by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Sports are a huge part of my life. I grew up a Chicago sports fan through and through. I’ve seen the ups and downs over the last 30-plus years of triumph, scandal, heroes, and villains. Some of the best moments I’ve seen live have been from sporting events. I froze my butt off watching Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka have his jersey retired at Soldier Field (the worst stadium in the NFL… change my mind) on a December night where the temperature was in single digits. I watched the Chicago Bulls’ Leol Deng tip in a basket in overtime vs the Toronto Raptors to clinch a playoff spot. The one playoff game I’ve been to was the Chicago Blackhawks versus the Detroit Red Wings Game 7 in 2013 on a game winner in overtime by Brent Seabrook on their way to the Western Conference finals which would eventually lead to another Stanley Cup. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.
Those are all professional sports. I’m a little more mixed on college sports.
College sports is definitely a uniquely American thing. The level of investment that universities, students, alumni, and general fans have for college sports is definitely on par with professional athletics. This issue that continually comes up with college athletics has to do with money. For the amount of money that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the amount that is paid to coaches and athletes has been controversial, especially in the last 20 to 30 years. Paying athletes is found to be a punishable offense by the NCAA since student athletes are compensated with an education, room and board or a living stipend, and the perks of public life as an athlete. They are not supposed to be financially compensated or classified as an employee even though the revenue that is generated for the university is enormous. Coaches on the other hand make millions of dollars to shape their collegiate program. Coaches move to different schools for greener pastures, whereas student athletes cannot transfer schools without there being a ton of hassle has also been something that is found to be a bit of a double standard. The movement for players to be compensated more has shifted as of late due to athletes being able to make money off their name, image, and likeness. It’s a step in the right direction but there’s still more work to do.
These questions, controversies, and issues are front and center in National Champions.
National Champions is about star quarterback LaMarcus James (Stephen James) boycotting the biggest game of the year and his career, the College Football National Championship game. He demands the NCAA pay athletes for their services, establish funds for medical care and insurance for athletes and former athletes, and collectively bargain fair compensation for a unionized group of athletes in college. It’s a tall task and a bold move for James, who is not only the best player on his team, but also the expected number one draft pick for the National Football League. There’s also a lot of risk for not only James, but everyone involved like the other players on his team, his coach James Lazor (J.K. Simmons), the boosters, and anyone who has money involved in the game.
What I like about this movie is how timely the message feels. The NCAA currently is in flux due to a changing landscape for what it means to be a student athlete. National Champions looks at a variety of different angles to this issue of paying athletes. It looks at it from a capitalist perspective, where athletes should be properly paid for the work they do. It looks at it from a human perspective, where student athletes are often treated above the law and are treated as if they are invincible. It looks at it from a sports perspective, how tens of thousands of athletes are eligible to be drafted into professional football each year, yet only 300 make it each year. What’s to come of those over athletes? Off to the real world. Finally, it looks at it from a university perspective. For sports that aren’t men’s football or basketball, how will the money be distributed to them even though they do not generate as much revenue or notoriety. This is a complicated topic and it’s not as cut and dry as just paying the athlete. I did appreciate this.
The acting in this is top notch, particularly from Simmons and James. All the other actors are generally fine, however Simmons in particular (as usual) stands above everyone giving it his all from an acting standpoint. Uza Aduba also gets a shoutout for a complicated role as Katherine Poe. Poe is legal representation for the NCAA who is doing a lot of the dirty work behind the scenes. Her scene with LaMarcus James and Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) is a tough scene to watch, but it’s effective in showing how complicated the situation of college athlete compensation is. There are two sequences from an interviewing standpoint that are both great. Simmons is doing a press conference and under great duress says something he really shouldn’t have said. You instantly feel the ripple effect of this as soon as he says it. It feels a lot like how this would happen in real life as well, because if there was a situation where a coach said something he shouldn’t have said during a press conference, it would be instant news. Also LaMarcus James has an interview with Mike Greenberg of ESPN and their conversation shows the double standard with coaches and commissioners versus athletes.
Where this film loses some steam is in just how ridiculous the situation becomes. Something always comes up to make the situation more and more murky. This is compounded by adding unnecessary drama with coach Lazor’s personal life regarding his wife Bailey (Kristen Chenoweth). There’s no doubt in my mind that the NCAA would use similar tactics in real life; however, I don’t think there would be this intricate of a situation involving scandals and backstabbing from a variety of different people. Even though Simmons is doing great work from an acting standpoint, there’s not enough time for his story to truly develop. I guess part of the point is I’m supposed to care more about the athlete than the coach, but there’s a lot to be said about the relationship between LaMarcus and coach Lazor. They hardly ever interact in the movie for me to see their relationship. LaMarcus’ motivation to do this boycott is also murky as well. Why is he doing this and who is he doing this for is all over the place. There were some missed opportunities to use more of the cast. I could’ve used more Lil Rel Howery’s coach Ronnie Dunn and Timothy Olyphant’s Elliott Schmidt. In turn, some of the cast is a little too over-the-top in terms of the mustache twirling villainy and greed that comes from college athletics. I could have done without the boosters and alumni and would have loved to see more from the other athletes on the team. This was definitely a missed opportunity. The ending of this was another missed opportunity that I don’t think was effective. I wasn’t looking for a completely happy ending like in Draft Day where everything works out, but the ending we get just didn’t leave me with any emotions.
National Champions won’t go down as one of the great sports movies of all time, but it may become an important movie in terms of its place in life imitating art. The acting is pretty good, but the story is a bit much. It loses a little focus on what the important part should be: the athletes. It entertained me enough but the message and themes are all over the place. If you like sports movies or labor movement movies, check this out.
Grade: C+
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