'cause this is about to be a good one.
Down here in New Orleans, you know we know how to party.
And around here, we like to say,
"Laissez les bons temps rouler."
The wait is over.
A sold-out Superdome is the stage.
After a year of partially filled or empty stadiums,
this should be absolutely electric.
College football's Snickers National Title game
has finally arrived,
and it is the matchup of our dreams.
We have the 13-1 Cougars
going against the undefeated Wolves,
and this is where legends are made.
[Nick Wright] Wolves quarterback, the Heisman Trophy winner LeMarcus James.
Possibly the best quarterback
to come into the NFL since Patrick Mahomes.
[reporter] And you know who agrees with me on that? Miami.
'Cause they're poised to take him number one overall,
and I'm hearing for about $35 million guaranteed.
Meanwhile, for the Cougars,
you have running back Cecil Burgess,
AKA the Haitian Hammer.
He's gonna run for, eh, I don't know,
200 to 400 yards every game.
That's how he set the Big 12
all-time single-season rushing record.
But the people who really build
the college football dynasties are the coaches.
We are not talking enough about Wolves coach James Lazor.
Everybody knows the guy is an elite program builder,
one of the best coaches we've seen,
but he has never won the big game.
Monday night is about etching his name in the history books.
[Wright] You have legacies on the line.
You have controversies surrounding the sport as a whole.
Monday cannot get here soon enough
for the college football national title game.
[person coughs]
[tapping]
[person sniffs]
[tapping continues intermittently]
[exhales forcefully]
[person] You hear that?
The poppin'? [bones popping]
Was an elbow-to-helmet with Michigan State's Will backer.
I-right, simple, 68 blast.
[football taps] Wham.
Darn thing ain't been right since.
[LeMarcus] Lead.
Hmm?
It was 1-41 lead.
Hmm, pretty sure...
If you were on the second level, then you were lead blocking.
Michigan State ran a Chicago 53 with a robber in the box.
I mean, no way you got to the Will back on the blast.
Hmm?
Could've been lead.
[LeMarcus sighs]
"The path of the righteous man
is beset on all sides
by the inequities of the selfish
and the tyranny of evil men."
"Blessed is he who, in the name of good will,
shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness."
Hmm?
"For he is his brother's keeper
and the finder of lost children."
"And I will strike them down with vengeance and furious anger
those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers."
[both] "And you will know my name is the Lord,
for I lay my finger upon thee."
[both imitate gunshots, grunt]
[gasps dramatically]
[both laughing]
You stupid, man.
That was an Oscar-winning performance.
Shit.
Ah, shit, ol' Quentin sure can write 'em.
Yeah, he can. [chuckles]
Damn.
Hey, you turn your location services off?
Yeah. On the iPad too.
We can still call this whole thing off.
Chalk it up as a research project.
Get some grad credits out of it.
Hell, I think we'd be halfway to our master's.
[scoffs]
Bow your head, man.
[grunts softly]
[LeMarcus sighs]
God, give us the wisdom to see the path we must take,
and give us the courage to brave it.
Make of us a light.
Amen. Amen.
You're getting better with that.
[sighs]
We're live.
We'd best get a move-on then.
Coach's gonna become a heat-seeking missile looking for you.
Yeah.
I just hope he understands this ain't about him.
[commentator on TV] Burgess, able to break away,
into the secondary.
Breaks another tackle... Stop right there, Lukie.
[keyboard clacks] Right there.
This is what I'm talking about. Simple stretch sweep to 34.
Lukie, zoom on 34.
There. Right ankle dominant cut around the left corner.
The best running back in the country
is turning the corner on an inside ankle lead.
Why? 34's left ankle ain't right.
It hasn't been since week ten.
Okay, real quick. Cecil scores on this play, right?
Yeah. Eighty-yard sprint, where he outruns a free safety.
Yeah, against Vanderbilt, I could outrun a free safety.
So here's what we do. If we move Cornelius to the middle,
we pinch in the OLBs,
we got our safeties thinking run support first.
Cornelius will eat his lunch,
and we will shut 34 down for the night.
I got you.
Boys. Booster club dinner. Five minutes.
Yeah, yeah, they can wait. No, they cannot wait.
They're the team owners. You're the guest of honor.
Luke can babysit the film, right, baby?
Tell you what. You can come back here tonight.
You guys can touch and watch film all night long. How's that?
Seventy-two hours till the national goddamn title game,
and I got to parade around in this dog-and-pony show.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, my Lord.
All right, look, I gotta go get dressed, man,
get ready for this dog-and-pony show, as you call it.
Seriously, you're not going to back me up here at all?
No, I'm not. I just do your defense.
That's your own offense. That's your life offense.
[laughs] Defense right here.
I made these short and sweet, like you like it.
I suggest you do the same with your jokes.
My jokes are hilarious, and people love them. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Stop. Personal phone.
Give me the personal phone. Luke gets the business phone.
Give him the business phone.
Anything comes in, you know where to find me.
You need to relax. Let's enjoy the mountaintop.
I'll enjoy the mountaintop when we are at the mountaintop. We're not there yet.
Let's go. Can we go?
Yes. Okay.
Lukie, set all staff for00 a.m.
Bed check on time. On time.
Will do.
[person] Bed check. Let's go!
[indistinct chattering]
Hey, guys, get in y'all room, man. [knock on door]
-What up, Scotty? -Yo, what up, Orlando?
Is Walton in there too? Yeah, he in the bathroom.
Let's get some rest.
Talk to you later, man. For sure.
[laughing, chattering] [bottles clink]
Hey, Coach, check them back there for me. Sure.
[knocks]
Yo, LJ, Em. It's Scotty. Open up.
Come on, guys, stop playing. Open up.
[foil crinkling]
[cell phone ringing]
That's bed check.
Yo, Scotty.
I'm already asleep, man.
Yeah. Sunday's snoring like an ox.
Can you hear him? [imitates snoring]
He broke his nose so many times,
once he gets on his back, I'm screwed.
Yeah.00 a.m. sprints in the bubble.
Got it.
He buy it? Hell, yeah.
Thank God Snickers sponsored this game and not some insurance company.
You hungry?
No.
[sighs]
[laughter] [Coach Lazor] I'm telling you,
I know they don't have boosters this good looking in the Big 12.
[all laughing] I know the Cougars don't look this good.
We have built this program into a juggernaut.
Two consecutive conference championships,
two consecutive play-off berths,
and now... [audience applauding]
...for the first time in program history,
we are headed to our first national title game.
[cheering]
All of you in this room,
you have supported, pushed and prodded,
and sometimes much, much worse.
[laughing] But I appreciate it.
That's how you grow.
And I appreciate the opportunity to have presided over this,
to help young men become champions
on and off the football field.
Go, Pack!
[cheering]
[music playing on speakers] [indistinct chattering]
You're seriously pressing your bet again?
Half a million dollars?
Come on, Roger, you know me. It's for the title.
Go big or go home, and I ain't fucking leaving.
Well, the apple sure didn't fall far from the tree with you.
God bless your daddy's soul.
Old Fred used to like to bet the house in Vegas. [chuckles]
He just liked the free drinks. Well, hear, hear.
Question is, how in the glorious hell
are we gonna stop Cecil Burgess?
Fastest I seen since Herschel.
It's me,
I'm flooding the gaps,
bringing Mack from the strong side
and feeding Cornelius raw meat till kickoff.
Or we break in his room and Tonya Harding that son of a bitch.
Now, aren't you sweet? [chuckles]
Well, as long as we got LeMarcus back there
firing bullets, we'll be fine-- better than fine.
Coach, we was just talking about LeMarcus.
LeMarcus who?
[laughter] But I'll tell you what,
he was pretty raw when we found him,
and obviously, he's developed into something really, really special.
You think you can convince him he ain't ready to jump for another year?
I'm just gonna support whatever is best for LeMarcus.
[Rodger] Amen. [Taylor] Coach, I got a kid in Little Rock.
Hell of an arm. Got to show you some videos of him.
[Coach Lazor] Love to see it. You remember the bad old days
when we were scraping the bottom of the barrel,
begging JUCO transfers with cases of Budweiser
and jobs with the dealership?
[Coach Lazor] Yeah, all too well.
[Taylor] And all that changed once you got LeMarcus. [Rodger] Bullshit.
All that changed when we got Coach here.
Hey, Coach. Kevin McDonald. Hi, Kevin.
Director of Communication for the CFP.
Good to meet you, and thanks for everything.
Sure. Uh, we may have a situation.
LeMarcus just tweeted this earlier tonight.
It says he's boycotting the game.
Reporters are already swarming.
We're trying to keep them off the players' floor.
Can probably do that till morning,
but this can get out of hand fast.
It won't. Give me 20 minutes.
Guys, I'll see you right back. [chuckles]
Hey.
Hi.
A poet at a football game.
