Original subtitles

SPORTSCASTER 1: Get your popcorn ready, because 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 bon 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.

SPORTSCASTER 2: Wolves' quarterback,

the Heisman Trophy winner LeMarcus James, possibly the best quarterback,

to come into the NFL since Patrick Mahomes.

SPORTSCASTER 3: And do you know who agrees with me on that? Miami.

'Cause they are poised to take the number one overall,

and I'm hearing for about $35 million guaranteed.

Meanwhile, for the Cougars, we 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.

SPORTSCASTER 2: You have legacies on the line.

You have controversy surrounding the sport as a whole.

Monday cannot get here soon enough

for the college football national title game.

(SIGHS)

(SIGHS DEEPLY)

(TAPPING SOUNDS)

EMMETT: You hear that? The popping?

Was that elbow to helmet with Michigan State's Will backer.

I ride simple, 68 blasts... Wham!

Darn thing ain't been right since.

Lead.

Hmm?

It's 141 lead.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure... If you are on the second level,

then you were lead blocking. Michigan State ran Chicago 53

with a robber in the box.

I mean, no way you got to the Will backer on the blast.

Hmm.

It could have been lead.

(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 goodwill,

"shepherds the weak through the Valley of Darkness. Mmm-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.

"And you will know my name is the Lord... "...my name is the Lord...

"for I lay my fingers upon thee." "...lay my finger upon thee."

(IMITATING GUNSHOTS) (BOTH GROAN)

(GASPS LOUDLY)

(BOTH LAUGHING)

You stupid, man.

That was an Oscar-worthy performance.

LeMARCUS: Shit.

Oh, shit, old Quentin sure can write them.

Yeah, he can.

Damn.

Hey, you turn your location services off?

Yeah.

On the iPad, too.

You 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.

Bow your head, man.

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 getting better at that.

(GASPS SOFTLY)

We're live.

You'd best get a move on, then.

Coach can 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, Lukey. Right there. This is what I'm talking about.

Simple stretch sweep to 34.

Lukey, 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 10.

Okay, real quick.

Cecil scores on this play, right?

Yeah, 80-yard sprint where he outruns the free safety.

Yeah, against Vanderbilt, I could outrun the free safety.

So here's what we do. If we move Cornelius to the middle, we pinch in the OLBs,

we got our safeties, and they can 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? I'll tell you what, you come back here tonight.

You guys can touch and you can watch film all night long, how's that?

72 hours to 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. Yeah.

That's your life offense. 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. Mmm-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.

Lukey, set all staff for 7:00 a.m. Bed check on time. On time.

Will do.

Bed check. Let's go!

Hey, guys, get in your room now.

What up, Scotty? Yo, what up, Orlando?

Is Walton in there, too? Yeah, he in the bathroom.

All right, well, get some rest.

Talk to you later, man. For sure.

Hey, Coach, check them back there for me. Sure.

(KNOCKS ON DOOR)

Yo, LJ, Em. It's Scotty, open up. MAN: Hurry up, fellas!

Come on, guys, stop playing. Open up.

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

That's bed check.

Yo, Scotty. I'm already asleep, man.

Yeah, Sunday's snoring like an ox.

You hear him? (SNORING)

He broke his nose so many times. Once he gets on his back, I'm screwed.

Yeah, 8:00 a.m. sprints and above... Got it.

He buy it? Hell, yeah.

Thank God Snickers sponsored this game and not some insurance company.

You hungry? No.

(BREATHES DEEPLY)

LAZOR: Well, I'm telling you, I know they don't have boosters

this good-looking in the Big 12.

I know the Cougars don't look this good.

(LAUGHTER)

We have built this program into a juggernaut.

Two consecutive conference championships,

two consecutive playoff berths, and now, for the first time

in program history, we are headed to our first national title game.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

All of you in this room, you have supported, pushed and prodded,

and sometimes much, much worse...

(LAUGHTER)

...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!

(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)

You're seriously pressing your bet again?

Half a million dollars?

Come on, Rodger, 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.

He just liked the free drinks. Well, hear, hear.

Question is, how in the glorious hell are we gonna stop Cecil Burgess?

Fastest I've 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?

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? But I'll tell you what. He was...

