Original subtitles

Downloaded from HQCINEMAS.COM

Official HQCINEMAS movies site: HQCINEMAS.COM

I was 5,000 miles away from home

and we were one play away

from making American football history in Germany.

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Alright, let's back up for a second here.

I need to first explain

how I ended up in Schwäbisch Hall.

So my name is Nick Alfieri.

I'm from a big football family.

I played college football at Georgetown.

Alfieri knocked it loose.

After that, I got into film school at USC,

which was basically a dream come true for me.

So I moved to Los Angeles

but then a few months into that first semester,

I really started to miss playing football.

And coincidentally, around the same time,

these football programs from Europe started contacting me

with opportunities to go play over there.

So I left.

Final moments at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Now, the plan was to go play football

and at the same time make a documentary

about a team in a tiny town in Germany called The Unicorns.

♪

I mean, I-- I think it's safe to say

we're the number one sport in town,

which probably is not true for any football team in Germany.

The town of Schwäbisch Hall has

so much to do with The Unicorns.

Unicorns somewhere else, I don't think would be,

as special without the town of Schwäbisch Hall.

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn!

The people here are the reason

why The Unicorns are successful.

Because it's a small city, everybody knows us.

When our home game is with The Unicorn,

it's like a thing to go to meet people, watch The Unicorns

and see what a great game of American football is.

♪

So I arrived in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.

I was welcomed by The Unicorns founder

and my new head coach, Sigi.

He seemed proud of his team and of this town.

You won't find too many people in town

that you go to and ask, "Hey, do you know who The Unicorns?"

And they, "No. What's that?"

That-- That won't happen.

They're part of-- part of the city?

Now, this wasn't some big NFL contract.

Schwäbisch Hall is a small town team with a small town budget.

The organization provided a place to stay.

Access to a car, meals and a small monthly stipend.

But I wasn't the only American, there was a group of us.

And we all came from different places,

but had similar stories.

Successful college careers,

some of us flirted with the pros

and our desire to keep playing football

landed all of us in Germany.

But just being here from where I'm from,

you don't really ever hear about Germany.

I was kind of just like, yo, is this shit real?

Like, The Unicorns?

Like what pops in your head when you think of a Unicorn, man?

Like, I need to be a bear or something.

Now we had to adapt to the European experience,

living in a different country with a different culture,

different food and a different language.

That's like a mile from here and I didn't even jump.

Sprechen sie Englisch?

Yeah.

Can I get a strawberry shake?

♪

We talked about that we're in the moment stuff,

and the last thing I'll leave you all with is don't forget,

you are professionals amongst amateurs.

That's an, uh, a very different type of situation.

You are professional football players

amongst amateurs around you, alright?

So there is an extra set of pressure.

There is more eyes on you than everybody else.

Okay? That's just the way it is, alright?

Um, and that doesn't go just with the guys on our team,

but with fans, with everybody, you know?

You guys are going to get the most press clippings,

the most everything and you all know what comes with that?

And I think it's important for you all to know

just how we deal with our guys because you know how it is here.

Guys have jobs, kids, wives,

all that kind of stuff, coming from three hours away.

Uh, we tell our guys we want to be at 70% of practices.

That's our goal.

So, um, yeah,

just understand there's a different expectation

and set of rules that apply to you guys over German players.

Okay? And that's just-- just the way it is, okay?

Everything was new and overwhelming but exciting.

And then we were shown the Ami house.

♪ Tell me mama ♪

♪ where did things go wrong ♪

♪ Tell me mama, Where did things go wrong ♪

♪ Tell me mama, Where did things go wrong ♪

About the Ami house, the Ami house is awesome.

The Ami house was not that awesome.

The Ami house, man, wow!

You want to talk about shacks? That was a shack, man.

Like-- Like technically, it was a house.

And then like, you'd have thought we're in the woods, man.

Like, we were, just kind of like, we were in the woods.

I'm sure it does.

It's just called sorting because in Germany,

you put dark glass together and clear glass together.

The one cool part of the house was the lineup

of passport photos from all the Americans

that had played for The Unicorns in the past.

I guess if they could do it, so could we.

And Smoke seemed cool.

Is that some of your stuff, what we can throw away?

I mean,

because I want to put the paper stuff away, that one.

Let's see, is any of the stuff has my name on it?

That-- That's from you.

My name is Thomas Rauch

but everybody say to me, Smoke in, uh, our team

because the Americans cannot say Rauch.

Rauch means, in English, Smoke.

And, um, I'm over 30

so I don't want to say the right age, what I am.

And I play for The Unicorns since 2005, a long time.

So The Unicorns play in the German Football League,

which is comprised of 16 teams,

eight in the North and eight in the south.

The Unicorns, founded in 1983, play in the GFL South.

And I'll let Sigi tell you the rest.

So we still had an American base here at that time

with about 800 American soldiers

and there was a German American Friendship Club

that we approached and said, "Can you help us

finding some people who have played before,

who can coach maybe?"

And that was very important early on.

Our first really successful year was '95

when we,

uh, won the championship in the Fourth League,

it went pretty much straight up from '95 on.

♪

18 years, you know,

no Southern team had won the championship

and suddenly we were champions, you know,

so that was pretty crazy.

♪

So what I've gathered is that the Unicorns used to be

this championship winning team

but in recent years, the league has been changing.

Success is now coming from teams in major German cities

with big sponsorship deals leading to large budgets.