Philosopher at a football game.
[both chuckle] Anyway...
You look fantastic.
[chuckles]
Scotty, we sure this is the room? Yeah, Coach.
Okay, and they were here at bed check?
Yeah, they're marked off. What the fuck does that mean, "They're marked off"?
Did somebody see 'em? No. But I spoke to LJ on the phone.
What the fuck? You ain't seen nobody...
You don't do bed check on the goddamn telephone.
You check the goddamn bed. For Christ's sake.
Goddamn it! Bailey's got my phone.
Your work one. Yes. Thank you.
Jesus Christ, man. We're in New Orleans.
Walking distance to the Quarter with LeMarcus James.
You might want to actually check that he's in bed at bed check.
When's the last time did y'all see him? Come on, now.
Huh? When he got off the bus.
Hey, LeMarcus, it's Coach. Just hit me back here on the work cell, okay?
If you're out and about, no problem.
Just, uh, checking in, okay?
We'll see you for a.m. sprints, man.
Goddamn it. There's the guy with the key, Coach.
I'm sorry.
All right.
[sighs]
LeMarcus. Emmett.
Goddamn it.
What the...
Well, I guess we just knock on every goddamn door at the hotel.
We got to find him. Let's go. Go, go, go.
Wake everybody up if you have to.
Shit.
[indistinct conversations]
[Coach Dunn] Come on, Cornelius, open up the door. Hey.
Fuck. Hold on. [bottle clinks]
What do you want, Coach?
What the fuck is that smell?
That's Payton's ass after Popeyes.
There something you need? Look, have you seen LeMarcus?
Why the fuck would I know where he's at?
What's going on? It's nothing for you to worry about.
Just be ready for sprints in the morning.
Nasty-ass kids.
[LeMarcus] Yo, Orlando.
How drunk are you, man?
I haven't drank in four months.
Where's your phone?
In the room, like you asked.
But what the fuck is this, LJ?
It's exactly what I said.
I ain't playing until they pay us.
What? You broke again?
You hurt? I'm done.
They're here making billions while the rest of us make scraps.
Me and you, we could sell our names. What about everybody else, huh?
Whoa. Wait, wait, wait.
Hold up, hold up.
So you gonna sit the national title game
so some punt-coverage Wayne Burnett gets...
A real piece, yeah. [chuckles]
Shit.
LJ, you need to think about this, bruh.
You and crazy- Bible-Belt-Sunday
gonna get laughed out the building.
And if you're lucky, what? You gonna post on Twitter,
and the whole fucking machine gonna go, "Okay, okay. We give up.
LeMarcus doesn't want to play. Let's just make him happy."
I ain't who you think I am. [scoffs]
So you weren't the one who gave us all 'Rona
after fucking half the campus during quarantine?
You ain't tested with your own piss in three years.
All your cash going up in smoke or to that shit in your ears.
So you standing on stage for one protest
for Instagram and pussy
don't make you Malcolm X, brother.
Ain't nobody marching in the streets
for the number one pick.
[sighs]
Look, man, you're a great quarterback--
and I'm gonna keep it 100 with you:
one of the best I've ever seen.
But this shit?
Uh-uh.
You gonna embarrass yourself, bruh.
Look, man, you ain't gotta come with me.
All I'm asking is that you don't come out against me.
[sighs]
All right.
I'll watch this show as long as you want,
but I ain't gettin' a hundred yards from it.
Good luck.
[country music playing on speaker]
[heavy breathing]
Mmm, I cannot believe that you are here,
you little sneak.
[chuckles]
You know you love surprises.
I do. I do.
I just...
I just wish you had a seat next to me at the game.
That's not exactly the reason I came.
[laughs] Fine by me.
[sighs]
I'm gonna take the job.
Get a break from the university.
Rome?
Hard to turn down a year teaching abroad.
Yeah.
Yeah, I get that. I totally get that.
I just had one little, tiny little question, Mr. Poet.
Or is it "philosopher"?
What about us?
We're a hotel-room romance.
Well, now you're just being a dick.
You know what I'm saying. Fuck you.
Come visit.
"Come visit." Grazie.
[chuckles]
I don't know.
Maybe I want more.
[coughs]
[sniffles]
You all right?
Fucking nerves, man.
Just breathe through it.
You got this. You're fresh as ever.
Habibi, this is a long way to Frenchmen Street.
Yeah, we like taking in the sights, Ned.
[Ned] Okay. Your money.
[coughing]
We're sure walking the talk now.
What, you want out?
Shit, I'm going back to the farm.
You're the one who's got everything to lose.
[sighs]
Glad we huddled up on that.
Keep her running, Ned. We may have to dine and dash.
[grunts]
LeMarcus, Cathy Levy. Nice to meet you.
Yeah, nice to meet you. This is Em. Are you okay?
Peachy, yeah. Just, uh, ankle gets a little stiff if I sit too long.
Thanks for agreeing to do this.
Are you kidding? Thanks for calling.
[indistinct chattering]
Whenever you're ready, go ahead and take a seat for me.
Holy shit.
Damn, you look good ten stories high.
Just had to put that in the background, huh?
Here goes nothing.
Go get 'em.
Wait, wait.
[sighs] [Cathy] You ready?
We're recording.
[coughs, clears throat]
[sniffles]
"I'm personally asking all players
in Monday's national title game
to join me in this protest
and resulting boycott,
in order to demand that the NCAA and its affiliates
end their practice of unpaid labor for the majority of their workforce,
a practice which results in $18.9 billion a year in total revenue
for a system which, in turn,
only spends $3.6 billion on athletic scholarships."
Where does the other 15-plus billion dollars go, you ask?
Well, I'll tell you:
to an extremely lucrative oligarchy.
"The president of the NCAA
received a salary of $3.9 million last year.
The commissioners of the top five power conferences
receive an average salary of $4 million each year.
The latest ESPN contract for TV rights
to the college football play-offs
is $7.3 billion over the next 12 years."
That's over $600 million a year for three games.
That's the reason they're expanding the play-offs to 12 games.
[sighs]
My coach, James Lazor,
receives an annual salary of $5 million,
plus up to a million dollars in on-the-field bonuses,
including the national title game.
You see, all of this money
is predicated on one underlying principle:
free labor.
It is un-American, it is exploitative,
and it speaks to the darkest spots in the national soul.
Now, it is not enough for some of us to be able to use our name and likeness,
which, make no mistake, costs them nothing.
So our demands are as follows:
"One,
the creation of non-revocable, player-controlled trusts
for every Division I varsity athlete.
Number two, the NCAA will form
and contribute to a player's disability pension
for Division I athletes
who are injured from college athletics."
Shit. "And number three,
the NCAA will officially recognize
and collectively bargain with the players' union,
submitting to all federally mandated laws and guidelines
of a unionized workforce."
In this, the NCAA will recognize players
as employees and not student athletes.
Thank you.
[sighs]
[clears throat, sniffles]
He said he'd be right over, so...
[smacks lips]
Got a lot on his plate.
[door opens]
Hey, there he is.
All right. Good morning, Coach.
Thanks for coming over so quick. This is Wes Martin from the Big 12.
He's gonna be our enemy for the next 48 hours. [chuckles]
-Kevin McDonald from the CFP. -We met yesterday.
And Mike Titus, Senior VP, Championships, D-I football.
James, we've actually met.
Yeah, at the Outback Bowl two seasons ago.
That's right. You have come a long way. Looks like you have too.
[chuckles] Yes, indeed. Please have a seat.
Real, uh...
Real mess we got here. [Coach Lazor] Well, not really.
I just need to get with LeMarcus and talk things through.
These kids don't fully understand what they're doing.
A coach and his quarterback. No closer bond.
You were a quarterback yourself back in the day, am I right?
Coaches are just players who can't play anymore.
You still don't know where he is?
What? [Kevin] Where LeMarcus is.
We're broadcasting this game in 160 countries.
They're all tuning in to watch him go against Cecil Burgess.
I love these marketing guys. You know that LeMarcus and Cecil
both play offense, so they won't be facing off.
I know how the game works, Coach. Look, LeMarcus is around.
He's probably in the hotel somewhere.
I just haven't had a chance to get with him yet.
Coach, I think it's best if the NCAA took the reins here.
We're more of an impartial jury. We just want a great game.
Well, I think that's what all of us want, right? Yes, it is.
That's why we were hoping you could shed some light on this young man.
LeMarcus. What's his character?
He's a good kid.
He's just, uh-- Like a lot of kids his age,
maybe he's a little too fond of the spotlight and its perks.
Hell, if I was the best QB in the country, I think I'd be bouncin' 'em
out of my apartment three at a time, huh?
[Coach Lazor] LeMarcus is not a troublemaker, okay?
I want to be very clear on this. LeMarcus is a good person.
He's just a kid with too much power
who, I don't know, had a bad tweet.