He was pretty raw when we found him, and obviously, he's developed

into something really, really special.

Do you think you can convince him he ain't ready to jump for another year?

I'm just gonna support whatever's best for LeMarcus.

TAYLOR: Amen. Coach, I got a kid in Little Rock, hell of an arm,

got to show you some videos of him. I'd 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 at the dealership?

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. Thanks for everything. Sure.

We may have a situation.

LeMarcus just tweeted this earlier tonight.

He says he's boycotting the game.

Reporters are already swarming.

We're trying to keep them off the players' floor.

We'll 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.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

Hey.

Hi.

A poet at a football game.

Philosopher at a football game.

(LAUGHS) Anyway...

You look fantastic.

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 them?

No, but I spoke to LJ on the phone.

What the fuck, you ain't seen nobody? You mark...

You don't do bed check on the goddamn telephone.

You check the goddamn bed. For Christ's sake. God damn 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... When was the last time did y'all see him?

Come on now. Huh? When he got off the bus.

Hey, LeMarcus, this is Coach. Just hit me back here on the work cell.

Okay? If you're out and about, no problem.

Just checking in, okay? We'll see you for a.m. sprints, man.

God damn it. There's the guy with the key, Coach.

I'm sorry. All right.

LAZOR: LeMarcus, damn it. God damn 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.

Come on, Cornelius, open up the door.

Hey!

Fuck, hold on.

What do you want, Coach?

What the fuck is that smell?

It's Peyton's ass after Popeye's. Is 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.

Look, man, just be ready for sprints in the morning.

Nasty-ass kids.

Yo, Orlando.

How drunk are you, man? Haven't had a drink 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 can sell our names. What about everybody else, huh?

Oh!

Wait, wait, wait. Hold up, hold up.

So you're going to sit the national title game

so some punt coverage Wayne Burnett gets...

A real piece, yeah.

(LAUGHS)

Shit.

LJ, you need to think about this, bruh.

You and crazy Bible-Belt Sunday

going to get laughed out the building, and if you're lucky, what?

What? You're going to post some shit 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.

So, you ain'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're going to 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.

All right. I'll watch this show as long as you want,

but I ain't getting 100 yards from here.

Good luck.

I cannot believe that you are here, you sneak.

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. (CHUCKLES) Fine by me.

I'm going to 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.

Just have 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.

I don't know.

Maybe I want more.

(COUGHS)

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 Frenchman Street.

Yeah, we like taking in the sights, Ned.

Okay, your money.

(COUGHING)

We're sure walking the talk now. Why, 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 it running, Ned. We may have to dine and dash.

LeMarcus, Cathy Levy. Nice to meet you.

Yeah, nice to meet you. This is Emmett.

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.

Whenever you're ready, if you can go ahead and take a seat.

Holy shit.

Man, you look good 10 stories high.

Just had to put that in the background, huh?

Here goes nothing. Go get 'em.

EMMETT: Wait, wait.

CATHY: You ready? We're recording.

(COUGHS)

"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 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 Playoffs

"is $7.3 billion over the next 12 years."

That's over $600 million a year for 3 games.

That's the reason they're expanding the playoffs to 12 games.

(BREATHES DEEPLY)

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's exploitative,

and it speaks of 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 trust

"for every Division 1 varsity athlete.

"Number two.

"The NCAA will form and contribute to a player's disability pension

"for Division 1 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.

(EXHALES)

(CLEARS THROAT)

EVERLY: He said he'd be right over, so...

Got a lot on his plate.

Hey, there he is.

All right.

Come on in, Coach. Thanks for coming over so quick.

This is Wes Martin from the Big 12.

He's going to be our enemy for the next 48 hours.

Kevin McDonald from the CFP. We met yesterday.

And Mike Titus, Senior VP, Championships, D-1 Football.

James, we've actually met. Yeah, at the Outback Bowl, two seasons ago.

That's right You've come a long way.

Looks like you have, too.

Yes, indeed. Please have a seat.

Real, real mess we got here.

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 that can't play anymore.

You still don't know where he is?

What? Where LeMarcus is.

We're broadcasting this game in 160 countries.

They're all tuning in to watch him go against Cecil Burgess.