The Prime example of this and the team, The Unicorns,

can't seem to get past is New Yorker.

They have, uh, so much financial power behind them

and a-- and a big city and a big stadium,

it's kind of intimidating.

My biggest fear is that maybe this is the make or break year

for us to either get it done or not.

Now I was still trying to fully wrap

my head around all of this

but what I did know is that these people seem determined.

So I guess that's what we're there to do.

Get The Unicorns back on top of the GFL

with the German Bowl Championship.

♪

Hut!

The two teams, like I said,

that are going to be the biggest competition for us

are the Frankfurt Universe the Braunschweig Lions.

Frankfurt just came up from the second league.

Play, play, play. Go away! Go away! Go away!

And they basically re-did their whole roster

with everybody they had bought and got.

Go. Go, deeper.

They're coming out with a lot of hype.

Alright, catch that.

Three. Go.

Left, left, left.

There you go.

And then whoever gets the closest wins.

Take it easy on these guys.

This is their first time in Europe.

Alright, uh, Dev, turn around, Rudy is up first--

Alright. We got Croatia

Croatia!

So Rudy, he was a guy

I thought we would never get.

His talent level, what we saw on film,

we knew he was a great, great player,

but we felt he was a guy almost too good

to get out here just because of all the opportunities

he had going on in the States.

Before I came to Germany, just in a state of,

like, an unknown, like, right out of the NFL stuff

and I'm so close like,

I want to come to Germany for a year

and then go back, you know what I'm saying?

Like, hopefully get another shot.

It's great.

It's really cool because you cannot see their face

because nobody want to see how ugly they are.

So that's why we make picture like this.

The struggle is real.

Before I came to Germany,

I was on downward spiral,

had a lot of growing up to do, wasn't playing football no more.

Terrible job, didn't want to be involved with it.

Just looking at my life, it's like,

Man, this is not where I wanted to be.

It's not where-- It's not what I see myself doing.

Once I finally made the decision in my mind

that something needed to change, uh,

I got the call from Neuman.

-Hey, Nick. -Yeah?

-You want a "houte"? -Fire-out beer.

Fire-out beer. That's a fire-out beer.

-What beer? -You know? After--

-After work. -Yeah.

-We call it fire-out beer. -Thank you.

Let's go.

Let's go.

The energy really started to pick up

as we got closer to the first game.

And The Unicorns seemed to be

pretty popular around town.

-You're The Unicorn? -Unicorns, yeah.

-Have a good day, dude. -You too.

Next up, Devin Benton.

Everyone is hyped for the first season game.

We head strong. Left, left, left. Come on.

Here we go.

I'm gonna say hi to The Unicorns, hey, hello.

-Hello.

I'm pushed, I'm hyped because I know

what game day means.

When you get to the line of scrimmage,

be like this.

Three. Go.

Here.

Three. Go.

-Alright, good. -Sounds like you're going down.

...low and as soon as they go by...

-First-- The first-- -As soon as they go by

-he should be wide open. -I thought-- I thought you--

So when you decide to play with a German quarterback,

I think one of the first things you'll get

is people wondering why you do that.

♪

Everybody knows that the quarterback

is by far the most important position in football.

And a lot of teams, the majority out here

is just going to go get the best import quarterback they can

and play with him and just put it on him.

Us, as a program, we decided Marco's our guy.

He's came through the program.

Not only has he shown that we can win with him,

but Marco's a guy, we put a lot on his plate.

You bring in an American because you think

he plays better than any German.

But we've been playing at the top of Europe

for the last three years

with me playing at the quarterback position.

There's always going to be that little bit of doubt

until he finish it off with a championship.

That's the challenge he faces.

That's the challenge we face as a program.

But, you know, we're really happy

and we're really lucky to have him here.

You see?

-Made. He made. -Yeah, he made.

Well, I cook for the whole team.

It's damn hard work but, hey,

you know, whatever gives us the W afterwards.

Aa-hoo!

Is that turkey?

We got season opening, Frankfurt gonna be in town.

It should be, uh, an exciting one here.

to get the season going, huh, Matias?

Yes, sir.

-Yeah. -That's it.

♪

So our first game of the year

and my first football game in Germany

was against the hot new team, Frankfurt.

They have a huge backing

from the old NFL Europe days for the Frankfurt Galaxy.

So they still have a ton of fans.

So everybody knew

they were going to be a competitor right away.

They weren't a regular team

that had just come up for the first day.

They were gonna try and make a statement

from the very beginning,

the very first year in the league.

Here we go!

I'm an old guy, so I wasn't scared or nothing like that.

But the excitement, of course, always hits you

before every football game.

Ladies and gentlemen.

We're fine, let's go. Let's go.

Please welcome,

The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

Right. Two...

Yeah!

For us, you know, we-- we jumped out early.

And they-- they came flying back.

Yeah, I'll tell you what, man, that game,

it was a back and forth battle, honestly.

And then when you have two teams that talented,

I mean both teams are going to make their plays.

Unicorns! Unicorns!

But in the long run, that went well for us.

We were able to grind out the W there, week one.

After a year off, it felt great to play football again.

And I was impressed with the level of competition.

Football in Germany was better than I expected.

So good, in fact, that this happened.

With the 180th pick in the 2016 NFL draft,

the Minnesota Vikings select Moritz Boehringer,

a wide receiver from Germany.

Let's go, Vikings.