-And interview. -[person clears throat] Okay.
Well, you know, Coach is gonna right this ship.
He just needs a little more time, right? [Coach Lazor] Yep.
-[Kevin] You think somebody got to him? -"Somebody"?
Like an organized labor rep, an ACLU lawyer?
Maybe the Russians.
That's a fucking joke, guys. Huh. Come on, guys.
Look, LeMarcus, from sixth, seventh grade on,
they're big men on campus.
He and Emmett, they still think this is playtime here.
They don't understand the world stage.
They don't understand the implications here.
They just asked to collectively bargain.
They want to destroy the student-athlete designation.
Not the demands of some kids spitting in the wind.
You telling me I don't know my own players?
I'm saying you might be in denial
about what is actually happening right now.
Come on, Wes. That's over the line.
[Wes] Is it? Yes, it is.
Coach, what they're asking for is bigger than football or one game.
Understood. It's our entire amateur athletics program
in the country.
That's 24 sports for young men and women, gone.
Hundreds of thousands of students,
student athletes,
being denied a college experience.
[Kevin] We're 40-somethin' hours to kickoff here, guys.
We need to make sure everybody's suiting up.
There hasn't been a single defection from our side.
It's theirs that's falling apart. [cell phone chimes]
Hey. Nothing's falling apart.
Okay? Everybody relax a little bit.
-[Wes] Three wide receivers just tweeted, "We're in." -[men sighing]
With a hashtag that's going viral: "Fix the system."
Your other two stars, Bishop and Cornelius, could be next.
Orlando Bishop is my one and only captain.
He is team first. He's not going anywhere.
And Cornelius, frankly, can't stand LeMarcus.
He wouldn't follow him into the Garden of Eden. He'll play.
One linebacker ain't plugging this hole. You're taking on water fast.
Hey! He got blindsided just like the rest of us, all right?
There's no reason to keep attacking him.
Here's an idea.
Lean on the sophomores and freshmen who have something to lose.
They won't want to risk the eligibility over this.
You'd love that, wouldn't you, Wes?
We all know I can't field a competitive team
with a bunch of 18-year-olds that haven't played
a meaningful snap since high school.
Fuck that. I'd rather not field a team at all.
I'm afraid that's not an option.
We wouldn't need any options if I could get with my quarterback
instead of sitting around this circle jerk.
[clears throat] Thanks for coming, Coach.
You bet.
-Thanks for coming down. -Don't lecture my guy.
Thought you had your conference under control, Everly. We got nothin'.
-[Everly] We got time. -[Wes] Time is the one thing we don't have.
[Everly] We got a little bit. We'll be fine.
All right. The Death Star awaits.
The Cougars are staying on the 17th floor.
There's a stairway around the back.
Let's go get this done and get out of here.
Keep it running, Ned. We'll be back in 20.
[hip-hop music playing] [person] Eat, nigga, eat!
[knock on door] I'm nice. I'm nice.
Watch this bucket right here. Bucket! [pounding on door]
Hold on.
Hey, don't fuckin' cheat.
Hello, Roc. Emmett Sunday, esquire.
You may know me from such hits
as Last Stand at the Texas Stadium,
Destruction at the Peach Bowl... That's not funny.
I'm number 82. Yeah, the tight end. What the fuck do you want?
The one and only. Mind if I come in for a sec? Thanks.
Hold on. You just gonna walk in my room like that?
Cecil, what's going on, man? Emmett Sunday. How you doing?
Just gonna turn on-- Why you turning on my light like that?
-I'm just gonna turn off this TV. -Yo, white boy. [sighs]
Chill out and let me know why the fuck you in my room before I fight you.
Cecil, you mind if I show you something for a second?
-It may help make my case. -All right, man, go ahead.
He's been replying real quick. Hold on.
Yeah, there you go. Hold on.
Nah, nah, nah. This way first.
Get the fuck out of here. I ain't fucking with you.
Yo, this is LeBron, nigga. Look. That's LeBron.
LeBron DM'd these fucks. That's the king.
Oh, shit! He just said "What's up?" to you.
Yeah, 'cause he knows you're here.
How the fuck you get LeBron to DM you?
We're buddies, man. And I was thinking,
Clutch just started a new football division to rep,
and I was thinking, hell, maybe I just put in a good word for you two.
Fly over to LA, the land of big lips, fake tits, and sunshine.
I love fake titties. I know. Me too.
And you sit down with LeBron and Maverick and have a conversation.
Grab lunch with LeBron in LA? You know I love tacos, nigga. Hold on. How we do that?
It's a little weird. I need your phones.
-My phone? -I just need your phone.
Fuck it. Hey, it's LeBron. Here.
Come on, give him your phone. Come on, Cecil.
I ain't gonna do anything weird with it. Come on.
You can keep my phone as collateral.
Collateral and shit. I'ma pocket this bitch.
Don't move.
Yeah. Yeah.
Bruh, LeBron. LeBron, though. [Emmett whistles]
What's happening, fellas?
Surprise, surprise. Shit.
-Not LeBron. -So, what's up? I know y'all seen it.
Yeah, we seen it. [LeMarcus] What y'all think?
Hoping y'all gonna join us.
And skip out on the title game?
Man, you out your fucking mind.
[Roc] For real. [LeMarcus] Yeah, probably.
It's gonna take a little crazy to get it done though, ain't it?
Yeah, but he's Kiper's number one back.
Going eighth to Baltimore at the latest.
He ain't risking that fucking with y'all.
Hmm. Buffalo should take him at three.
-They're going tackle. -Maybe Miami gets smart and takes you at one.
-Then where you gonna go? -Me? Shit. CFL after this, probably.
-[snorts] -[LeMarcus chuckles]
Yeah, Saskatchewan or some shit like that.
[Roc] Saskatchewan? Listen.
They're still gonna find a way to play this game without me and Emmett.
We gonna need you.
The Haitian Hammer, running wild on all those TV promos.
Come watch him put up 500 yards in a single game. Hell, I'd go to see it.
Yeah, maybe then he goes number one.
But if he sits, they gonna Kaepernick him like you.
Hmm. Come on, bruh. You might fall out the first round.
Do y'all even know what the rookie minimum is down there?
Probably not, but they taking backs in the third or fourth round nowadays.
Four years and done, we're back in the hood.
That is why we gotta stick together on this, fellas.
Think about it.
If we all sit, what are they gonna do?
Hmm? It's called collective action.
Fuck you learn a big word like that?
Intro to Organized Labor.
[scoffs] A class? He talking 'bout a class.
[chuckles] Only class you probably took was Intro to Organized Dick-sucking.
-Flap your gums 'cause you're scared. -Scared of what? You?
Scared you're gonna be teaching high-school PE next year.
I know this is my last game, same as you.
Fuck you. I'm playing in the League.
[LeMarcus] Hey, look, we ain't come here for all that, all right?
Look, me and E are serious about this.
We just came here to let y'all know.
Sleep on it. Pray on it.
-Look, I appreciate y'all. -Yeah. All right, yeah.
All right.
No hard feelings. Yeah, no hard feelings.
Collective action.
Man, I hope we get to play those guys. Go ahead, Ned.
If we don't get Cecil on board, we're gonna need the whole squad,
or we ain't playing shit.
We get the younger guys, Orlando will come too.
Hey, get Bob Reynolds a note.
Tell him we'll give him the exclusive.
Copy that.
Wonder how many of these we've gone through already.
[siren whoops] [crowd cheering]
We don't want nobody to know.
The press or anybody. We don't even know that he sits.
Okay? Make sure you keep them out.
[crowd continues cheering]
We all present and accounted for, Scotty? Yes, sir.
LeMarcus James, for those of you who are not familiar,
won the Heisman Trophy this year.
Most famous player in college football.
Picture's 130 feet tall across the street,
and now you're telling me, what, he's the fucking Invisible Man?
[Scotty] We're working with hotel security, Coach.
They went out a fire exit without a camera. That's how we lost 'em.
Well, the media found him, didn't they?
I don't know. Maybe I should ask LeBron James for help
instead of you simple snowflakes,
who I feed, clothe and pay six figures a year.
Or get a free top-tier education.
This is a fucking manhunt.
Find me LeMarcus James and Emmett Sunday,
or I swear to God,
the next coaching job any of you get within shitting distance of
is gonna be JV at the fucking Little Sisters of the Poor.
Go! Get out there! Go fucking find him, now!
We'll find him, Coach. Goddamn it.
[softly] Goddamn.
Come on, fellas. Eat up.
[LeMarcus scoffs]
Y'all can hate me all you want.
I ain't the one y'all should be hatin'.
Ain't me cashing out on millions of dollars a year
while y'all can't pay rent, can't put gas in y'all whips.
If you even have a whip. [scoffs]
For 55 years,
guys like you ate, drank, fucked and played ball.
We're just happy with a free education, right?