Boy, 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... 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 bouncing them out of my apartment three at a time, huh?

LAZOR: LeMarcus is not a... He's 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.

EVERLY: Okay, well, you know Coach is going to right the ship.

He just needs a little more time, right?

LAZOR: Yeah. 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.

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're 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.

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-something hours to kickoff here, guys.

Need to make sure everybody's suiting up.

Hasn't been a single defection from our side.

It's theirs that's falling apart.

Hey, nothing's falling apart, okay? Everybody, relax a little bit...

Three wide receivers just tweeted, "We're in."

With the hashtag that's going viral,

#fixthesystem.

Your other two stars, Bishop and Cornelius, could be next.

Orlando Bishop is my one and only captain.

He's 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 their 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.

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 nothing.

We got time. 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.

All right, let's go get this done and get out of here.

Keep it running, Ned. We'll be back in 20.

Eat, nigga.

Eat. Watching, pushing.

Nigga, I'm nice. I'm nice. Watch this bucket right here. Bucket!

(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Hold on.

Hey, don't fucking cheat.

Hello, Roc. Emmett Sunday, Esquire.

You may know me from such hits as "Last Stand at the Texas Stadium."

"Destruction of the Peach Bowl." It's not funny.

I'm number 82? Yeah, the tight end.

What the fuck you want? The one and only.

You mind if I come in for a second? Thanks.

Not really. Hold on, you just gonna walk in my room like that?

Cecil, what's going on, man?

Emmett Sunday. How you doing? Hey, bro. Why you turn on my light like that?

Wait a minute. I'm just gonna turn off this TV.

Yo, white boy... 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, nah, nah. This way first.

Get the fuck out of here.

I ain't fucking with you.

Yo, this LeBron, nigga.

That's LeBron. LeBron DMed these fucks.

That's the king. Oh, shit, he just said, "What's up?" to you.

Yeah, he said, "What's up?" to you 'cause he knows you're here.

You know how much I love Lebron. 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.

Lunch with LeBron in LA? You know I love tacos, nigga. Hold on, how we do that?

It's a little weird, but I need your phones.

Our phones?

I just need your phone.

Fuck it.

Hey, it's LeBron. Here. Come on, give me your phone.

Come on, Cecil. I ain't gonna do anything weird with it.

Come on, and keep my phone as collateral.

Collateral and shit. I'mma pocket this bitch.

Don't move.

Yeah. Yeah.

Bro, LeBron. LeBron, though. (EMMETT WHISTLING)

What's happening, fellas? Surprise, surprise.

Not Lebron. So what's up? I know y'all seen it.

Yeah, we seen it. 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.

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 eight to Baltimore at the latest.

He ain't risking that fucking with y'all.

Buffalo should take him at three. They're going to tackle.

Maybe Miami gets smart and takes you at one.

Then where are you going to go? Me? Shit.

CFL after this, probably.

Saskatchewan or some shit like that. Saskatchewan?

Listen, they're still going to find a way to play this game without me and Emmett.

All right, we're going to need you.

EMMETT: 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're gonna Kaepernick him like you.

Come on, bro. 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 going to do?

Hmm?

It's called collective action.

Where the fuck you learn a big word like that?

Intro to Organized Labor. (SNIGGERS) A class?

He talking about a class.

Only class you probably took was Intro to Organized Dick Sucking.

Flap your gums 'cause you're scared? Scared of what? You?

Scared you 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 lead.

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.

No hard feelings. Yep. No hard feelings.

Collective action.

Man, I hope we get to play those guys.

Go ahead, Ned. 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.

I wonder how many of these we've gone through already.

(CROWD CHEERING)

WOMAN: Orlando, here!

We don't want nobody to know. The press or anybody.

They won't even know that we checked, okay?

All present and accounted for, Scotty?

Yes, sir.

LeMarcus James,

for those of you who are not familiar, he won the Heisman Trophy this year,

most famous player in college football.

Picture's a 130 feet tall across the street,

and now you're telling me, what, he's the fucking Invisible Man?

SCOTTY: I mean, we're working with hotel security, Coach.

I mean, they went out a fire exit without a camera.