My name is Moritz

and I'm playing for Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

My name is Moritz and I play for Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

My name is Moritz and I play for Schwa--

Minnesota Vikings.

♪

Moritz Boehringer played for The Unicorns in 2015,

and in April of 2016, shortly after the Frankfurt Game,

he was drafted into the NFL.

I mean, this was a guy who hopefully,

you know, in a year or two is producing.

I think, all of the GFL

and European football is all hoping the same thing

because it shows that there are guys

who are talented enough to go over and play.

They're just going to need a little time.

But then the refs like, "Hey, uh,

you got to be careful, that was a late hit."

And I was like, "I was the one that got hit,

like, my teammate."

I mean, are you ki-- That's probably why they throw a flag

because it was this, it was this green, the green.

One of them is here today.

He just got in a-- He got in a fight with Jordan there,

in our U16 game.

Yeah.

We started a junior team

pretty soon after we started the senior team.

I mean, right now I have to figure out

that we get good, really good young kids,

fresh blood to The Unicorns organization so

I hope I can help.

Good job. Good job.

Being, uh, the number one sport here

helps us to get the best talent.

Do you like coaching the youth?

Yeah, it's very cool, I mean, because

a lot of them are really raw.

So you--

you can make something out of them.

Uh, it used to be that, okay, the really

talented athletes would play soccer or basketball or track.

And I think we get a lot

that could be successful

in other sports but choose to play football.

Let's go, offense. Let's go.

Go, man, go. Go, man, go.

The Unicorns is successful because

you know, they put a ton of time and effort

into their youth program.

2010, 11, 12 when they started win German Bowls,

they're doing it with

pretty much all guys from Schwäbisch Hall.

You know, we don't have

three million people in our city,

it's 40,000

so you're only going to have 20, 30 kids.

So if you want to be good in the future,

you have to make sure those 20, 30 are well-coached

and so when they eventually

get to the senior team, you know,

they're going to be talented and they could help them out.

As we got used to this new life in Germany,

I got some insights from a long time Unicorn player,

Bruno.

Shall we get a coffee first?

-Yes, absolutely. -Yeah.

Kind of reassess this game plan.

So in 2006, I actually played with Jordan,

by the way, just to-- to wrap this back around,

he's now-- he's now coach.

Um, there's a lot of guys that are flaggies,

like Marco, I-- I coached Marco.

- That's hilarious. -Um,

as a flaggie when he was 13 years old.

It's not just about the game.

It's-- it's all the surrounding things here.

Had I gone to another organization,

um, I don't think I'd be playing anymore.

Now you look cool.

-It's a contrast. -Yeah.

-Black and white. -Yeah, black and white.

-Black and white. -Man, I gotta be right here.

-You be right there. -For a real contrast.

And it did take a while to get acclimated,

but I think by the time we were heading down

to the game in Austria, we had all settled in.

♪

Now this is exactly what I hoped

playing football in Europe would be like.

Travelling to a beautiful city in a different country.

Playing in a big stadium surrounded by the Alps.

It felt like a whole world away from a classroom in California.

Call it, we'll have bigger personnel--

Go might-- make it strong.

That tells you everything.

When we went against Swarco,

obviously, we're up against,

you know, the number two team in Europe.

We knew they were going to be a great team.

On our stretches, make sure we come in nice and flat

out of the gate on our stretches around, alright?

Well, like, we came in to that game like a-- on a high note

after the-- whole season beginning.

Like we beat Frankfurt. Ain't nobody will stop us.

The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns,

the two-time German champion.

The warriors are about to enter the pitch.

Here they are, The Swarco Raiders Tirol.

The game was a disaster.

Shelton oversees the field, finds Zbakha.

Is it a touchdown? Indeed.

This could get out of hands

if The Unicorns don't score this time around.

This was really unexpected.

All right.

First thing is this, where we go from here?

We go from here for us. we come together, do great.

We come together to be great. Where we go from here?

Got a whole season to play, German bowl to go after.

Where do we go from here? Okay?

The one and only GFL 13 games to go.

Okay? That's it.

This-- This big six is over.

We didn't-- We didn't shine but guys,

we play hopefully till October.

Yeah, that's a long time.

Alright? Come on, bring it in.

-Ready Uni-- -Corns!

Okay!

The following week we watched from home

as New Yorker drove down to Austria

and dominated Swarco.

New Yorker looked stronger than ever

and our goal of a German Bowl Championship seems unlikely.

The next game,

I broke my collar bone.

Thank you.

Take the elevator?

Yeah, elevator. No stairs.

Adrenaline is wearing off, and this actually hurts so bad.

That is my collarbone

sticking up.

And it's, uh,

indications to operating because there are more pieces.

-It's dislocated, yes? -Yeah.

I need surgery,

and now I'm starting to question everything.

I figured The Unicorns would send me home.

That's what teams in Europe do

when their American imports get hurt.

♪

Uh, I just had to get out of the house.

I can't sit around all day

with this collar bone situation.

I need to get out and move around, otherwise I'll go crazy.

From us, as an organization standpoint,

we're in a tough, tough situation

because that's a longer injury, and we've got to make a decision

whether we're going to send Nick home

and get somebody over here who can play?

The easy decision, just thank him for being here.

Make sure he's healthy, and then send him home

and get a guy who can finish this season healthy

and that we know is going to be here.

Okay, um,

I just got off the phone with Jordan

and he told me that The Unicorns

are not going to send me home, they're going to keep me here,

in Schwäbisch Hall, which is actually amazing.