Nice free suit? That shit'll keep us happy, right?
They know how to get us. But not no more, okay?
This shit is capitalism at its finest.
Greed at its worst.
Everybody around us got private jets and private chefs,
and we can't even accept a fucking free meal as a gift.
Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That pizza slice right there,
double fistin' with them shits,
that kid kicked out of college twice. Shit.
And we out there every single day. Blood, sweat and tears.
You remember your ankle, bro? Hmm?
Remember when it swole up like a watermelon?
They shot you up, and they made you play, didn't they? Huh?
Think about how that shit gonna make you feel in 30 years.
You ain't got no medical. You got insurance?
What you gonna fix your broken body with, huh? Duct tape?
Gorilla Glue the shits back together? What we gonna do?
That's how y'all got to be thinking about this.
Where do we want to be in 30 years from now?
It starts right now. It starts right here.
Who bought all this Pizza Hut?
[LeMarcus] Look, I'll be the first to say it.
Lazor's taught me a lot about more than just football.
But what I began to realize is I was being brainwashed,
just like all of y'all.
Scared of speaking up because it was easy to go along to get along.
Don't let them tell you there ain't enough to go around.
They got so much money, they don't even know where to put the shits.
Y'all okay with that?
All right. You okay with that?
[person] Guys, don't think this isn't a two-way street.
Where do you green fucks
think you're transferring to if I bury your ass on the pine?
I own your future.
Where the hell is LeMarcus?
Let's be real.
There are 12,500 draft-eligible players
for the NFL every single year,
and only 300 of us get drafted.
That means over 12,000 of us
participate in a multi-billion- dollar industry
that won't even give us health insurance.
And yet, they selling us the pearly gates?
Zed, you got a resume?
Internship? Why not?
'Cause you been playing D-I football for the last three years, right?
That's right. And they make you work it
like it's a full-time job, don't they? That's right.
What about all those bullshit classes they make you take to stay on the field, huh?
Hey, you remember the Swahili shit y'all was taking?
Swahili? How do you say, "Do you want fries with that?" in Swahili?
Guess what, fellas. When y'all get out there in the real world,
out there in the jungle,
it ain't no fun when you broke as a joke.
Tell us where he's at. I'm taking it back.
He at the W, stayin' under a fake name.
Okay.
Barack Gambino.
Barack Gambino, man? Seriously?
Bank it.
And even if it means the death of me, y'all can say,
"I got caught up with that crazy motherfucker and his dreams of glory.
And if I can do it, then we can do it,
and we could set ourselves up and future generations to come.
Tell 'em about the barn, LJ.
'Cause there is a barn in Galilee with grain filled so high
that they won't even sell it all.
And you know what God says? He says, "You poor fools.
You may think that you're rich, but you are poor in the eyes of God."
Why? Because my people are hungry, and your barn is full.
-Make it plain! -There is a barn in Galilee
filled with grain, and we out here starving.
God is with us.
He says there is nothing to lose. There is nothing to fear.
I am here, and there is nothing to fear!
[panting]
[upbeat country music playing]
Boo. [chuckles]
Boo.
[both chuckle]
[upbeat country music continues playing]
Come with me.
[chuckling]
I plan to, baby.
I mean it.
Start a new chapter.
You really want me there?
I do.
[softly] Really?
[all howl]
[cheering]
[announcer] Give it up for French Montana!
[hip-hop music playing]
You like that? You like that, baby?
That was for y'all.
[howls]
Keep 'em coming. You got it.
Hey, what's your hurry?
Rodger. Brett.
I've been head of the booster club since '98.
You ever seen a national title game
in your own luxury box, Brett?
No.
Lobster, filet mignon, blow.
Whatever your heart desires.
It sounds awesome.
You wanna come with? I can get you a ticket.
Are they even gonna play?
Oh, they'll play. Don't you worry your pretty little head about that.
Gonna find me my quarterback, and it'll be Easy Street.
Five hundred dollars.
And what does that get me, Brett?
A room number.
What time do you get off?
[chuckles] Not mine.
[knocking]
[person] LeMarcus. Emmett.
[knocking]
It's Rodger and Taylor. Open up.
[knocking continues] [sighs]
I guess we have to get another room again.
[Rodgers] Hey!
Just go get it before they wake up the whole hotel, man.
[knocking continues]
Shut up and get inside.
Easy, big fella. We come in peace.
How the hell did you find us?
-A happy accident. -What do you want?
[Rodgers] Just to talk, that's it.
One minute, and then we're gone.
Hey, you look like hell. You okay?
We're owed.
You are owed?
Yes. We're owed.
Taylor. What I think my associate is trying to communicate here
is that we're hurtin'.
We feel like we're invested here,
especially after all we've been through together.
Because you loaned me a car?
And helped refinance your mother's mortgage
when she fell behind, and also with your brother.
-Should we talk about the message-- -Don't... say another word.
And don't do this.
You don't give a shit about us.
-All you give a shit about is your damn game. -Now, now, now, Taylor.
LeMarcus, what-- what's going on here?
Me and you are buddies.
You love playing football.
Hell, I love watching you play football.
An entire college campus, 40,000 kids,
thinks that you're Jesus Christ incarnate.
What's going on? You need money?
Just tell me where to send the check.
What the fuck don't you get?
You ever read The Jungle?
What has that got to do with anything, LeMarcus?
The American Dream.
This guy Jurgis from Lithuania,
he worked at the meat-packing plant in Chicago.
Now, Jurgis was young,
he was bigger, stronger than the rest of 'em.
So they put him to work in the kill beds.
He worked so hard, he couldn't bend his fingers.
He couldn't flex his knees, broke his ankle.
After all those years, he just kept on working,
and he loved it.
See, that didn't mean shit to the guys who owned the plant though, did it?
'Cause they weren't about to take care of no broke immigrant.
LeMarcus... [sighs] You ain't that guy.
You're about to be the number one pick
in the first round of the NFL draft,
-and Miami is gonna pay you $35 million... -Yeah, I know.
That's a whole lot of meat.
What about the guys who ain't going into the League?
The guys who busted their head in the dirt for the last four years,
only to wind up mangled and broke? What about them, huh?
-So this whole thing's about you? -It's about everyone, man.
What the fuck do you think you're gonna do?
You can't square off with the entire system.
You two cannot unionize college sports, and that's a fact.
-It ain't two. -What?
It ain't just two of us no more,
and that's a fact.
[sighs]
[person] We have to dismantle the structure
and do something that's more equitable,
that's fairer for these athletes.
I've got teammates that I played
collegiate ball with at Ohio State
that suffered some career-ending injuries,
some life-altering injuries,
that struggle and still struggle today
without any support from the university.
It's very frustrating.
So I'm proud to stand behind
LeMarcus James and what he's doing.
Wilson, what do you think of the situation with LeMarcus James?
Listen, Greeny, I'm really impressed by LeMarcus James.
This guy's given up possibly $35 million,
maybe the first pick overall.
The reality is, he's got so much to lose
but really so much to gain.
And I think that you and I both know, Greeny,
that this whole system's broke, and we got to fix it.
It's got to get fixed immediately.
[Greenberg] There you have it. Directly from one of the great quarterbacks
in the history of the NFL, Russell Wilson.
He won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2020.
Russell, thank you. Always a pleasure, Greeny. I'll see you soon.
[Greenberg] In the meantime, we've got other news to talk about...
I understand.
Yeah, we all know what's at stake here.
I will get him into this game.
You have my personal guarantee.
Of course.
Well, thank you-- Yeah, he hung up on me.
[sighs, panting]
You're up early. What, do you sleep in that power suit?
I might as well at this point, right?
Pressure from the overlords?
I'd say my very early retirement is being discussed
unless I change the optics, and quick.
And if I go, so goes your retainer.
[laughs] We can't let that happen, now, can we?
We offer talks.
We hear their demands.
We promise a committee to explore. No.
They've got 40 players now.
[Mike] I heard. They think they can win this.
If we offer talks, then they will never leave the table empty-handed.
They're kids. Exactly.
They haven't lost enough to believe that that's the most likely outcome.
They don't understand that life is about losing.
I pay you for options. What are they?
Well, I can only see two.
You either give them what they want...
Second option?
We savage them.
You find everything-- every grain, every person.
You turn LeMarcus James into a monster that no one could follow.
LeMarcus decided to do this.
He waded into your waters.
We have to react.
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to react, Ms. Poe.
But you do.
[LeMarcus coughing]
It's started.
What?
They got their hounds loose.
[LeMarcus sighs]
And you know they're gonna dig up more.
[crowd cheering]
[chanting] LJ! LJ! LJ! LJ! LJ!
[whooping, cheering]
[Emmett] We're gonna have to move again.
No more running.
Let 'em come.
Luke? Yes, every player.
I don't care. Luke!
On the goddamn roof, for all I care. Thirty minutes.