That's how we lost him. 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 going to be JV

at the fucking Little Sisters of the Poor.

Go! Get out there! Go fucking find him now!

We'll find him, Coach. God damn it.

God damn.

Fellas, eat up.

Y'all can hate me all you want.

I ain't the one y'all should be hating.

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.

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 that's 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-fisting with them shits, getting kicked out of college twice.

Shit. And we're out there every single day,

blood, sweat and tears. 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 easier to go along to get along.

Hey, don't let them tell you 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?

Guys, don't think this isn't a two-way street.

Where do you green fucks

think you'll transfer 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 multibillion-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? Because you've been playing D-1 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?

Then 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, staying 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 can set ourselves up and future generations

"to come..." Tell 'em about the barn, LJ.

Because there is a barn in Galilee

with grain fields 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!"

(COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING)

Boo. Boo.

Come with me.

(CHUCKLING)

I plan to, baby.

I mean it.

Start a new chapter.

You really want me there?

I do.

Really?

Beneath the burning sun, under the sailor's moon

In the rain, and in the snow

On the field, we run

On the field, we run together

We run together, We win together

We are the Wolves

We are the pack!

(ALL HOWL)

(CROWD CHEERING)

MAN: Give it up for French Montana!

You like that? You like that, baby? That was for y'all.

(HOWLING)

Keep them 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, fillet 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.

$500. What does that get me, Brett?

A room number.

What time do you get off? (CHUCKLES) Not mine.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

RODGER: LeMarcus, Emmett.

It's Rodger and Taylor, open up.

(KNOCKING CONTINUES) (SIGHS)

I guess we have to get another room again.

RODGER: Hey.

Just go get it before they wake up the whole hotel, man.

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? 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. RODGER: Taylor!

What I think my associate is trying to communicate here is that we're hurting.

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'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 a meat packing plant in Chicago. Now, Jurgis was young.

He was bigger, stronger than the rest of them,

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?

Because they weren't about to take care of no broke immigrant.

LeMarcus, 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 going to pay you

$35 million... Million, yeah, I know.

And that's a whole lot of meat.

What about the guys who ain't going to 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, wait, this whole thing's about you? It's about everyone, man.

What the fuck do you think you're going to do?

You can't square off with the entire system.

You two cannot unionize college sports, and that's a fact.

We ain't two. What?

It ain't just two of us no more, and that's a fact.

MALCOLM: We have to dismantle the structure and do something that's more equitable,

that's fair 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,

um, 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.

I mean, this guy's given up possibly $35 million,

maybe the first pick overall, I mean... 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 is 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. WILSON: 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.

You're up early. What, do you sleep in that power suit?

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.

Well, 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. I heard.

They think they can win this.

If we offer talks, then they'll 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, Miss Poe.

But you do.

(LEMARCUS COUGHS)

It's started. What?

They got their hounds loose.

You know they're gonna dig up more.

CROWD: LJ! LJ! LJ! LJ! LJ!

We're going to have to move again.

No more running. Let them come.

Luke?

Yes, every player.

I don't care.

Luke!

On the goddamn roof, for all I care, 30 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.

Bailey, you can't be doing that now. This is fucking serious. LeMarcus...

God damn 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 going to... 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. God damn, you fucking selfish...

Wow! Finish it. Finish it.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

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 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?

Question. If I hadn't stayed here, explained to you that I was leaving,

would you have noticed I'd gone? I know. I get it.

I get it. I want to 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...

Bailey, I need you here with me now, please.

Oh. Um, you want Coach, he's in the back.

Can you please... Yeah, sure.

Thank you. Excuse me, I'm sorry. Sure. Sure.

Good to meet you.

Coach?

Coach Lazor?

Morning, Coach. Uh, Katherine Poe.

We met earlier. Is now okay, sir?

It's kind of urgent.

Everything all right?

If there's anything I can do... Just... What do you want?

You have a rebellion on your hands, sir.

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's left knee,

which unfortunately has no cartilage.

He's been hiding it for five months.

And 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'd be lucky if he got to go day two, and he's known that for some time.

I've 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 a limp during practice.

Come on, now. 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...

Bullshit. Yes, sir, before the teller window closes forever.

