[NABS-L] Football!

[Steve Cook]

Its time for some football! 

This month's audio described movie is American Underdog, the Kurt Werner
Story. We hope you will join us for the movie! You will find more
information below the Zoom link. join us 

NFB of SC Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8032543777?pwd=QTVQd2RzN3l6QnNmZ0FmSnp6NG8vQT09

Meeting ID: 803 254 3777
Passcode: 124578
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,8032543777# US (New York)
+13017158592,,8032543777# US (Germantown)

Dial by your location
        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

Date: Friday, September 2, 2022
Time: 8:00 PM Eastern
Run Time: 1 hour and 52 minutes
Rating PG

The film starts out with a young Kurt Warner who watches Super Bowl XIX. He
makes a lifelong commitment to become a Super Bowl and MVP quarterback.

Several years later, Kurt is playing his fifth year for the University of
Northern Iowa (UNI) Panthers football team with coach Terry Allen. Allen
threatens to bench Warner after repeatedly not staying in the pocket after
dropping back to pass, which would effectively end Warner's NFL dream. After
a brutal practice following the coach's orders, Kurt continues to be the
starter and his numbers climb to a point where he has a chance at the Draft.

Meanwhile, Kurt becomes attracted to a woman he sees dancing at a country
bar. He decides to learn how to dance to impress her. He finds out her name
is Brenda and that she is a single mom with two kids and is a nursing
student struggling financially. Even though she doesn't think it will work
out, Kurt becomes persistent and walks three miles to her house to get her
number and finds out that she was a Marine corporal and that her son is
disabled. He instantly bonds with the children and they decide to give it a
try.

With his last season of college football over, Kurt anxiously awaits the
draft. He doesn't get picked and wonders why God gave him a dream that he
would never obtain. He later finds out that the Green Bay Packers gave him
the chance to try out. The tryout goes badly and Kurt goes home dejected.
Becoming homeless, he moves in with Brenda and lives in the basement. He
takes a job at a Hy-Vee grocery store, working nights stocking shelves. He
finds out that success is not found on the football field, but how one acts
when confronted with disappointments.

Brenda's parents sell the house and move to another state, putting them in a
tough situation, and the couple continue to struggle. At one point, their
car runs out of gas and Kurt walks several miles in a blizzard to get to the
nearest gas station.

Kurt gets approached by Jim Foster, who offers him the quarterback position
for the Arena Football League's Iowa Barnstormers. Kurt agrees after he
finds that no one in the NFL is interested in him.

Arena football is different as it is smaller and much more fast paced. He
loses his first game but wins the next game. Kurt and Brenda's relationship
is strained from the long commute, and they briefly break up. Brenda's
parents are killed in a tornado and she and Kurt decide to get back
together. They get married and Kurt finishes the 1996 Arena Football League
season with the Iowa Barnstormers in ArenaBowl X, a heart-breaking loss in
when his completed pass on the last play of the game comes up one yard short
of the end zone.

Kurt is given another chance when he gets invited to a tryout by the St.
Louis Rams. He doesn't think he will make it as he is having to re-adjust to
normal football and the offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, berates him
relentlessly for every mistake. The head coach, Dick Vermeil, believes in
him and tells Kurt he made the team. When starting quarterback Trent Green
goes down with an injury in the 1999 NFL preseason, Kurt eventually becomes
the starting quarterback.

In his first game, Kurt and the Rams face a strong Baltimore Ravens defense
led by linebacker Ray Lewis. After a turnover on his first drive, Kurt picks
the Ravens defense apart. With a 27-10 lead, the Rams go into victory
formation, and Warner takes a knee to end the game. He immediately gives
thanks to God for the opportunity and kisses Brenda in the stands.

The Rams would post a 13-3 record that season and become known as The
Greatest Show on Turf because of the high-powered offense led by Warner. The
Rams would go on to defeat the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV. During
the game, Kurt would throw the most passing yards in a Super Bowl, breaking
Joe Montana's record. Doing so helped him win Super Bowl MVP and be crowned
the NFL MVP, making him the first undrafted player to be named either of
those in NFL history.

The credits show that he would play in two other Super Bowls, become
enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, and he and Brenda
continue to live happily married with seven children.

Cast
Zachary Levi as Kurt Warner
Beau Hart as young Kurt Warner[4]
Anna Paquin as Brenda Warner
Dennis Quaid as Dick Vermeil
Chance Kelly as Mike Martz
Cindy Hogan as Sue Warner
Ser'Darius Blain as Mike Hudnutt
Adam Baldwin as Terry Allen
Bruce McGill as Jim Foster
Danny Vinson as Larry
Hayden Zaller as Zack Warner
Cora Kate Wilkerson as Jesse Jo Warner
OJ Keith Simpson as Marshall Faulk
Nic Harris as Ray Lewis
Other real life people depicted in the film include Steve Mariucci, Reggie
White, Brett Favre, Trent Green, Isaac Bruce, Mike Holmgren, and Ty Detmer.