Bailey, have you seen Luke?
I got nine players
and the cabal of fucking idiocy around me.
I sent him to the store for McConnell's ice cream.
Baby, you can't be doing that now.
This is fucking serious! LeMarcus...
Goddamn it! You know what hurts the most?
He never came to me with any of this,
after everything we've been through together.
Are you...
Jesus fucking Christ. Are you fucking kidding me?
Now?
I got a full-on rebellion in my locker room,
I got the head of the NCAA and both conferences up my ass
at the national fucking title game...
Now? You're gonna... Coach, we talked about this.
How can I say this again in a way that you can get it?
I need to find myself again.
I need some me time. Not you time. Me time.
Goddamn, you fuckin' selfish...
Wow! Finish it. Finish it.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. [scoffs]
I know the sacrifices you've made for me.
Of course I do. But please...
Okay, which place do you want me to stay away from?
Where are you going? The beach house?
I'm going to Rome.
Rome?
Okay, I can stay away from Rome.
You're not going to Rome alone, are you?
If I hadn't stayed here
to explain to you that I was leaving,
would you have noticed I'd gone?
I know. I get it. I get it. All I wanna know--
Look. It's this fucking job.
Oh, God.
I swear to God, I will make it up to you.
Okay? Please.
I swear to God, I'm gonna make this up to you.
It's just... James...
We just got to get past this game.
Please.
James...
Baby, I need you here with me now, please.
[mutters]
Oh, um... You want Coach. He's in the back.
Can you... please?
Yeah, sure, sure. Sure. Thank you. Excuse me. I'm sorry.
Good to meet you.
Coach?
Coach Lazor?
Morning, Coach. Uh, Katherine Poe.
We met earlier?
Is now okay, sir?
It's kind of urgent.
[sighs]
[clears throat]
Everything all right?
Well, if there's anything I can do...
Just... What do you want?
You have a rebellion on your hands, sir.
[stammering] What exactly do you do?
-You're with the NCAA? -I'm not. I'm outside counsel.
And your name again? Katherine.
Katherine, would you mind just fucking off back to your C-suite?
This is a private physical LeMarcus had.
It's from July for an insurance policy.
How did you get that?
It's a firm specializing in medical data acquisition.
And this is an MRI of LeMarcus' left knee,
which, unfortunately, has no cartilage.
He's been hiding it for five months.
His body is a ticking time bomb.
It's only a matter of time before that knee gives out on him.
He is never going to be the number one pick,
not after the combine and a physical.
He'll be lucky if he got to go day two,
and he's known that for some time.
I have seen nothing to indicate he's got a bad knee.
He's 21. He could eat gunpowder and then go run a marathon.
Now, look.
It's best if this comes from you.
How disappointed you were to learn that he's been hiding this.
Maybe, in retrospect, you did notice the limp during practice.
What exactly are you saying?
Five months ago, LeMarcus figured out he is not going to be the number one pick,
and he is trying to cash in now before the teller...
That is bullshit. Yes, sir. Before the teller window closes.
LeMarcus would never-- This is a shakedown, sir!
Pure and simple.
He is trying to recoup his losses,
and he is going to take everything
that you and your players have worked for.
Let me ask you, sir, how does a D-III quarterback
with a noodle for an arm who runs a five-flat 40 time,
how does a guy like that become the head coach
of not one but two D-I powerhouses?
Because that guy is a winner.
And this is your time
to finally capture that national title.
Do not let LeMarcus rob you of your legacy.
Now, we will leak this to the smaller sites.
You will do a presser for the networks,
and the aggregators will take it from there.
I, um...
I have some remarks.
If you want to take a look at... No, thank you.
I don't need your fucking remarks.
This is my football team.
They will play for me. Coach...
wake up,
before you don't even have a team.
[inhales deeply]
[exhales sharply]
I know right now...
you think life is always gonna be like this.
You're at the center of everything.
Alive.
And greatness
is right there,
within reach.
But that's not true.
This may very well be your only fleeting moment
at the top of the mountain.
Look at me. I'm 60 years old.
I look like I'm 80.
I feel like I'm a hundred.
I got a wife that hates me.
Well, she just left, actually.
I got a cock that doesn't work without a fucking pill.
My best buddy,
since we were little knuckleheads playing Pee Wee football...
My best friend, Clint, just died of blood cancer.
Just like that.
Forty years ago, I was you.
I was you, men.
Magnificent.
Quarterback of my little college in North Dakota.
I had dreams, and I had the energy to chase 'em.
-And now... -[snaps fingers]
...I got one thing left,
one thing in my life
that means a damn to me:
You men.
This room.
This is all I got...
and that's okay.
Believe me, this is all I need.
Now, some of you are looking at me like, "Well...
bullshit, Coach.
Come on, now.
You got money.
You're fucking rich."
Yeah, I got money I... I couldn't even conceive of
when I was you men.
Believe me when I tell you this--
Money...
is shit.
Money is a numbers game
played by people in $5,000 suits
in New York City offices for their own benefit.
There is no glory
in money,
no life-altering challenge in money.
There is no confrontation with your deepest fears
and therefore your greatness, in fucking money.
Oh, my God.
What I wouldn't give to be you men
right now.
One day away from glorious battle
alongside your band of brothers
in front of a hundred million people all over the world.
Glory.
The greatest glory you are ever gonna feel.
Do you want to give that up?
For those of you who were thinking about boycotting,
you've made your point.
They are gonna have to change.
'Cause they heard you.
They are scared shitless.
It's beautiful. It's fucking hilarious.
Change is coming. Meaningful change.
Trust me on that.
Every one of you has worked
your whole fucking life for this moment.
Don't rob yourselves of your destiny.
Glory is at hand.
Glory
is yours.
Glory is ours!
Glory!
Take it.
I heard it was a great speech.
Now, let's prove to them that LeMarcus is only doing this for his own benefit,
so you have enough players
not only to play this thing, but to win.
Do you need a minute, Coach?
You need to collect yourself? Okay.
Let's get it over with.
Right.
[indistinct TV chatter]
One miner's breakfast.
Breakfast of champions.
[coughs]
[newscaster] Now, I understand we have some late-breaking news.
Yes, we're going to a live press conference
with Wolves head coach James Lazor.
[reporter 1] Coach Lazor, when did you first notice,
LeMarcus James' knee?
[sighs]
Well, I had noticed a slight limp,
uh, after week three,
but I just chalked it up to, you know, the usual bumps and bruises.
So, I was, um...
I was disappointed when I found out
that he'd been concealing something more serious.
I can't believe Coach is doing this. [reporter 2] Do you think
he concealed his injury to protect his draft status?
I don't know. He's gonna have to pass a very thorough physical
before the draft, so...
They found that MRI quick. Their man's good.
[reporter 3] Do you feel he was manipulating his teammates
to cash in on the national title game?
I guess you'd have to ask his teammates that.
Coach, do you feel that this is a further example
of a form of modern-day slave trade?
I-I'm sorry. I guess I don't understand that question.
The physical. Like inspecting a slave's teeth to determine the price.
Only now, it's his knees.
Well, if you call getting a free top-tier education
and four years of first-class accommodations and nutrition,
not to mention a sizable living stipend,
and then toss in a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity
to play in a national title game,
if we're calling that the slave trade,
then I'd love to be a slave.
[reporters murmuring]
Um...
That's... That's the last question.
Well, that already went viral.
[scoffs]
[reporters clamoring]
Call Greeny.
Tell him we're going live.
Splash it all over Twitter too.
I am joined now by LeMarcus James,
who won this year's Heisman Trophy
and has now rocked the entire world of sports and well beyond
with his boycott of the national title game,
which is scheduled for tomorrow in New Orleans.
LeMarcus, I'm gonna jump right into the question everyone is asking.
Are you boycotting this game and demanding compensation
because of an unfortunate medical condition
that could jeopardize your status in the draft?
Good morning, Greeny.
The answer is no. Unequivocally, no.
I have no cartilage in my left knee.
It'll degenerate over time. Maybe eight years, maybe 20.
But name me an NFL team that wouldn't take
eight to 20 years of elite quarterback play.
You see, the reality is, this isn't about me.
This is about our current system.
It's about my fellow D-I athletes and teammates
who have fallen victim to,
quite frankly, a plantation mentality.
[Greenberg] I wanna talk about that mentality.
That's fucking rich.
'Cause clearly, that is at the center of this entire conversation.
Your coach, just today,
said this is a system he'd love to be a part of
and even invoked the tragic word "slavery."
I have to ask you, do you feel
this is a slave trade of a different kind?
-[LeMarcus] Can I give you another comparison, Greeny? -Yeah, of course.
This is the home of my best friend and teammate, Emmett Sunday.
Emmett's father is a farmer outside Lincoln, Nebraska,
and his mother is a teacher's assistant.
They've saved up a little bit for retirement,
but mostly, they just live month to month.
