NIMROD NATION

(2007) Directors:
Matthew Akers, Benjamin Wolf, Jeff Fisher, Erica Forstadt, Todd Lubin, Brett Morgen, Christo Garcia

DVD
Netflix

SUMMARY:

A documentary about the Watersmeet high school basketball team--and the people who intensely support it...

“Nimrod Nation” loosely follows the fortunes of the Watersmeet boys’ basketball team through the 2005-2006 season. Along the way it paints an unvarnished portrait of everyday life in a rugged northwoods town, the good, the bad, the indifferent.

VIDEO:

Episode 1 preview
Episode 2 preview
Episode 3 preview
Episode 4 preview
Episode 5 preview
Episode 6 preview
Episode 7 preview
Episode 8 preview

REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Interview with director Brett Morgen at filmstew.com
• Other films by Brett Morgen:

• On the Ropes (TRAILER)
  
• The Kid Stays in the Picture (FULL FEATURE)
• Chicago 10 (TRAILER)

NOTES:

Nimrod Nation was spun out of some ESPN commercials that aired during Super Bowl week, 2003. The idea behind that ad campaign was to underscore how much athletic competition means in American life.
Freelance producer Brett Morgen looked for high schools with unusual mascot names, and, not surprisingly, seized on the Nimrods. “Without sports,” the ads asked, “who would cheer for the Nimrods?”
Rooted in the Book of Genesis, the figure Nimrod is a mighty hunter. More recent colloquial use has, of course, twisted the name to mean bumbling idiot. These days the term has produced plenty of attention for Watersmeet Township School. After the commercials aired, team members and Coach George Peterson appeared on CBS’ Early Show, then The Tonight Show.
Since 2004, more than $550,000 worth of Nimrod apparel has been sold--not bad for a K-12 program with 79 high school students. And those sales were racked up without even trying--enterprising customers tracked down Watersmeet Schools through the web.