| Dubbed 'Air Bud: Twelfth Man's Best Friend', the formula for this tale returns to where it all began: heart-warming, family-oriented treacle about basketball, life-long friendships, overcoming obstacles, and truck loads of fragrant cheese. And to make the final episode even more special, Disney has recruited Toronto basketball legend Rick Brunson in a supporting role as Bick Runson, a down-and-out bench warmer in need of spiritual and emotional guidance from the animal kingdom.
The story apparently goes like this: Air Bud, now rather long in the tooth for a golden retriever, is hired on-the-cheap by the Toronto Raptors basketball team as their new third-string point guard, bringing veteran leadership and stability to a team recovering from a disastrous season. This move displaces Runson onto the injured reserve list, leaving him bitter and close to total despair. 
Runson eventually lashes out at his coach and team chemistry suffers as the season plods on. It is all up to Air Bud to bring the team back together with his locker room presence, well-barked speeches, and energetic butt-pawing! In the end, with the help of his now alpha-male and faithful friend Bud, Runson learns the values of perseverence, team unity, and pack behaviour for achieving success in sports.
This pays off, because when Air Bud is suddenly stricken with knee tendinitis towards the end of the season, Runson is ready to resume his rightful place at the end of the Raptors bench, and eager to provide the 2 points, 2 fouls and 2 turnovers that would become his trademark.
In the final game of the season, Air Bud valiantly overcomes his tendinitis just long enough to save Rush's Geddy Lee from a diabolical assassination attempt, while the Raptors win dramatically in overtime by one point and make it into the playoffs again. All thanks to the one critical basket Bick Runson scored early in the second quarter.
Although Disney did not provide any specific reasons for ending the series at this stage, rumours raked up by our crack investigative staff suggest that Air Bud had become utterly irrational during a recent series of contract negotiations, acting like a little prima-donna poodle in a tutu. And with Brunson having clearly upstaged the pompous little whelp, plans apparently exist for Disney to start a new series of films starring Rick on his own.
There is currently no word as to when production will start on 'Air Brunson'. To tide you over, Rick Brunson .com recommends catching up on the following Air Bud releases you might have missed:
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Air Bud 6:
Breeder's Pup
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Air Bud jockeys a long-shot filly to victory, and in the process is able to reunite the estranged but loveable members of an obscenely wealthy family who were planning to have the horse put down. |
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Air Bud 7:
Back Nine Canine
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Air Bud joins the pro golf tour in a desperate attempt to earn enough prize money to save his puppy-hood kennel, earmarked for demolition by the man who now becomes his fiercest rival on the links. |
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Air Bud 8:
Dog Days of Thunder
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Having abandoned the high-stakes world of CART racing after the death of a close friend, Air Bud reluctantly returns to mentor another hot shot driver who seems hell-bent on a collision course towards self-destruction. |
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Air Bud 9:
Home, Home On the Mange
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His unparalleled herding instincts soon place Air Bud amongst the elite cowdogs of the rodeo circuit, while he campaigns against animal cruelty and saves a young boy caught in the midst of a terrifying stampede. |
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Air Bud 10:
Puckin', Doggy-Style
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Air Bud joins an unskilled, struggling, punch-drunk hockey team and teaches them how to properly channel their blood-thirsty violence towards their ultimate goal: hoisting the Stanley Pup. |
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Air Bud 11:
Air Bud Fetches a Goddamn Stick
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An aging, more philosophical Air Bud lives out his canine dreams in a quaint doggy house down by the lake, barking at ducks and chasing sticks. And in the fading light of autumn's last whisper, he finds a dog's life's true meaning. |
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