I thought that they would for sure send me home

and get a new import, um,

but they said, uh, they're going to keep me here

and for me to get healthy

and try and get ready for the playoffs,

uh, which is in a couple of months.

So I use my new time away from the field

to find out everything I could

about the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

Talking about the mentality

of Schwäbisch Hall, I'm-- I'm obviously biased

because I-- I was born and raised here.

And so there's a lot of local pride.

We're not like people from Stuttgart who are Swabian,

you know, they always think we are

because of the Schwabisch in our name but we aren't.

And we're not like the people from Nuremberg,

from Northern Bavaria who are Franconian

because we're something in between.

And that's a-- that's a little bit of the mentality here

is that we are something special.

Have you been to the museum up there?

Yeah, Schurmann and Tobi Loffler took me.

Uh, Schurmann and Tobi, they took me.

To the Hallisch Frankisches Museum?

-It's awesome. -They actually have

Christian Rothe's jersey

and, uh,

my game plan and

-something else. -In the museum?

In the museum from our first German Bowl win.

Because the museum director came to me and said,

"Can I get some stuff?

Because this is-- you wrote history."

My job is, uh, being a high school teacher.

And then, uh,

with a full schedule,

I balance that with coaching

through experience, I guess.

So you maybe you want to talk about

the-- the educational system in the USA,

um, as-- as one possible topic.

We have one full-time employee.

That's my office coordinator, Jordan Newman.

We don't even have any part time,

so everybody else is volunteer.

Well, if I compare that-- The Unicorn situation to

teams like Frankfurt and Braunschweig,

they have quite a few full-time employees,

several full-time coaches

and then also, uh, front office people

that are-- that work full time

and yeah, so we're at-- at a disadvantage there that,

you know, we have to make up for it by other means.

We don't pay our German players.

And I've got to go out

and recruit some of the best German talent around.

Yet compete with other teams who are telling them,

"I'll give you this amount of money to come here."

And I've got to sell to them,

"Come here despite not making the money."

Yeah, I had, uh, a good offer from, uh,

Frankfurt before the season.

I was thinking about it for a long time.

I'm not sure if we can--

we can keep it forever or for-- for very long because,

I mean, into that, uh, teams

who do pay the majority of their players

and eventually, you know, that's a--

that's a recruiting factor that--

that's gotta be hard.

Learning that these German guys

are playing for The Unicorns for free,

when a lot of them could go make money at other teams

was really eye opening for me.

You know, like, it's really hard to

stay up early, go to work,

go back from work, go straight to youth practice,

after youth practice at senior practice.

And then like Laura, my girlfriend, say, "Hey,

do you-- do you remember me?"

So I got my surgery

and I returned to practice.

Well played. Well played.

So be shallow, curl,

and a shoot coming out like this.

So you got that nice triangle.

After being around the team less as a player

and more someone with an outside perspective,

I started to notice some things.

Football with The Unicorns was different.

Oh, yeah.

Are you alright?

Good luck. Thank you.

He is--

-Raph! -Yeah, what's up, Matias?

I've gotten so used to the American approach to it

being such a job in high school and college

that seeing these guys play with such an authentic passion

and joy was absolutely amazing.

Big team!

One, two, three, big team!

Now the Swarco game

was the Unicorns worst loss in years,

a 34-0 beat down.

And as a football player, you'd expect a dip in morale

after a game like that.

But the attitude of the team

remained optimistic, energized and excited.

-Whoa, here we go. -Stand to right of Smoke.

Stand to left of Smoke.

-You like my new haircut? -Yeah, man. Looks good.

-I like you too.

Whoo!

♪

Thank you.

Whoo!

My-- My main thing is, guys, it'll be,

uh, after a week off, you know,

there'll be a lot of hoopla around the game.

-Lots of people there. -Lots of what?

-Whatever, I'll explain later. -Hoopla.

-Hoopla!

Lots of people there.

-What's a hoopla? -Uh, everybody?

If you're-- If you're on the field, you have to focus.

Okay? We cannot have any mental mistakes.

Yeah, you're there-- you play football with your teammates.

You do the right stuff, okay?

Know what you have to do and do it.

And then you're-- we're a good team.

-Alright, let's go, bring it in. -I like that.

-Ready, Uni-- -Corns!

Go Unicorns!

Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Are you ready? -Aa-hoo!

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

You are? Oh, yeah.

-Are you ready? -Aa-hoo! Aa-hoo!

-Who are we? -The U.

The U. It's all about the U.

The U. The U. It's all about the U.

The U. The U. It's all about the U.

The U. The U. It's all about the U.

The U. The U. It's all about the U.

I got you!

Very good, man!

Three-One. Three-Jack.

♪

Unicorn.

Here comes the Unicorns.

In US, you finish your game,

you have protein bar and some Gatorade.

Over here, you take off your pads,

you have a cigarette and a beer.

♪

-Cheers! -Cheers!

♪

♪ Doodah doodah day ♪

♪ Doodah doodah day ♪

♪ Doodah doodah day ♪

♪ Mikey-Mike Through the microphone ♪

♪ Doodah doodah day ♪

♪

While New Yorker was dominating their schedule,

Rudy started getting some attention from the NFL.

My agents telling me this stuff like,

Saints looking at you still, they're asking information,

like, you're looking good, keep balling.

In the back of my mind, you know,

of course, that's still the goal,

you know, go to the league,

but, like, I'm still living in the moment.