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-3 quarterback with a noodle for an arm,

who runs a 5-flat 40 time...

How does a guy like that become the head coach

of not one, but two D-1 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 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.

(EXHALES)

I know right now you think life is always going to 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 100.

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 them,

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.

Well, some of you are looking at me like, "Well, bullshit, Coach.

"Come on now. You've got money.

"You're fucking rich."

Yeah, I got money 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 100 million people all over the world.

Glory.

The greatest glory you are ever going to feel.

You want to give that up?

For those of you who were thinking about boycotting,

you've made your point.

They are going to 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.

(ALL APPLAUDING)

KATHERINE: 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 know, collect yourself, okay...

Let's get it over with.

Right.

One miner's breakfast. (GLASS THUDS)

Breakfast of champions.

(COUGHS)

TV PRESENTER: ...I'll tell you, ice in his veins.

Now I understand we have some late breaking news.

Yes, we're going to a live press conference

with Wolves' head coach, James Lazor.

MAN ON TV: Coach Lazor, when did you first notice

LeMarcus James' knee?

(SIGHS)

Well, I had noticed a slight limp after week three,

but I just chalked it up to,

you know, the usual bumps and bruises.

So I was disappointed when I found out

that he'd been concealing something more serious.

I can't believe the Coach is doing this to you.

WOMAN 1: Do you think he concealed his injury

to protect his draft status?

LAZOR: I don't know. He's going to have to pass

a very thorough physical before the draft,

so I don't... Found that MRI quick. Their man's good.

WOMAN 2: 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'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.

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER) Um...

That's the last question.

Well, that already went viral.

(SCOFFS)

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER ON TV)

Call Greeny.

Tell him we're going live.

Just blast it all over Twitter, too.

GREENBERG: 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 going to 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 8 years, maybe 20.

But name me an NFL team that wouldn't take

8 to 20 years of elite quarterback play.

You see, the reality is, this isn't about me.

This is about our current system.

This is about my fellow D-1 athletes and teammates who have fallen victim to,

quite frankly, a plantation mentality.

GREENBERG: I want to talk about that mentality.

That's fucking rich,

because 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?

GREENBERG: 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.

Now 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 all the injuries he 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 this 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,

I mean, all athletes, down to the special teams...

Jesus.

...are considered and compensated. Now.

This crazy motherfucker. (CHUCKLES)

There you have it, directly from LeMarcus James.

LeMarcus, thank you very much. All right, LeMarcus.

I appreciate the time.

We'll take a short break, 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!

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

zigzag'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 lay-up like where your sneaker money goes.

Okay.

Band fields, softball stadiums.

Turquoise-green Bermuda fucking sod.

Where else? Orlando Bishop just tweeted this.

He's out. Well, that's cute.

We got four players threatening to walk now, too.

How the hell 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 taking a minute.

He's tanking. He's fine.

TITUS: What does he need? A divorce lawyer.

(SCOFFS) 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...

Ronnie Dunn, defensive coordinator. Do you trust him?

Yeah, a 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 playoffs 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 Bemelmans Bar of the Carlyle.

Bouncing them out of your apartment

three at a time, right?

Fuck you.

(CHUCKLES)

Hoo!

ANNOUNCER: We're still 24 hours away from the Snickers national title game.

Only the biggest... MAN: 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...

WOMAN: Look, 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, explained to you

that I was leaving, would you have noticed I'd gone?

(PANTING)

Coach! Coach Lazor!

WOMAN: Oh, my God. Look, it's Coach Lazor.

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER)

Sorry, buddy. It's really not a good time, okay?

Not now!

Not now!

Hey, 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.

NEWSCASTER: The NCAA may have started with this 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, plain and simple. (KNOCK ON DOOR)

And I thought this was America. I thought...

Yeah? DUNN: Ronnie Dunn.

EMMETT: You all by your lonesome? (GROANS)

DUNN: Just me.

Coach. (DOOR CLOSES)

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.

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're still gonna play the game.

The 19 freshmen? Cornelius?

They don't care who plays as long as it's on TV.

The Shit Bowl.

DUNN: They shitting their pants right now.

They finally got so desperate where they approached me

and said if Lazor doesn't show up, I can bring the team out to the field.

