Terry Frei 的 Mosquito Bowl 故事页

Terry Frei @TFrei原推发布于 2026.10.25

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(If some of what follows is a repeat for you, I apologize. Aw, no I don't.) I'm being asked about the new Netflix film, "Mosquito Bowl," about the Sixth Marine Division's touch football game on Guadalcanal in late 1944, in advance of the horrific Battle of Okinawa. Why? This is old territory for me. Nearly 25 years ago, I researched the Mosquito Bowl as part of my Colorado journalism work and my 2004 /2007 book "Third Down and a War to Go," about my father's 1942 Wisconsin Badgers. From starters to reserves, the Helms Foundation national champion Badgers made stunningly pervasive wartime contributions to the Allied cause in both Europe and the Pacific. Two top Badgers -- end Dave Schreiner, the '42 Big Ten MVP; and tackle Bob Baumann -- both served in the same Marine company, played in the Mosquito Bowl, and were killed in action on Okinawa. I made telling their stories a priority, though I encountered frustration along the way. That said, I ended up being given the family picture wallet that was with Dave Schreiner when he died. "Third Down and a War to Go" eventually drew rave reviews, most of which included a variation of: "This would make a great movie." I'm not going to give you faux modesty about that. Damn right, "Third Down and a War to Go," would have been a great movie. Yet neither the book's film rights nor my own screenplay version, which I completed in 2010, drew more than casual Hollywood interest as my agent and others sought offers. The opening pages of the "Third Down" screenplay: https://terryfrei.com/thirddownscreenplay.html I failed. I was disappointed and a bit embittered. At that point, popular author Buzz Bissinger contacted me, saying he was starting work on a book about, yes, the Mosquito Bowl, focusing on the Marines who played in the game and died in action. That meant Schreiner and Baumann were integral elements of the storylines, but also that Buzz and I were coming at the tale from different angles. Out of professional and personal respect, I granted Buzz access to my Mosquito Bowl research. He didn't "rely" on it. Few of those I had interviewed were alive at the time by the time was doing his research. Ultimately, Buzz's 2022 book was excellent and included a stunning amount of deep-plot additional research. Here's my narrative of how that all went down. (This piece is where I'll be repeating myself, but please feel free to also wander on my site.) https://terryfrei.com/mosquitobowl.html And here's my web site page on "Third Down and a War to Go": https://terryfrei.com/thirddown.html(That's the original hardback cover below.) Peter Berg and Mark Smith wrote the Mosquito Bowl screenplay.