You know, I-- I'm focused on the season and trying to win.

Meanwhile, I was trying to get back on the field.

Yeah, it's very tender right there.

-And it's sensitive? -Oh, there's the worst of it.

-Yeah, that's the worst. -Yeah.

At the back, yes.

you know, that's just musculary thing.

These injuries just take some time

-to heal, yeah? I can't... -Yeah.

-Well, after this game, well-- -I think that's--

-Yeah. -It just takes time.

Uh, just back from the doctor again,

and we play-- we will probably play Frankfurt

in the GFL South title game.

And they are not sure

if I will be ready for that or not.

In the GFL, there's a natural pressure

on American imports to perform.

Now being injured and not being able to contribute to the team,

especially when you're one of the only paid players,

is an uncomfortable situation.

But The Unicorns never made me feel bad.

Did you load yet?

-Hello, Nick. -Hey.

-How's it going? -What did the doctor say?

Uh, still a bit longer.

-Probably -And you need to stop moving it?

Yeah, I got to stop moving it.

-Hi guys.

Come on.

Moritz, you better get out here for practice.

And one of the cool things I learned

is that Sigi won't ever turn anyone away from The Unicorns.

Hey, let me introduce you, this is Daniel.

-From Spain. -Hello.

-He's going to play for us. -Hola, senor.

They want to be on the team, he'll let them join.

Madrid.

Buck up.

Go Madrid!

-Unicorn in Spanish? -Unicornio.

-Unicornio. -Unicornio.

That's my Unicornio.

Unicornio on three.

Because it's a big family, so--

And everybody takes care of everybody.

So I never, ever want to play for, uh, other team

only the U.

Yeah, isn't it weird?

This is the first summer that I haven't been home.

Yeah, it's still kind of broken.

I mean, it feels better, but I'm not--

I'm not clear to play yet.

But actually, we're going on a trip right now.

Uh, like, in five minutes, I have the doctor's appointment.

-When we get back. Yeah. - Really?

Prague, Czech Republic.

I know, isn't that cool?

-Hey, Nick? -Yeah.

-Are you ready? -Hey, I'm almost ready.

Alright, I've to go.

About to leave.

Tell everybody I say hi, alright?

Okay.

See you, bro. Bye.

One of the first things that Jordan told us

when we got to Germany was that during our by-weekends,

The Unicorns wanted us imports to travel

and experience Europe outside of football.

Good?

The squad headed to Prague.

♪

Made it to Budapest.

To the Cliffs of Moher.

♪ I'll be silver, I'll be gold ♪

♪ Have my heart But leave my soul ♪

We're finally in Stockholm.

♪ All that's done will be forgot But not forgiven ♪

♪ It took some time But now I know ♪

♪ The lesson was Just letting go ♪

♪ And I feel fine ♪

What do you guys wanna do?

-I'm gonna see the waterfall. -Oh, yeah?

-Should we walk to it? -Yeah.

Let's do it. You wanna walk down to the waterfall?

If Rudy runs don't run, alright?

-know. -I can't even see.

-We toasted that thing. -Yeah, we did toast him.

And. Yeah, yeah.

The well-being of the players is always

number one on my agenda.

I don't want to see it as a business, you know?

Where you just bring in people and say,

Hey, you know, you guys play for us.

Uh, we want to get as much production

out of you as possible, and that's it.

But I would like for these people to-- to

grow themselves and help us grow.

You know what I'm saying? We're here to

have this human experience.

You can't have that without taking risk.

You can't have that without, uh,

getting on a flight and coming to Germany

where you know nobody from there,

where you're, uh, you by yourself,

you leaving your parents,

you leaving your whole family back at the crib,

you gonna be in a-- a place that you never thought you'd be,

meeting people that you never thought you would meet,

having relationships that you never thought you'd have,

can't shy away from it.

I said years ago

when Frankfurt was probably the third league,

and we said, well, you know, we're-- we're trying

to make the best of what we have here.

We don't have any outside guys,

and we're trying to go do a good junior program.

But eventually the big cities like Frankfurt, uh,

and Munich and Berlin, they should all pass us, you know,

just because of the infrastructure they have.

And I mean, you see the Frankfurt now,

you know, with relatively little ease,

uh, I mean, now they have a lot of money behind them, too.

-Yeah. -Not just-- Not just players.

-You know there is. -But it's-- it's happening.

And now the question is, do we--

do we try and scratch and fight

with our homegrown talent and...

Yeah.

Okay, uh, just got out of the doctor

and, uh, I'm cleared to play this weekend.

Collar bone is good enough to go.

And we play Frankfurt for the South title.

Wow, let's go.

The Frankfurt rematch was big.

Winner of this game would have top playoff seed in the South.

And the best path to play New Yorker in the German Bowl.

♪

You know, we felt confident.

We-- We had finally found our groove.

We're rolling and we knew they were too.

Uh, so it was just one of those weekends

that, you know, you've just been waiting for all year.

Scored the first two touchdowns

when we had a 14-zero lead, we stunned their crowd.

I know one thing though their first touchdown

that they had,

that house was on fire.

I mean, that stadium was burnt.

I mean, it was what everybody was expecting.

I mean, it was two dynamic explosive offenses.

You know, played the punches then in the second half,

it kind of turned into a defensive game.

Yeah, I go strong ahead?

When I first came to Germany, I did not know

what I was getting myself into.

He's so improved, everybody.