One swollen appendix, one turned ankle from insolvency.
Now, their son, Emmett Sunday, has been a four-year starter
for one of the best college programs in the country.
Tomorrow, he'll play in a game
that'll gross over a half a billion dollars.
Half a billion dollars for a single game.
And Emmett won't see a dime.
His football days will be over.
Zero compensation, zero medical insurance
for the injuries he's sustained, some of them permanent.
And now, this...
is the Palm Beach vacation home
for my coach, James Lazor.
This is his Chicago penthouse.
This is his six-bedroom Craftsman,
where he stays during the season.
His work home.
Now, Coach has profited off a system
that is entirely based on free labor.
We're not playing in any games until those who actually play--
And not just the superstars. All athletes, down to the special teams...
-Jesus. -...are considered and compensated.
[Orlando sighs] Now.
This crazy motherfucker. [chuckles]
There you have it, directly from LeMarcus James.
LeMarcus, thank you very much. All right, LeMarcus.
[Greenberg] I appreciate the time. We'll take a short break,
and be back with more in just a moment.
What the calamitous fuck?
We've been goddamn outflanked by two kids,
like we're in Scooby fucking Doo.
Oh, you know what the dipshit sidekick did
when LeMarcus was grandstanding on TV?
[Katherine] Sunday. Huh?
His name is Emmett Sunday.
Oh, thank God we got that all cleared up.
Emmett fucking-us-sideways Sunday leaks my Nike contract.
Now every New York City zig-zag's
asking me where $30 million a year goes.
[Katherine] Where does it go?
How the hell do I know?
You're the head of the conference.
Excuse me?
You're the head of your conference.
You should be able to answer a layup like where your sneaker money goes.
Okay.
Band fields.
Softball stadiums. [cell phone chimes]
Turquoise-green Bermuda fucking sod. Where else?
Orlando Bishop just tweeted this.
He's out. [Everly] That's cute.
We got four players threatening to walk now too.
How are these two even doing this?
I still think Coach Lazor's the one
to talk LeMarcus off this ledge.
He walks him back, they'll all follow.
Where's your coach now?
He's, uh, taking a minute.
[Katherine] He's tanking.
He's fine. [Mike] What does he need?
A divorce lawyer. [Everly chuckles]
[Everly] He's fine, I said. Lazor or no Lazor,
we're putting two teams on the field tomorrow,
even if we gotta dress the damn cheerleaders.
Who's second in line if Lazor can't go?
I guess, uh, Ronnie Dunn, defensive coordinator.
You trust him? Yeah. Company man.
Been at the university since a player himself,
so, yeah, he'll take marching orders.
-You sure? -This a fucking inquisition?
I don't trust anyone with a vested pension and Medicare.
Oh, God. You know what?
Fuck you very much.
All right? I need this shit like I need a third tit.
I will march my entire conference
right out that door,
put together my own play-offs without any of you.
How do you like me?
You'd be in breach of 16 different contracts,
squander a $100-million payday for tomorrow alone.
Not to mention what I imagine would be a full audit
of SEC expenses under your tenure.
You know, to make sure that those band fields, softball stadiums
and turquoise-green Bermuda sod weren't really just
high-paid escorts in New York City
at the Bemelman Bar of the Carlyle.
Bouncing 'em out of your apartment three at a time, right?
Fuck you.
[scoffs]
Hoo!
[person] We're still 24 hours away
from the Snickers National Title game.
-Only the biggest game... -[person 2] Man, these guys
are already getting free education.
Money is just gonna ruin it.
They aren't ready for all that money. I wasn't when I was 18.
[person 3] I don't know if this man is a racist,
but what I do know is that he made a fortune
mostly off the backs of young Black men.
[Bailey] Question.
If I hadn't stayed here to explain to you
that I was leaving, would you have noticed I'd gone?
[panting]
[indistinct chattering]
[person] Coach! Coach Lazor!
-[person 2] Oh, my God. Look, it's Coach Lazor. -[people clamoring]
[person 3] Hey, Coach, can we get a picture? Sorry, buddy.
It's just really not a good time, okay? Sorry, sorry...
-[clamoring continues] -Okay, not now!
Hey, give him some space. Give him some space.
No pictures! No pictures!
Have a good game, Coach!
[Everly] Now, I know for a fact that LeMarcus and the guys,
they respect the hell out of you,
and you would be the first African-American head coach
to lead a team onto the field for a national title game.
Hell,
hopefully win the thing, huh?
Let's make history together.
The NCAA may have started with this...
[Emmett groans] ...imaginary pie-in-the-sky idea
that it was about amateurism, and at one point it was.
But then there was a turn, and it became about money.
[knocking] Plain and simple. I thought this was America.
[coughing] Yeah?
It's Coach Dunn.
[Emmett] You all by your lonesome?
[groans] [Coach Dunn] It's just me.
[door unlocks]
Coach?
You two are really hard to find.
It's easier to find Bigfoot than to find you two.
Look, relax. I won't tell Lazor.
[chuckles softly] You know something?
I gotta give credit to you two, actually.
I'm really surprised you was able to pull this off.
But you got trouble.
Yep, they still gonna play the game.
With 19 freshmen?
Cornelius?
They don't care who plays as long as it's on TV.
[Emmett scoffs]
The shit bowl.
[Coach Dunn] They shitting their pants right now.
They got so desperate, they approached me
and said If Lazor doesn't show up,
I can bring the team out to the field.
So, Coach is sitting?
[sighs] I don't know, man. It's really hard to tell right now,
but it looks like it.
Damn.
So, what you gonna do?
The first Black head coach in a national title game?
It's a big deal.
I ain't no fucking pawn. Hell, no, I'm not doing it.
I'm one of best defensive coaches in this country.
I don't need no fucking handouts.
Amen, Coach.
We feel the same way.
Even if this whole thing goes up in a ball of flames,
we're not stepping on that field.
Look, y'all. Have I ever told you the Hannibal Lawson story?
Who? Hannibal Lawson.
So, Han Lawson, to me, was one of the best defensive tackles
in Louisiana high school history.
He went on to LSU.
You know, a bright future.
He got his knee shredded in practice.
And the result of that, they took his scholarship away.
But Hannibal did something interesting.
He hired a lawyer in a cheap suit with some night-school degree,
and he sued the NCAA for workmen's comp.
-Smart, right? -Yeah.
Went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
[Emmett] What happened?
Student-athlete.
[Coach Dunn] Yeah, they said he was nothing but a student-athlete.
They didn't consider him an employee, even though they were selling
hundreds and thousands of tickets
every fucking Saturday, making millions of dollars!
You're breaking your body every fucking practice and every game.
And whenever they decide to take the scholarship away from you, they can,
whenever the fuck they feel like it.
That's a crazy, sick system.
And maybe you two will change it. I don't know.
But I want y'all to understand something. There's a lot of Han Lawsons out here.
Survival of the fittest.
America.
This little pigskin football right here
holds a lot of weight to it.
It's more than a game.
It's a fucking business.
Hey, Coach.
Thank you.
Good luck, fellas.
[coughs]
[sighs] [door closes]
We're gonna need Cecil on board.
We both don't play, the advertisers will start pulling out.
It's the only way.
[blues rock music playing]
[Rodgers] Take a little more of the edge off.
Gotta let it out.
If you don't, it just stays inside you, it becomes poison.
[Taylor sighs]
Okay, what's the plan? Damn it.
I can't even focus on that right now.
Well, you... you got to. You gotta bifurcate.
Uh, I don't know what that means, but I think I get the gist of it.
About to lose 500,000 'cause of LeMarcus.
[Rodgers] Taylor. He fucked us.
-Put the phone down. -He fucked us.
-Put the phone down. -All right.
Coach, I know you don't want to hear this right now.
I've been married three times myself.
But the hurt goes away.
Poof.
One day, just like that. Gone.
I'm telling you, Bailey's my one and only.
And she's gone. And it's my own goddamn fault.
[Taylor] Coach, no offense at all.
Your love life, that's your thing.
Your racial views, that's your thing.
But we have a national title in less than 24 hours.
Can you please just focus on that? Fucking racial views?
First of all, one goddamn reporter
baits me into saying something stupid.
I know you're not racist.
I'm just saying we got the game to focus on, okay?
That's all I'm saying. What fucking game?
I don't have a goddamn team. Less than 24 hours.
I'm supposed to walk out of that tunnel with-- with freshmen.
Nobody's askin' you... and go in there and get our ass kicked?
You gotta figure it out. That's not competition. That's a fucking slaughter.
I'm doing what I can.
You gotta do better, Coach. You're under contract.
Con... Fuck that contract.
Are you talking to me about the fucking contract right now?
I could walk across the street tomorrow
and get another contract if they find me in breach.
I don't give a shit. I don't need the goddamn money anyway.
Coach, you're hurtin' right now.
