I Can't Believe It's Not Fiction!

Not many Americans make it in European Soccer. Jay Demerit, former US national Team Defender, is one of those few. Rise and Shine: The Jay Demerit Story details Jay's improbable journey to the English Premier League, arguably the greatest soccer league in the world. There are a couple reasons I chose to write this blog. First, I'm a big soccer fan and I've wanted to watch this documentary for a while and recently found out it was on netflix. And secondly, the US have a huge world cup qualifier tonight against Costa Rico, so this was a nice appetizer to get me pumped for the game.

Jay Demerit's story is one many have written about before. After fighting against all the odds, he finally makes it big. basic and cliche? Maybe. But the fact that this actually happened is incredible. He had no money when he decided to travel to Europe on a whim and tryout for European clubs. He got a shot with a seventh division team in England, and during a preseason match impressed his opponents manager, a second division team, Watford, enough to earn a 2 week tryout. He eventually made the team. And of course, like any good sports movie, the path to the Premier League was littered with obstacles. They were expected to fight it out at the bottom of the division 2 standings, but somehow finished 3rd to earn a spot in the promotion playoffs. As if it couldnt have gotten any more cliche, Demerit got the game winning goal and man of the match in the game that would send them to the top division in England.

This isn't a documentary soccer fans should watch. It's a documentary sports fans should watch. It's an incredible against-the-odds story that couldn't be written any better. It's an absolute must watch.