Showtime Sports will debut on January 6 a documentary series focusing on a Minneapolis-based high school football team in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.
The four-part series, Boys in Blue, chronicles the North Community High School football team during the 2021 season as the players come of age in the aftermath of Floyd's death. The team, made up of mostly Black student-athletes coached and mentored by members of the Minneapolis Police Department, presses on as the officers and students find common ground on the field and kinship in the drive to win a state championship, according to Showtime. As players and coaches return to the field with visions of championship glory, their sense of normalcy and optimism are tested like never before, said the network.
Boys in Blue is executive produced by Peter Berg, Matthew Goldberg, Brandon Carroll and Rob Ford.
Berg said in a statement: "Having lived in Minneapolis/St. Paul, I could not reconcile the city I loved so much with the horrific murder of George Floyd, and I felt compelled to find a way to personally respond,” said Berg. “Spending a year with the North High Football team has provided me access into the soul of a beautiful American community that was deeply suffering. We have captured the wins and the losses, on the field and off. We have been trusted by so many teachers, coaches, parents and students, all living in the immediate wake of the George Floyd murder, and the complexities of trying to survive and find joy in very challenging times. I have so much love and respect for the Minneapolis North community and it is my hope that through Boys in Blue we may get fresh understandings of these issues and find paths to empathy and hope."■