So we can improve at all levels of the game.

Alright? So great job.

Celebrate like hell till Wednesday.

I thought maybe I'd get to go over and enjoy

one last season of football before I hung it all up.

But fate had a different plan for me,

and at first glance, breaking my collar bone,

three games into the season was absolutely devastating.

But what it gave me was the opportunity to gain

a new perspective on this team.

I spent three months learning everything

I could about the Unicorns,

interviewing my teammates and coaches

and people around Schwäbisch Hall.

And in that process, my teammates became my brothers,

my coaches became my mentors,

and I fell in love with the town.

-Nick. -Cody.

I'm going to have to move, I'm standing here for an hour.

We try the first couple one

-and then you give me a... -We'll try, if you do a bad job

I'm going.

-See you. -See you.

And it turns out the Ami House was kind of awesome.

Cody's mad that I cooked and it got really smoky.

We had to take all the smoke detectors

out of the house because of Nick.

The Unicorns kept me around

when they could have easily swapped me

for a healthy new import,

and they treated me well when I was down.

And that really gave me a sense of love towards the program.

Now this team shouldn't be successful,

yet somehow it finds a way to be.

But ultimately, we're facing Goliath.

And now we were two playoff wins away

from our chance on taking them on.

The best football team on the continent,

led by Casey Therriault,

the most famous player in Germany

and arguably the best quarterback

that European football has ever seen.

German football and European football,

and obviously, what we've done on a-- on a--

I guess on a continental level here, it just feels like

we were-- we were nobody when I got here.

And now it's like the New York Alliance

is-- is the place-- is the place to be.

And-- And-- And the talk of the town

when it comes to European football.

♪

From that, our

D-line is much improved.

We're putting guys in better spots,

-like, using them better. -Yeah.

And right around August, playoff starts

then all of a sudden it's like things start clicking

and you're like, "Oh, shit,

here we come."

There was a whole new level of intensity

heading into playoffs.

During the regular season,

we only play against teams from the GFL South,

so now was our opportunity to

play against teams from the North,

which is historically a much stronger division.

Teams from the North look down on teams from the South,

and now it's win or go home.

You have challenges that you're going to face,

and you have challenges that sometimes may seem overwhelming

or may seem too big or may seem that you might never get it.

But as long as, you know,

you're relentless and you just keep coming after it

and keep coming after it,

eventually that payoff is going to be there.

We are all underdogs.

I'm undersized, you're undersized.

You know, we got on this team that was like, uh, underdogs.

If everything was easy, we don't mind it, why?

Why are we here if it won't even be necessary?

You know, one of the great things

about this import group is you can feel

that they were out to go win a championship.

Have you ever won a championship?

-No. -No, man.

Never won a championship. Never been a part of a team

that was close to winning a championship.

Have you ever won a championship?

Nope, nothing.

I want to be known as-- as-- as-- as

winning the most German Bowls consecutively.

Like, I want to be part of those teams

that dominated more than any other.

That was an emotional, tough win on Saturday.

Way to go.

This is about us as a football team,

playing at the highest level and showing who we really are

and spring forward us into the playoffs.

I want to be known as, you know, the--

the-- the greatest five years of all time.

Be aware of that, fellows, and be on top of little things.

And you're ready to go.

♪

First round of playoffs against the Berlin Rebels.

We run the stadium, alright?

Come on, everyone.

-Who are we? -The U.

The U. The U. It's all about the U.

Raining, it was dirty.

It was just a grind to kind of get through.

This team is notorious in Germany

for playing old school and hard-hitting football.

You check the knife even if they have lots of knives.

After struggling early on,

we were eventually able to take control of the game.

But we did not walk away unscathed.

One of the biggest things that--

that happened in the game was the loss of Tyler Rutenbeck.

You know, we get through that game, we win the game.

Happy to be moving on.

But there was still a dark cloud

that was hanging over everything.

Good job, I'm proud of you

for getting through a game like that,

with rain like that, moving on to the second, uh,

uh, semifinals.

Rudy's out. Rudy's done.

Okay? So we got to just make up for it.

Next man has got to get up and we got to go.

Okay? We've got to go, next man up.

Alright? So let's go to work, okay?

Let's go to work this week, we're in the semi finals,

fellas, it's gonna be a good day.

Here we go.

Go!

Rudy broke his collarbone.

The exact same break that I had.

My first thought was like, I'm done.

Like, no more. I can't play the next playoff game.

Once I had time to, like,

think about it, I thought about the NFL stuff.

It wasn't depression, but it was like, fuck, man,

because I guess that was my ultimate goal, man.

Just go play in a league.

And then I knew it was just not going to happen.

♪

With Rudy out, we tried to scramble

and get an elite receiver for the semi-final game.

We tried, zero message.

-No way. -Yeah.

-Did he really? What did he say? -Yeah.

Basically, he said, we're trying to do as like a selling, like,

kind of Viking's saying, you know,

our players are trying to get extra work in,

you know, returning back,

playing a couple of games and then he'll come back to us.

Blah, blah, blah.

And see if they would be...

But Moritz like, nah, I don't want to ask or something.

We were unsuccessful.

We live this, you now?

We live The Unicorns, so many of us do,

whether it's-- it's coaches, players, fans, we live this.

Um, I work with, um, a military base here.

Uh, I work as security there.

Making practice happen outside of work.

And I got a daughter now as well.

For me, the hardest thing was definitely balancing

my time correctly to where

everybody gets a little piece of Jojo,

I suppose, so...

