrong with the pressure kids were under then and now to win. 

Side gripe: There was a Hawks team in the same league as the Don't Bothers, but it was clearly a different Hawks team with a different lineage. Those Hawks wore orange and Blue, when we need the black and white Hawks. Unless as I'm hoping it's saved for additional seasons, waste of a great storyline potential.

Don Tibbles

Don Tibbles made his only appearance in the franchise in D2. An executive with Hendrix Hockey he's the one who persuaded Bombay to coach Team USA. He also introduced Bombay to a potentially lucrative career and lifestyle that took his focus from coaching Team USA.

Don is a good guy just a guy who's trying to make money and keep his job. Don would obviously be retired by this time but he may still have connections to Hendrix Hockey (which gets a Easter egg in episode 1). His connections could help out the new Ducks in season 2 regarding gear or maybe upgrades to the Ice Palace to become the Hendrix Ice Palace. 

Michael Tucker who played Tibbles is in his late 70's and I'm honestly not sure if he's fully retired from acting but a small cameo would be very rewarding to long time fans.

Coach McKay

Coach McKay (Kathryn Erbe) was the tutor of the Ducks while they competed in the Junior Goodwill Games as Team USA. Side rant: it was never made explicitly clear in the film, but I was always under the assumption the competition took place in the summer to account for teams of minors traveling from all over the world to compete. So I always confused why they had an tutor. Anyway she joined the team as an assistant coach out of necessity and was an catalyst for Gordon realizing the error of his changing behavior. 

Honestly the character didn't offer much more than that. However as an educator she could be helpful in helping Bombay and Alex navigate the tricky landscape of student atheletes in todays world and all the rules that come along with it. She may also help some of the team with a school subject they're struggling with, showing the delicate balance these kids must endure being student atheletes. 

Casey Conway

Charlie Conway played by Joshua Jackson is the heart of the Mighty Ducks franchise. When the series was announced fans were clamoring for Conway to make an appearance, but Joshua's schedule and covid made appearing this season impossible.

There is hope Charlie can appear in a season 2 in the event that he can't, an appearance from his mom would be an welcome addition.

Casey played by Heidi Kling could appear and provide some detail on Charlie's whereabouts. It was hinted at in episode 6 during an appearance by the OG Ducks that Charlie holds some resentment towards Bombay. Casey could further that storyline and give Bombay an idea of where the resentment stems from, until he and Charlie can hash it out once he makes an apperance. She also kind of had an romantic relationship with Bombay in the first film, maybe they take steps to try again or just have an friendly conversation that helps Bombay find a spark he's missing.

Coach Orion

Ted Orion played by Jeffery Nordling appeared in D3 as the Ducks new coach at Eden Hall. Orion wasn't an believer of the Ducks pee-wee hockey style. As such his style didn't mesh well with many of the Ducks and he came across as harsh and dismissive of the Ducks way. The two sides eventually learned from one another and defeated the Varsity Warriors.

The Orion character was written to show how things change in life and how you have to adjust. While we didn't get to see the character lead the Ducks to championships, it'd be interesting to see how his life turned out the past 25 years.

Did he lead the JV Eden Hall Ducks to state championships? Did he move to coaching Varisty when the Ducks moved up? If so did they win the state championship those 2 years? Is he still at Eden Hall? Could he be the athletic director of the school now?

Based on what we know him and Bombay have mutual respect for one another. Bombay could call him in for a coaching session of the new Ducks. Providing them hockey skills Bombay doesn't posse to make them more well-rounded players such as playing two-way hockey.

More O.G. Ducks

Besides Charlie Conway who everyone wants to see, fans are clamoring for more O.G. Ducks anyway we can get them. Kenan Thompson who played Russ Thompson is the biggest star out of the Ducks and he's rumored to have agreed to make an appearance in season 2, should scheduling line up. The six who appeared in season 1 were Fulton (Elden Henson), Connie (Marguerite Moreau) and Guy (Garette Henson), Averman (Matt Doherty), Ken Wu (Justin Wong), and Adam Banks (Vincent Larusso). 

That leaves characters like Portman (Aaron Lohr), Julie Gaffney (Colombe Jacobsen), Jesse (Brandon Adams), Luis Mendoza (Mike Vitar), Dwayne Robertson (Ty O'Neal), and Goldberg (hopefully Shaun Weiss works through his issues.) There's also members who were never mentioned again after the first film including Jesse's brother Terry (Jussie Smollet). Karp (Aaron Schwartz), Peter (J.D. Daniels), and siblings Tommy (Danny Tamberelli) and Tammy (Jane Plank).

If they bring several O .G. Ducks in for an episode at once or sprinkle cameos throughout the season, fans would be elated either way. Every one of them could bring something to the table in guiding the new Ducks to success. I for one am looking forward to seeing how the originals are bought back into the fold.  

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