bestselling writer george plimpton ( alan alda ) take on an assignment for sport illustrate . he be to go incognito to the detroit lion train camp and try out for a position a third string quarterback . he be quickly find out by the team member feature alex karras and mike lucci . the entire team find it amuse to cause stumble block in the writer determination to quarterback for a series in a real game . this movie be alda debut and also help karras leave the gridiron for act . besides the 1968 detroit lion and the cast also include sugar ray robinson and roy schieder and lauren hutton . alex march direct this story base on plimton book .