Okay, behind us, we see the Ilge.

The Ilge is the fan bar

of The Unicorns, players and fans,

they meet up there usually after the game,

discuss the last game or the next game.

And get the news from the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

-That is awesome. -Would you like to draw?

-With chalk? That's cool. -Yeah.

Let's say there is a big number who love The Unicorns

who go-- who like to go to the-- the games who...

Zefron, eh?

It's a big community.

Sure, it's good to meet you.

People like that, this is grown up

in a small town like Schwäbisch Hall

with only 40,000 people living here.

I can-- I mean, uh, it's hard, it's really hard.

But I go,

if I have to make the decision for that,

I go for

that one.

2012 because it was really special.

We had a lot of-- I mean, uh, the team

was really great, the people are really great.

So we stick together.

Had a lot of good memories.

Yeah, I mean, I go for that one.

-We'll get it, alright? -Alright.

-Go. -Nice.

Good job.

Another trick, though.

Getting the chance to like, go up

against American players,

everything in practice is awesome.

And I know they're supposed to run through you,

like, almost every time.

But I think there's a point

and I think that's why we bring Americans to Europe.

Like, it's not for them to go out

and raid the league, it's for them to practice

and compete against

all the German and all the European guys.

So we get the chance to like get better.

When you see stuff like this around town,

-does that feel pretty good? -Yeah.

-Yeah? -That means we've arrived.

You've arrived when you see that.

Did you ever think 33 years ago it's be like this?

No.

Uh, I was hoping, you know, I've always been

part of the-- the dream or the idea

to

you know, be

part of the town culture.

I think we are now.

Go, go, go.

Here you go.

So one of the main things I learned from Sigi is

you just don't make excuses.

Whatever your situation is, whether it's in football

or in life, you make the most out of it.

You do the absolute very best you can.

And Sigi is somebody who just absolutely will not tolerate

somebody making excuses or basically feeling

sorry for himself.

Don't shy away from the adversity,

you know what I'm saying? Welcome it.

Check the-- Hey, left, left, left.

Awesome, awesome.

Because there's going to be some glorious at the end of it,

you know what I'm saying? Something amazing

that's going to come and all you got to do is stick it through

and keep pressing forward.

The semi-final game was against Dresden,

a big bad team from the east of Germany.

♪

I heard a lot of people say,

"Schwäbisch Hall's going to lose this game."

We got it, let's go. We got it.

The game was a back and forth battle.

We were facing a team that had a great offence.

Our offence was rolling but we just couldn't stop them.

We had a fumble, um, on the kickoff.

Kickoff handled by Patrick Donahue.

Well, you could feel the-- guys starting to get nervous

-and getting tensed up. -So it was like,

"Oh, oh. They can come back and take the lead."

You know when you get into those games, it could be--

They're gonna make their plays or you're gonna make yours.

You know, just at the end of day

we're able to make a few more than they were.

We have fucking won this, bitch!

Hey!

We hit the Berlin check.

Berlin, Berlin. We'll be in Berlin.

We're going to...

-Berlin! Berlin!

♪

Well, we've never won white pants.

Go to go with pride playing black.

When we lost...

So, well, on the negative side.

-However... -Exactly. We got to--

-We gotta even out. -Yup.

We have never lost in white pants.

-In Berlin.

White it is.

Fine. Now, we're starting it.

Uh, how many guys-- they were asking

how many guys do we want to bring?

I said my wish would be 50.

Like, on game day roster.

Because I don't want the bus crowded, hotel room crowded.

The more people we're bringing the more chaotic it gets.

More pissed off some of our older players get,

because they don't have the, uh,

space that they would like to have.

-I'm totally against it. -Against what?

Against bringing to 50. I want to bring everybody.

Yeah.

74 on my roster.

That we're not bringing...

And there it is, right there.

That's the heart of the Unicorns.

That's the culture established by Sigi.

-Good job. -Thanks.

But hey, thanks for-- being on the show.

It's a culture that combines success

with treating people the right way.

And I know if I played for any other team,

I would have been sent home when I got hurt.

We said, "Good."

What do you guys think about the German bowl?

Are you excited?

-Win the German Bowl? -Are we going to win?

-Yes. -Yeah?

-Are you going to come? -Yes.

-No, -You go?

-We don't think-- time to come. -Yeah, play.

We-- we look at-- watch TV.

-You're watching on TV? -Yes.

When you will have big six...

I have a big six?

-Yes. -And then we all--

And when you make a big six, you, uh,

-um, make-- Steven-- -Point to--

For Steven?

-Okay, I'll do that. -And--

-And Justin. -And Justin.

I'll say all your names.

Alright guys, time for practice.

-Go. -Let's go.

Him, back on the vertical, right through.

-Here, down, down. -Yeah.

You don't look fine now.

It's cold.

Walk through in a park.

The same park we had in 2012

when we accidentally won the German Bowl.

Left, left, left.

Time to go!

Same hotel we had in 2012

when we accidentally won the German Bowl.

All right, go.

That was good. I think we could really get that far,

but we see this guy turn it and run away...

To back away from it now. This is two by two.

I'd be so locked in on run.

Take that run.

-Hey, go left, left, left!

We have to wait on guard, pinch when we have to go off.

If I tell you it's cold, it is cold, goddammit.

Yeah, okay, this guy is--

He's got to give it. Like, he can't throw this here.

