Pass the Popcorn: Football on Screen, All Year Long

February 20th, 2025

Football season ended this month with either the thrill of victory or the sting of defeat, depending on who you cheer for. But fortunately, the spirit of football is available to watch all year long.

Hello, this is Christine Burright, graduate of the UNO MFA in screenwriting program, filmmaker and aspiring TV writer, for KVNO’s Pass the Popcorn.

If you’re anything like me, the conclusion of the NFL’s 18-week season, plus four rounds of playoffs, has left a football-shaped hole in your schedule.

Admittedly, I haven’t always been a football fan. Like most Nebraskans, I grew up in a Husker house. We watched every televised game and listened to every un-televised game on the radio.

(But between you and me, I think the true mark of an old-school Husker household is whether or not you watched the game on TV with the volume turned down and the radio turned up because the radio commentators were always on our side.)

Despite my upbringing, I spent most of my life not really being interested in football. That changed in 2020 with the silence and isolation of the COVID-19 shutdown.

When the NFL returned that fall, I was surprised to find that being able to turn on a football game felt comforting to me. I didn’t necessarily watch the game, but hearing it play from the living room while I did other things around the house took me back to childhood and returned a sense of safety I was missing.

Well, listening to it from the other room gradually turned into watching it on the couch, which turned into googling players, stats and rules — which then turned into full-on fandom.

It’s always a little disappointing when the season wraps up, but if you’re looking for something to satisfy your football craving until fall, look no further than kanopy.com.

Kanopy (spelled with a K) is a streaming service that offers thoughtful movies, documentaries, and other video content and is available without fees or commercials through public libraries and universities. If you have a library card from Omaha, Carter Lake, La Vista, Papillion or Gretna, or university login credentials, then you already have access to Kanopy.

I searched Kanopy’s offerings for football documentaries and here is my list that I’ll be watching soon. And if you love football, this list is for you, too:

ROAR: The Story of the Southern Columbia Football Tigers Produced by PBS and NPR, this documentary goes behind the scenes of Pennsylvania’s most decorated high school football program as they chase a record-breaking sixth consecutive state championship led by Coach Jim Roth, the winningest coach in the history of Pennsylvania high school football.

In Football We Trust This documentary premiered at Sundance in 2016, and is an insightful and moving exploration

of the rich detail and remarkable story behind the Salt Lake City, Utah, Polynesian Pipeline which is one chief source for the modern influx of Pacific Islander NFL players.

’85: The Greatest Team in Football History Sorry Kelce and Mahomes fans, this one is about the 1985 Chicago Bears and their dominance on and off the field. Featuring interviews with Bill Murray, Mike Ditka, Jeremy Piven, Mike Singletary and more, this documentary chronicles how the ‘85 Bears shuffled off with the championship.

And because the definition of “football” varies by continent, I’m throwing in this last one:

The Football Aficionado This award-winning documentary follows Zahra, a 27-year-old Iranian football enthusiast from Tehran. As per an unwritten law in Iran, women are banned from attending football games in stadiums, but Zahra decides to challenge the status quo to watch live matches, and unexpectedly, her actions go viral on social media.

Whether your favorite version of football is played with your hands or your feet, or you enjoy cheering on an underdog, Kanopy.com has something for you.

By Christine Burright for KVNO’s Pass the Popcorn.