The series of filmmakers who concentrate on an eclectic assortment of sports subjects is something I’ve heard about for a while, and I notice quite a few are being rerun in the coming weeks. While I’ll naturally gravitate to those which already hold an interest for me (primarily baseball), I’m still interested in those installments that are particularly well-crafted or surprising in the manner in which the topic is handled.
Which episodes have really stood out for you? Any that are simply Can’t Miss?
The Two Escobars was probably the best one. Very sad.
The U is a lot of fun. It’s almost quaint how worked up everyone got over their antics, in the same way all the furor over 2 Live Crew seems mindboggling when you look at the type of music that came after.
The Reggie Miller vs. the Knicks one is good.
The one about SMU and the death penalty is a great look at big-time Texas football and the Dallas culture of the 80s.
What exactly made them “terrific”? Because I dislike basketball intensely, so it’s going to have to deliver something very special for me to sit through that (FTR, that’s the only sport I dislike intensely).
Thanks on the USFL one. I’ll see when it comes on the schedule.
Edited to add: Thanks MOIDALIZE, I’ll check those out too (the Escobars were already on my radar)
The SMU one is great too. The b-ball ones I specifically meant were: The death of Len Bias, and the aftermath, and the Loyola Marymount and Paul Westhead episode. BTW, I agree you enjot the ones about sports you like. (I haven’t, and don’t intend to, watch soccer oriented episodes).
Watch the one on Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic (Once Brothers.) It is fantastic. They were teammates growing up and eventually won a European championship for Yugoslavia, and both became stars in the NBA. When Yugoslavia broke up, a bloody war broke out between Serbia (Divac) and Croatia (Petrovic), destroying their great friendship. The final scenes are of Divac driving to Croatia to meet Petrovic’s parents where they share photos and memories. Great film.
Another one to watch is The Best That Never Was, the story of the career of Marcus Dupree, a football player from Philadelphia, Mississippi, and one of the greatest running backs of all time for a short while. The footage from his high school days is worth it all by itself.
That’s the one I would start with. It was superb and brought back a lot of information I had forgotten about what was going in in pro football at the time. Dupree come off as a really likable person because he expresses no animosity even though he got thoroughly used and ripped-off.
There hasn’t been a single 30 for 30 that I haven’t enjoyed at some level.
The Marion Jones one was probably the worst I’ve seen, because I don’t find her all that sympathetic and the director (John Singleton) is obviously a big fan of hers. That said, there were interesting bits and it was still worth my time.
The one about the OJ Chase/NBA finals was interesting even though it was just a mash-up of media coverage on that day.
For me several of them have both provided a welcome reminder of the details around certain events or have given me a better understanding of the environment and nuances behind something in history. Who Killed the USFL and The U, for these reasons, are two of my favorites so far.
Within their categories, these are in no particular order.
***** (essential)
“Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks”
“June 17, 1994” (O.J. chase, etc.)
**** (excellent)
“The Band that Wouldn’t Die” (Baltimore Colts/Ravens band, etc.)
“Muhammad and Larry” (Ali/Holmes)
“The U”
*** (very good)
“Jordan Rides the Bus”
“The Legend of Jimmy the Greek”
“Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?” (spoiler alert: Donald Trump)
“Silly Little Game” (the creation of Rotisserie baseball)
“Jordan Rides the Bus” (Jordan plays minor league baseball)
“One Night it Vegas” (Tyson fight/Tupac murder)
“Pony Excess” (SMU scandal)
“The Best That Never Was”(Marcus Dupree)
“King’s Ransom” (Gretzky to the L.A. Kings)
“Guru of Go” (Paul Westhead at Loyola Marymount)
“No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson”
“Little Big Men” (1982 LLWS championship and aftermath)
** (good/varied/it depends)
“Without Bias” (Len Bias)
“Run Ricky Run” (Ricky Williams quits football)
“Straight Outta L.A.” (The Raiders and LA/hip hop culture)
“Four Days In October” – 2004 ALCS
“Fernando Nation” (Valenzuela)
“Marion Jones: Press Pause”
“The Two Escobars” – Other people really liked this one, but I thought it was about twice as long as it should have been.
(skippable or worse)
“Unmatched” (Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are best friends)
“The House of Steinbrenner” (porn for Yankees fetishists)
And I haven’t seen the other five.
“Even though”??? I thought it was a great choice, and superbly done. No narration, no interviews, just television footage from that day. In particular, the unaired footage – like Bob Costas talking to his producers about how the hell they’re going to segue from the police chase to the playoff game – was amazing.
I really liked the one about the South African Rugby team, but I watched it before I saw Invictus and I wonder if it as compelling if you have seen the movie, knowing what was happening more or less.
Okay, I didn’t word that properly. A lot of people might expect something different from a documentary, and that one definitely departs from the “formula.” I thought the way it was filmed was definitely an asset, not a detriment.
I would like to amend my last post–House of Steinbrenner was definitely the worst 30 for 30 I’ve seen (so far). I kept waiting for a theme, for an underlying point… and it was just a bunch of stuff about how much Steinbrenner meant to the team, and then a character piece on his son. There was no point.
My favorite of all of them was The Birth of Big Air, about Mat Hoffman, who pretty much invented the BMX big air event. I’m not sure why I liked it so much, maybe just because it was a relatively unknown guy doing something so unusual and his story hasn’t been hyped to death. Plus, it’s always fun to see the genesis of something when it’s recent enough that the main players are still around to talk about it and good quality video exists of some of their first excursions. Plus, Hoffman seems like a genuinely likable guy in the interviews, even if you question his sanity.
My other favorites are: June 17,1994, The Two Escobars, The U, Greatest that Never Was, and Pony Excess.
I really enjoyed the ones on SMU and THe U… the Fab Five one was pretty tight as well. I didn’t agree with what Jalen Rose said about Grant Hill but i could see the mindset of the 18yr old who felt that way…
Can’t wait for the Steve Bartman one… The USFL was good too because the interview with Trump was so fuckin uncomfortable… i loved it…
i really should add that a lot of credit should go to ESPN and Bill Simmons AKA Thesportsguy who came up with this concept. Sports fans like to kill ESPN since its the big meanie on the block these days but these series of docs have really sparked a lot of conversation with my son and I. He’s a huge basketball fan and plays. We’ve talked about Len Bias… HanK Gathers. he’s learned who Pablo Escobar was… Really good work from the directors and the guys in Bristol…