I'm fine with winning again accidentally.

All right, go!

We don't even have to be lucky.

I think we're good enough to dominate the game.

You win the damn general.

Good luck.

-Have fun.

-My dear folks, we're the Uni... -Corns!

Schwäbisch Hall is nearly 800 years old.

Back in the day, it was known for producing salt.

Today, among other things,

it's known for American football.

And I think that's pretty cool.

This town deserves this championship.

♪

The U, the U, it's all about the U!

♪

Ready, go!

♪

♪

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

It's Christian...

Wow!

- Wow!

Fear the Unicorns.

Offense. Listen to me.

Okay? Whatever reason, it always takes us forward.

You know, get rolling against Braunschweig,

for whatever reason.

Every time after that quarter or so goes by,

we start realizing, "Oh, shit. Yeah.

Okay, we can play with anybody, right?"

Coach Tomlin said it, "You deserve this.

Finish this shift the right away!

Finish the shift the right away and you do it with violence!

You do it with violence!

You do it with intimidation for the next 40-- 44 minutes.

-You make it fair. -Well damn played football.

And is this never been that close to halftime?

It's actually it is a 00 game.

It's like--

Just gotta win the second half.

We go shut their asses off.

-Win the second half. -Go.

Remember the first time-- the first time we need 31 points

or something to win. Now we need, 1 point.

Chant.

-Ein, zwei, drei!

-Let's go!

Pass out. Boy, it's complete.

First down, Lions.

No...

Touchdown! David missed the chance.

Come on!

Go harsh!

Yeah, baby!

We want more, baby!

♪

And at that points,

we had the momentum and all you want to do is

get the ball back to your offense,

and give him a chance to go score and,

actually go win this game.

New Yorker ended up running the ball on 3rd and 15.

And I missed the tackle,

and they gained 16 yards.

♪

Missing the tackle on 3rd and 15 was heartbreaking.

We had the momentum and I truly believe

we would have won the game if we stopped them then.

But I soon realized it wasn't about a single play or

a game or even a season.

I entered into a world I had no idea existed.

I got to make new friends,

travel to new places and

found out this game I grew up on thrives

outside the United States.

In a place where the players are good and the fans care.

I experienced an approach to football

that I had never seen before,

and that approach translates to life off the field.

And I think it's something we'll all keep with us.

But it wasn't right.

That's not how the story was supposed to end.

We were the underdogs, the good guys,

and we were supposed to win.

So I went back to Schwäbisch Hall for a second year,

and so did Devin, and so did Rudy, and so did Cody.

Everyone came back to the Unicorns.

Jordan took the reigns as head coach,

and Sigi was still everywhere.

Every practice, every game, still guiding the program

he spent 33 years building.

We knew why we were there. We worked harder.

-Come on. Come on. - We worked smarter.

Like if we started rotations, there's a built in apps.

And we always had them in the back of our minds.

We went on to win every game of the regular season.

14 and 0.

We won the quarterfinal, 15 and 0.

we won the semifinals, 16 and 0.

And one year after our heart-breaking loss,

we found ourselves back in Berlin, back at the German Bowl,

once again facing the New Yorker Lions.

-Who are you? -The U.

-Who are you? -The U.

-Who are you? -The U.

Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn!

♪

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

And the game came down to the last play.

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!

Oh, my God!

And that's a moment I'll never forget.

My friend Devin who lost his dad leading up to the German Bowl

and almost didn't return to Germany,

blocks the kick to win us the game.

Pass me the tissue, please.

Are you okay?

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All I was thinking about was I made my Pa proud.

No, you know what, though?

I'm making myself proud too.

I can't believe, man!

Oh, boy!

Oh, yeah!

-We got it!

The things that happened just led me back here.

And I'm just glad I stuck it out, man.

Happiness is key, it's the main thing, man.

And I'm happy so I feel like with that foundation,

sky's the limit really, man.

Hello, guys!

We got it!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Oh, yeah.

High-five, man!

Hey!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

Unicorn! Unicorn!

♪

♪ Momma, I've got a feeling that I'm onto something ♪

♪ Wings growing on my back ♪

♪ And the bliss that I feel ♪

♪ When I think back and I Check myself In the mirror now ♪

♪ Wrinkles next to my eyes Laughing without a doubt ♪

♪ I got a heart ♪

♪ I got a heart ♪

♪ I know you do ♪

♪ Talk about any stuff ♪

♪ That's good ♪

♪ Momma, I've got a feeling ♪

The really when-- when I started it

I guess, like you said before, as 18 year old kid,

I had no idea where-- where this would lead.

You know, it feels good to-- to have built that

and look back at it.

This will always be Sigi's team.

It will always be Sigi Gehrke's Unicorns.

Proud of you guys. I love you all.

Yeah, love you too, Sigi.

No, I-- I love you all.

I see myself as the next head coach, but,

you know, not necessarily a replacement for him.

But one thing I'll always try and do is

keep the direction and the culture that he set here

because it's a culture of success

and it's a culture of really caring for people.

Siegfried Sigi Gehrke,

he's Mr. Unicorn.

Sigi is Unicorns, I mean,

I don't know like, Sigi never quit for the Unicorns.

I put your wheelchair on the field and go back and forth.

You know, I'll give everything I have,

every amount of energy I have

um, to this program and to continue,

uh, building on what, uh, Sigi has done

and, um, you know, take the-- the team

and to almost,

you could probably say, the next generation of things.

♪