Nimrod Nation

I recently saw a documentary made by Kevin Proudfoot of Weiden & Kennedy and Director Brett Morgan called Nimrod Nation, which was based off Weiden & Kennedy's ESPN advertising based on the idea of "Without Sports....". Some of the ads featured the Fighting Nimrods of Watersmeet High School in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The ads showed people cheering on the Nimrod basketball team and an 85-year old alum of the school cheering the Nimrod fight song. The tag read, "Without Sports, Who Would Cheer For The Nimrods?"

The popularity of the spots created a buzz which got the Nimrods featured on Jay Leno and other national shows. Kevin and Brett saw how popular it was and decided to actually make a show called Nimrod Nation, which they pitched to ESPN. ESPN ended up denying for financial reasons, but Nimrod Nation won awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

The thing that struck me was that Brett, when discussing how they made the film, talked about the fine line between respectfully laughing with a character and making fun of a character in film. If they had wanted to, they could have made fun of the tiny town of Watersmeet and the people in it. They are very down-to-earth, nature-loving, and somewhat backwards people. And they love their Nimrods. By following the coaches, players, alumni, and fans around with a camera for 4 full weeks, they had a lot of footage that they could have used that would have been hysterical for an audience of "city people." Instead, they only showed scenes where a character made a joke that the people of Watersmeet would understand and respect.

It is inevitable that some people will laugh at this film and will be making fun of the people of Watersmeet in their heads. But Brett and Kevin did a great job of keeping the town in the loop of every joke, and the town loved it.

I strongly urge you to watch this film. Search "Nimrod Nation" and you'll find it.