Let's just give it an hour or two.
See the state of play.
It's best not to make any decisions feeling this way.
Tell you what. It's the ones
that are closest to us that hurt us the most.
You as good as they say you are?
To which of my many talents are you referring?
There was a fight that no one knows about.
A real brawl. A kid got hurt bad.
I'll alert the authorities. Oh, they know.
He's blind in one eye now and got a hole in his skull.
But money talks, and NDAs don't.
I'm listening.
LeMarcus.
[shower running]
[practicing Italian]
Oh, crap, I think I just called you my pistachio. [laughs]
Your phone sucks. Is mine in there?
It is here.
[Bailey] Ah.
You just got a text from a guy named Mike Titus.
What? Crap.
I just must have grabbed James' personal one again by accident.
[Italian accent] Can you bring it to me, mi pistachio?
It's probably goin' ape-shit right now.
After everything we've done for LeMarcus.
Every single one of those kids are spoiled brats.
Spoiled freaking brats.
Geez. [chuckles]
Oh, I cannot wait to go to Rome.
There's this one place that I want to eat at,
and they still have the bullet holes in the walls from the war.
Do you see this? Probably not, 'cause your phone stinks.
What?
I've been helping LeMarcus.
What?
You know, with his boycott.
That's why I'm here.
I don't get it.
He came to me after class.
And... [sighs]
...what was I gonna do?
Be another tenured paper tiger?
Teaching organized labor five days a week,
then hide behind my desk when one of my own students
actually wants to do something about it?
So...
I helped him
with his strategy
any way I could.
It's funny.
LeMarcus knew the rumors about us,
like everybody else.
Except your husband, of course.
And you, calling LeMarcus a spoiled brat,
especially when he has so much to lose.
Maybe you're more part of the system than you think. Get out.
[voice breaking] Get the fuck out of here.
Leave!
[door closes]
[sobs]
[whispers] Fuck me.
[sobs]
[knocking]
[sighs]
Oh, sorry. I think we got the wrong room.
No. This room is Cecil's.
Come in. We don't have a lot of time.
My name's Katherine Poe. I come bearing gifts.
You need my phone?
You look rough.
Just a cold.
Where's Cecil?
They're in a suite ten floors up, playing 2K.
No, wait.
[chuckles] You haven't even heard my offer yet.
It's a pretty good offer. A lot of wonderful things.
A lot of meat on the bone.
Okay.
What you got?
I send the best concierge doctor in New Orleans,
Dr. Eric, to your room.
He gives you an IV, a Z-Pak, you get plenty of rest,
you and your team play the game,
and you go number one overall in April.
All your dreams come true.
And...
I will personally make sure
that the NCAA forms an exploratory committee
to fully monetize amateur athletics.
"Exploratory committee"? Yeah, that's gonna be a pass.
[Katherine] No, wait. You haven't heard the cherry on top.
Best part is, you don't go to jail.
[scoffs] For boycottin' a football game?
For the attempted murder of K.C. Walton.
[Emmett] Wow.
Wow!
For the last 48 hours, you guys have been trying to destroy this man!
And what, you land on outright assassination?
For what, money? K.C. Walton is blind in one eye.
He has a crack in his skull,
and he hasn't walked the same ever since that fight outside of the, uh,
Gin Mill Bar and Grill.
So I spoke to his mother,
and she jumped at the idea of being able to... [whispers] It's bullshit.
It's not bullshit!
She jumped at the idea of being able to throw out that NDA
and burn that 100K that was used to buy them off
if it meant that she could find the guys
who hurt her son and get paid again.
You don't know what you're doing. Hey. No.
She ain't got nothin'.
Let's get outta here.
I got Reggie.
Your half-brother.
So you spoke to him?
Haven't found him yet.
When I do, I promise you, I am going to piece together
what exactly happened that night.
LeMarcus, wake up.
How do you think it is gonna look when someone like Reggie,
who has two felony possession charges
and assault and battery, shows up
in front of an all-white jury in Missouri
with attempted-murder charges
to a guy who is permanently injured?
One look at that jack, and I'd be able to know
that he was the one that kicked K.C.'s ass.
But guess what? This is America.
[whispers] Nobody cares about your brother.
Nobody.
[normal voice] The only one they were able to spot that night in that melee
was one LeMarcus James, star quarterback.
And so the state police picked you up
and hit you with charges,
but some deep-pocketed booster,
who I think I just fucking met,
stepped in
and paid off K.C. and his family.
Because that's what we do in big football, right?
You protect the phenom
when he has a chance of bringing home that national title this year.
Sound about right?
I suggest you let Dr. Eric patch you up tonight,
and then we do a joint press conference in the morning.
All the head honchos up in the penthouse,
heads bowed,
agreeing that, yes, there is a problem.
And then you play.
You win, and you get to take that victory lap
you have been dreaming about since...
since you stood on the sidelines
watching your big brother in north Virginia.
And then change does come because of you, eventually.
And that is something you both can be proud of.
I got a question.
Are you completely fucking heartless, or just a little bit?
Oh, my God. [Emmett] How do you live with yourself?
Honestly, how do you live with yourself? [shouts] I am not heartless!
You do not know me!
You think I don't know your struggle?
You think I don't know what you have come from? That I haven't been there?
You think I don't know what it's like
to be without heat in your house?
That I don't know what it's like
to not be able to afford your jersey,
and you are avoiding your coach
'cause you don't have the $50 to pay for it?
[voice breaking] I ran track at Duke, okay?
Full ride.
No big medals, no big wins.
But I took that money because it was the only way I was gonna run myself
out of that Red Hook project.
[scoffs] You think you know me.
You don't know me.
I had to fight and climb
and crawl to be here
because I did the work.
The NCAA spends $3.6 billion
on student-athlete scholarships for kids like me,
like you and like you,
so that we can get a leg up.
And what happens to all of that
when they start paying you?
Hmm?
What happens to volleyball in Minnesota,
to soccer in Idaho,
to softball in South Carolina?
What happens to all of those other sports
that are not men's football and basketball?
You out here fighting, and you forgot who you're fighting for.
You know, but... [clears throat, sighs]
Hey, what do I know?
I'm heartless.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[crowd chattering]
[on TV] Hi, everybody, and good morning from the Big Easy. I'm Steve Levy.
We are some 12 hours away
from tonight's Snickers National Title game.
Now, I'm being told that a midnight deal
may have been brokered with LeMarcus James.
Details still remain a little bit sketchy,
but there's a news conference scheduled for a couple hours from now.
My sources tell me that both teams
could be at full strength tonight,
and that includes James.
You know what else that means?
Strike up the band. Fire up that old grill.
We're gonna have some great football action for you to--
The 13-1 Cougars against the undefeated Wolves,
the two best players in the country...
Or will it? Even with the rumors
of a late-night deal with LeMarcus James,
many oddsmakers still doubt he will actually play tonight.
So the question is, can James Lazor's Wolves
win without their star quarterback?
I'm not so sure.
Well, yeah. He and LeMarcus have the same mother.
Yeah, they both grew up in Virginia.
Reggie, he played JUCO football,
but that fizzled out after they cut him
for having too many concussions.
I would start with the state prisons.
Even try mental health facilities.
We need to do a social media backdoor too.
I doubt that he even has an account,
but we have got to find him. [knocking]
He is our pressure point.
Oh. Coach.
I got your message.
This thing we're toying with,
it's Pandora's box, you know?
I know.
Nobody gets hurt.
Nobody goes to jail.
We just play this game. That's what we all want.
[coughing]
[Emmett] Dear Lord,
the trees are thick, and we've yet to see a path through the wilderness.
Send us a light.
Show us the way. Amen.
Amen. [coughing]
I can't believe you've been here this whole time and didn't tell us.
What? You thought I was gonna miss the show?
[LeMarcus chuckles quietly]
I'm sorry.
No, hey, you don't owe me anything.
You're the one, the two of you, who had the guts and vision--
I meant about her.
Oh. [inhales sharply]
Yeah. Her.
Well...
[inhales sharply]
I made my own bed on that one, so...
"Thou shalt not commit adultery"
is the seventh Commandment.
Thank you for clarifying that, Emmett.
You're welcome.
[LeMarcus] Look, Elliott, we can't thank you enough, man.
Without you, we-- [sighs]
we wouldn't have even had a shot to pull this off.
What's going on here?
Are we about to hold hands
and feel good about your little protest?
'Cause I thought you guys were in it to win it.
You know, as if it were, say,
the national title.
Let me give you a little something I stumbled across from my travels.
I believe that's your coach's.
Wasn't even wrapped in aluminum.
Amateur move.
Yeah, but what's the point of this? We can't unlock it.
Do you need to? You know what's on it.
And you're a quarterback. You know how to bluff the other team.
So you're saying we keep going?
[Elliott] That's not my decision.
It's not even about which one is right.