So Coach is sitting? 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 the best official coaches in this country.

I don't need no fucking handouts.

Amen, Coach.

I mean, 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. Bright future, got his knees shredded in practice.

And the result of that, they took his scholarship away.

But Hannibal did something interesting, all right?

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 Louisiana Supreme Court.

EMMETT: What happened?

Student athlete.

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.

Maybe you two will change it. I don't know.

But I want y'all to understand something,

there's a lot of Hannibal 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)

We're going to need Cecil on board.

We both don't play, the advertisers start pulling out.

It's the only way.

RODGER: Take a little more of the edge off.

Gotta let it out.

If you don't, it just stays inside you, becomes poison.

Okay, what's the plan? Damn it.

I can't even focus on that right now.

Well, you got to. You got to bifurcate.

Well, I don't know what that means, but I think I get the gist of it.

About to lose 500,000 'cause of LeMarcus. RODGER: Taylor.

He fucked us. Put the phone down.

He fucked us. Put the phone down.

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 is 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.

We need to focus on that.

Can you please just focus... 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 freshmen...

Nobody's asking... ...go in there and get our ass kicked?

Nobody's asking you.

That's not competition. That's a fucking slaughter.

You gotta figure it out. I'm doing what I can.

You gotta do better, Coach. You're on a contract.

Fuck that contract.

Are you talking to me about the fucking contract right now?

I can 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 hurting right now.

Let's just give it a hour or two.

See the state of play, it's best not to make any decisions feeling this way.

I'll tell you what, it's the ones that are closest to us that hurt us the most.

(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING)

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.

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.

(SPEAKING ITALIAN)

Crap, I think I just called you "my pistachio."

Your phone sucks. Is mine in there?

It is here.

You just got a text from a guy named Mike Titus.

What?

Crap. I just must have grabbed James's personal again by accident.

Can you bring it to me, mi pistachio?

He's probably going ape shit right now.

After everything we've done for LeMarcus,

every single one of those kids are spoiled brats.

Spoiled fricking brats.

Geez.

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?

Do you see this? Probably not, because 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...

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 a part of the system than you think.

Get out.

Get the fuck out of here. (CRIES)

Leave!

(SOFTLY) Fuck me.

(CRYING)

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

(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 10 floors up, playing 2K.

No, wait, you haven't even heard my offer yet.

It is a pretty good offer, a lot of wonderful things,

and a lot of meat on the bone.

Okay, what you got? (SIGHS)

I send the best concierge doctor in New Orleans, Dr. Eric, to your room.

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 going to be a pass.

No, wait.

You haven't heard the cherry on top.

The best part is you don't go to jail.

For boycotting a football game?

For the attempted murder of Casey Walton.

Wow. Wow!

For the last 48 hours,

you guys have been trying to destroy this man,

and what, you lay on an outright assassination?

For what, money? Casey 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 Gin Mill Bar and Grill.

So I spoke to his mother.

And she jumped at the idea of being able to... 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, don't.

She ain't got nothing.

Let's get out of 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 going to 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 Casey's ass.

But guess what?

This is America.

Nobody cares about your brother.

Nobody.

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 Casey and his family,

because that's what we do in big football, right?

You protect the phenom

when he has a chance to bring 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. How do you live with yourself?

Honestly, how do you live... I'm 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,

because you don't have the $50 to pay for it?

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 going to run myself out of that Red Hook project.

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 fighting for.

You know, but... (CLEARS THROAT)

(EXHALES)

Hey, what do I know?

I'm heartless.

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR CLOSES)

STEVE 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 going to have some great football action for you...

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 odds makers 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.

Well, 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.

I mean, 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. (KNOCK ON DOOR)

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)

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.

(COUGHS)

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?

Sorry.

No. Hey, you don't owe me anything.

You're the one, the two of you,

who had the guts and the vision.

I meant about her.

Oh.

Yeah, her, well...

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...

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 on my travels.

I believe that's your coach's.

It 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 saying we keep going?

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.

It's off to Rome for me, comrades.

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. BOTH: Vici.

(COUGHING)

God damn. Well,

we're about due for our surrender.

What you thinking? I don't fucking know.

My head is pounding.

