Agent Palmer

‘They Sleep On Us’ follows team’s journey to 2019 NJCAA National Championship Game

SCRANTON, Pa. – “Odds are we’ll never be in a national championship game again.”

Longtime Lackawanna College Head Football Coach Mark Duda knew how special it was to reach the 2019 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship game in Pittsburg, Kan.

The sentiment was captured in a behind-the-scenes interview that’s now part of a feature-length documentary on the team’s historic season. “They Sleep On Us,” an independent film by Christopher J. Hughes, will premiere on Friday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Peoples Security Bank Theater, Angeli Hall, 501 Vine St., Scranton, as part of Lackawanna College’s 2022 homecoming events. A $5 suggested donation at the door will benefit the College’s athletics programs.

Generally speaking, I would say Creedence Clearwater Revival is the forgotten great band of their era. When conversations about the greatest rock bands pop up, before people start acknowledging their preference for Lynyrd Skynyrd or Aerosmith or Thin Lizzy as outliers, the default options are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the like.

But as the Netflix music documentary Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall reminds us all, there was a time when CCR was the absolute cream of the crop!

Hunter S. Thompson is much more than just Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I knew that, but knowing that isn’t the same as knowing the wider breadth and depth of that statement. Alex Gibney’s 2008 documentary “Gonzo” filled in a few gaps for me, but for those uninitiated it may just enlighten you to just how much more than one book Hunter was.

Gibney does an amazing job throughout the documentary weaving Thompson’s words with his life. As a writer, even one like Hunter, not everything is relevant, yet it all could be usable depending on the story you want to tell.

I thought about being a rock star as an early teen as if it was that easy. I also thought about becoming a journalist for a period in my late teens, which seemed much more realistic. I even minored in journalism in college, so it was definitely in my wheelhouse.

Somehow, being a rock journalist never made the list, even temporarily, of things I want to do when I grow up.