It's about, which one are you gonna be able to live with,
no matter how it goes,
how much you suffer the consequences.
I'm just letting you know you still have some options.
[coughing] It's off to Rome for me, comrades.
Wait, you ain't staying for the game? Nah, opiate for the masses.
It's, like, too much winning for my taste.
I'm so proud of you guys.
You did this.
You alone. And it was...
It was fucking magnificent.
Veni, vidi...
Vici. Vici.
[door closes] [coughing]
[LeMarcus] Goddamn.
Well...
we're about due for our surrender.
What you thinkin'?
I don't fucking know.
My head is pounding.
Where's that doc?
Yeah, I'll go get him. He said he'd wait in the lobby.
[coughing]
Damn, you sick.
See if I can get you another IV. I'll be back in ten.
[door closes]
[Mike] As soon as he gets here, we'll have the coach and him reunite,
uh, pleasantries, and then we'll get right to inviting the media in.
I'll give them a few minutes. They'll go off to play.
[knocking on door]
Here we go.
[Everly] Hey!
LeMarcus has risen. There he is.
All right. Great to see you.
Can I get you something? Some water? A Snickers?
-[laughter] -I'm good, thanks.
[Mike] You were a little under the weather, but you're better now.
Yeah.
[Mike] That's good news. [Wes] Not for us.
[laughter]
[Everly] True.
[Mike] Um, I just wanted to, uh,
get us to have a little face-to-face
before we bring the cameras in here.
I was just telling the coach here
how impressed I was with, uh, your conduct.
Very honorable.
[Coach Lazor] LeMarcus.
The team is back.
They heard about this deal, and...
everybody else is playin' this.
It's just you and Emmett now.
These gentlemen are giving you a committee,
and they are gonna address all of your grievances.
So,
time to put on those pads,
join your brothers, and do battle.
Everybody's countin' on you.
I'm countin' on you.
You know, I assure you, LeMarcus,
this isn't a ceremonial committee.
We're gonna dig down into these issues
and figure out what's best for all of us.
All right?
Like the coach said, we have a game to play.
Let's get the cameras in... I didn't say yes.
[Everly] What's that?
I didn't say yes.
[sighs]
What would it take in your mind
to get to yes?
Well, our demands haven't changed.
[chuckles]
[Katherine] That's the sealed case file
from that fateful night at the Gin Mill.
The detectives investigated for two weeks, and then...
[sighs]
...suddenly, K.C. Walton decided to drop the charges.
A lot of movin' pieces in there, LeMarcus.
This thing is a minefield.
You find my brother yet? [Katherine] Getting close.
I'd really love to stop the search and just have a beer,
watch a football game.
Well, why don't we tell 'em, Coach?
We're a wolf pack, right?
We hunt together, we starve alone.
Ain't that the creed you always preach?
Why don't we tell everybody how high up this really goes?
Stop. Just stop.
Look, you come out of this now,
you're not just a Heisman Trophy winner,
NFL first-rounder.
You're an icon now. You've already accomplished that.
You're the Curt Flood of collegiate athletics.
You're making history here already.
They're gonna write books about you.
Now, don't throw everything away for-for
whatever this self-righteous bullshit is.
Come on, man. You've worked too hard.
[grunts softly]
We've worked too hard for this.
Let's just go fuckin' win this thing.
[scoffs]
Win.
That's all that really matters, right?
Just win.
So that's what I did.
I won every damn game I could.
Conference championships,
Heisman Trophy-- I won and I won and I won.
Until you were so blind, you didn't even see the game I was really playin'.
You see, in order to slay Goliath,
you gotta do it on the biggest stage with the brightest lights.
Millions of people, an entire system,
so desperate for one more win,
they'd do anything, give anything.
No matter how many bodies you gotta stand on top of.
And then you got your professor
who's fuckin' the coach's wife...
to give you everything you need.
And you win.
-You motherfucker! -[excited chattering]
You ungrateful bi... Coach, don't do it.
Goddamn you, you fucking ungrateful...
Jesus fucking Christ, LeMarcus.
My wife! My wife!
[quietly] Oh, my God.
Jesus Christ, man. Everything we've been through together...
everything I've done for you...
You were a pimply faced little 16-year-old boy,
scared to leave home.
And I looked your mother in the eyes,
and I said, "I will take care of your boy."
And that's what I've done.
Treated you like my own.
Like my own son.
How could you...
[sighs]
Goddamn, LeMarcus.
[breathes shakily] Why?
For all the ones to come, Coach.
The ones who ain't as fortunate.
Get this broken system unbroken.
So no more of us get banged up
and forced back into poverty,
just like what happened to Reggie.
You were the only one who knew about that file.
And you stoop even lower, and you bring Reggie into this?
What, to you he's just...
he's just some pawn that you can use against me?
He was my brother.
He was a human being.
Reggie died four months ago in Tallahassee.
He took his own life.
[quietly] Oh, Jesus. Fuck.
Y'all didn't know. And what's worse, y'all don't even care.
There's always some new batch of kids
that get you more wins and get you more money.
I am not your son.
I'm a man.
[sniffles]
Yeah, you are.
And I love you.
But I got a football game to win.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[Mike clears throat] Gentlemen, um,
would you step out for a minute?
Give us some time?
[sniffles]
You open up that minefield, it's gonna be more than just me and Reggie.
On Coach's phone, we got emails
from prosecutors, law enforcement.
All of 'em were involved in the cover-up.
Shoot, even the governor
chest bumps in the locker room on game day.
Coach's phone, you'll find a text where he promises to take care of it.
The martyr.
Willing to die for the cause.
I find that courageous. Admirable.
But what about Emmett Sunday?
You said you were doing this for him.
Miss Poe?
[Katherine clears throat]
"It was chaos. People everywhere.
Then all of a sudden, LeMarcus James, the quarterback,
showed up with someone else.
[clears throat] A big guy. It was really dangerous.
Then the big white guy
flew through the crowd and hit one guy
who dropped like he was dead and threw another guy into a wall.
LeMarcus grabbed the man the crew were beating on,
and everyone ran.
Like I said, it was chaos." That was self-defense.
[Mike] Maybe so. Maybe so.
But does it matter?
We go down this road,
they won't be putting you on trial,
they'll be putting your best friend, Emmett.
Now, do you have the stomach to watch the sharks
rip him apart limb by limb
in front of the whole world and leave him destroyed,
canceled?
LeMarcus, you're standing toe-to-toe with the behemoth,
and we haven't even begun to fight.
College football is more important than you,
me, Emmett,
or whatever really is on that phone.
The American people
will let the state of Missouri fall under the sea
rather than give up Saturday afternoon,
drunk and roaring for their alma mater.
We're inevitable as the rain.
Now, you gonna put on that helmet or not?
[crowd cheering]
[sportscaster on TV] ...gearing up for the college football national title game.
The fans are buzzing with excitement...
[Emmett] "Inevitable"? Like what?
The rain.
"I'm inevitable as the rain."
Feels powerful. Mm-hmm.
It was.
[bones popping]
[sighs]
Gonna have to drain the fluid out of this damn thing again.
You look better. Lighter.
Finally breathe through my nose.
By the way, that Doc Holliday head fake,
you playing like you were on your deathbed, was sure good.
[scoffs]
Lacked the nuance of Kilmer, but, uh, I bought it.
I'll be your Huckleberry.
[both chuckle]
You sure they didn't try to use me against you?
Nah.
I swear.
'Cause if I find out that you were...
Trust me.
They know this fight hurts them way more than it hurts us.
All those people involved in the cover-up, they ain't doin' shit.
[Levy] The Superdome in New Orleans is ready to explode with excitement.
Tonight, it's the Snickers National Title game.
Hi, everybody, and good evening.
I'm Steve Levy, along with Malcolm Jenkins,
and this one has all the makings.
This could be a classic. No.
[Levy] We're talking about for years to come...
Leave it. ...for a variety of reasons.
A lot of the controversy still looms
with LeMarcus James bein' missin' from the action,
as he continues his fight against the NCAA practices,
a stance that has gone crazy on social media... Whoo. Yes, sir.
...with the viral hashtag, "Fix the System."
[Levy] How about one million tweets
the last 12 hours alone?
My sense is, this is only the beginning.
How do you think that translates onto the field the next 60 minutes we'll see tonight?
[Jenkins] I think you'll see these coaches have these teams prepared.
These players have worked so hard to get to this moment,
that I think they'll be focused...
At least we made some noise, right?
...knowing that this is everything...
Oh, that wasn't just noise.
The truth is out now because of us.
And they can't hide it.
Now more people are gonna stand up, a lot more.
And they'll know right where to hit 'em.
Yeah.
Hell, yeah.
Man, we're like the Rebels in Rogue One.
We die on the beach,
but the plans for the Death Star make it off the island.
Nothing is inevitable except the truth.