Where is that doc? Yeah, I'll go get him.

He said he'd wait in the lobby.

(COUGHS)

Damn, you're sick.

See if I can get you another IV.

I'll be back in 10.

(INDISTINCT CHANTING IN THE DISTANCE)

TITUS: As soon as he gets here, we'll have the coach and him reunite,

pleasantries, and then we'll get right

to inviting the media, and I'll give them a few minutes.

They'll go off to play... (KNOCK ON DOOR)

Here we go.

LeMarcus has risen. There he is. Hey, there he is!

All right.

Great to see you. Can I get you something?

Some water? Snickers?

(MEN LAUGH)

I'm good. Thanks.

You were a little under the weather, but you're better now.

Yeah.

TITUS: That's good news.

WES: Not for us.

(MEN CHUCKLE)

MAN: True.

I just wanted to 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 your conduct.

Very honorable.

LAZOR: LeMarcus.

The team is back.

They heard about this deal and...

Everybody else is playing.

It's just you and Emmett now.

These gentlemen are giving you a committee,

and they are going to address all of your grievances.

So...

Time to put on those pads,

join your brothers and do battle.

Everybody's counting on you.

I'm counting on you.

You know, I assure you, LeMarcus, this isn't a ceremonial committee.

We're going to 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 camera. 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?

Our demands haven't changed.

(CHUCKLES)

It's a sealed case file from that fateful night at the Gin Mill.

The detectives investigated for two weeks,

and then (SIGHS) suddenly, Casey Walton

decided to drop the charges.

A lot of moving pieces in there, LeMarcus.

This thing is a minefield.

You found my brother yet? KATHERINE: Getting close.

I'd really love to stop the search and just have a beer,

watch a football game.

Why don't we tell them, 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...

You're making history here already.

They're going to write books about you.

Now don't throw everything away

for whatever this self-righteous bullshit is.

Come on, man, you've worked too hard.

Hmm.

We've worked too hard for this.

Let's just go fucking 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 playing.

You see, in order to slay Goliath,

you've got to do it on the biggest stage

with the brightest lights.

Millions of people, an entire system,

so desperate for one more win,

they do anything, give anything.

No matter how many bodies you got to stand on top of.

And then you got your professor,

who's fucking the coach's wife,

to give you everything you need, and you win.

Motherfucker!

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

God damn you, you fucking ungrateful...

Jesus fucking Christ, LeMarcus!

My wife, my wife!

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)

God damn, LeMarcus, 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're the only one who knew about that file.

You stoop even lower and you bring Reggie into this?

But 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.

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

to get you more wins and get you more money.

I am not your son.

I'm a man.

Yeah, you are.

And I love you.

But I got a football game to win.

(TITUS CLEARS THROAT) Gentlemen, would you step out for a minute?

Give us some time?

(THUDS)

LeMARCUS: You open up that minefield,

it's going to be more than me and Reggie.

On Coach's phone,

we got emails from prosecutors, law enforcement.

All of them 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.

Ms. 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, he 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."

It was self-defense.

TITUS: Maybe so.

Maybe so, but it doesn't 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 into 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)

ANNOUNCER: 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. Mmm-hmm. It was.

Gonna have to drain the fluid out of this damn thing again.

You look better, lighter.

Finally breathing through my nose.

By the way, that Doc Holliday head fake?

You playing like you were on your deathbed was sure good.

Lacked the nuance of Kilmer, but I bought it.

"I'll be your Huckleberry."

(CHUCKLES)

You sure they didn't try to use me against you?

No. 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 doing shit.

STEVE ON TV: 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. Leave it. We're talking about for years to come,

for a variety of reasons.

A lot of the controversy still looms

with LeMarcus James being missing from the action,

as he continues his fight against the NCAA practices,

a stance that has gone crazy on social media

with the viral hashtag, #fixthesystem.

STEVE: 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: Well, I think you'll see

these coaches have these teams prepared.

You know, these players have worked so hard to get to this moment,

that I think that they will be focused on...

At least we made some noise, right?

That wasn't just noise.

The truth is out now because of us.

They can't hide it.

Now more people are gonna stand up a lot more.

And they'll know right where to hit them.

Yeah.

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.