E:60, 30 for 30, and ESPN Films

[Dubya]

http://fangsbites.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ESPN_Films-400x164.jpg

http://www.satellitetv-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/E60-Logo.jpg

http://www.sportandcinema.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ESPN-30-for-30-logo1.jpg

Surely I'm not the only one that loves to watch all the docufilms on ESPN. Figured we could make a thread to talk about them all. E:60, 30 for 30, and any other ESPN Films are all fair game. :beer:
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I'll start with the 2 most recent ESPN Films..

Catching Hell
I liked that they included the part about Bill Buckner in the beginning. He definitely knows what this kid is feeling. I remember all this happening, but not being a Cubs fan.. maybe I just didn't care because I don't remember that much. I felt bad for the guy. He obviously didn't mean to cause any harm.. and really didn't. It was all a mental thing. That play didn't cost them any runs or anything. He didn't have anything to do with the 8 runs the Marlins scored afterward. What a crazy scene after the game. I would've been genuinely terrified if I was that guy.

Renee
I had no idea about this story. Its pretty crazy really. Interesting argument on whether or not she should be allowed to play. She's a woman.. but bigger/stronger than other women.. but ending up losing in the end anyway. I thought the part about him being able to keep a beard and surpress Renee with it because he couldn't picture himself as a woman with a beard .. I thought that was pretty interesting. The son seemed like a real douche, but I suppose he's been through a lot.

[Fro]

ESPN is definitely doing a good job with these. I watched most of Catching Hell and it was really well done.

Bartman is such a weirdo though.

[VanillaJello]

ESPN 30 for 30 was a fantastic series... and the new one's they've shown were great as well.

Does anyone remember the show Playmakers? The one the NFL made them cancel because they thought it gave football a bad image? I loved that show back in the day.

The documentaries they've run have been fantastic. As for my favorite? Either "The U", "Pony Express" or "June 17, 1994".

[Ochoa]

I used to have Playmakers on DVD, but I sold it to one of those video game/dvd stores that buy that stuff.

[Dubya]

ESPN is definitely doing a good job with these. I watched most of Catching Hell and it was really well done.

Bartman is such a weirdo though.

Yeah, he definitely came across as a little strange.


ESPN 30 for 30 was a fantastic series... and the new one's they've shown were great as well.

Does anyone remember the show Playmakers? The one the NFL made them cancel because they thought it gave football a bad image? I loved that show back in the day.

The documentaries they've run have been fantastic. As for my favorite? Either "The U", "Pony Express" or "June 17, 1994".

Playmakers was ace. Shame they canned it.

I really liked the 30 for 30 on Michael Jordan's baseball career. Didn't really know all that much about it, other than that it happened and it was brief. Really shows you what an athlete he was to be able to pick the game up at any level after so much time in another sport.

[Brian M.]

30 For 30 was amazing...I've probably only seen about half of them though. Thinking about investing in the box set. I love that ESPN is still churning out these docs even after 30 for 30 ended. To me they've taken over HBO who used to have a stranglehold in this area.

[Dubya]

Agreed. I think Chris Connolly is so much better suited making these docufilms for ESPN than he was for MTV. His work was great on MTV, don't get me wrong.. but the subjects weren't always that interesting. I think his talents are much better served on ESPN.

I have the whole 30 for 30 series downloaded on my PC. They're all pretty good, to be honest. If you have the cash, I'd say go for it.

I watched Fab Five the other day too. That was a really good one.

[Brian M.]

The best part of Fab Five was Jalen Rose somehow making himself the most likeable dickhead of all time.

It was like...I knew the stuff coming out of his mouth was pretty wrongheaded, but I couldn't help but smile every time he talked.

[LOCONUT]

I need to see the Fernando Valenzuela one.

[JoJo the rabid monkey]

30 for 30, save for maybe two or three, were uniformly outstanding. My favorite would have to be Winning Time, aka The One With Reggie Miller.

[Mills]

Reggie had the best one. I liked the fact they had mainstream ones like reggie or the bosox then follow it up with one on the canadian runner with one leg. Really great stuff

[Pablo Diablo]

Terry Fox is a legend.

[Dubya]

30 for 30, save for maybe two or three, were uniformly outstanding. My favorite would have to be Winning Time, aka The One With Reggie Miller.

Yeah, that one is awesome. Reggie clowning Starks so much was hilarious. That's one of my favorites too.

[Mr. Boombastic]

Agreed with Fro, most of these were very well done. The U, the Reggie Miller versus New York was great, The USFL one was particularly interesting because I knew so little about it as it happened before I was old enough to be aware of it. The best part being the guy handing Donald Trump the check he won in that lawsuit for 3 dollars, pissing him off.

The only one that I found particularly bad was the Marion Jones one that basically just tried to make you feel sorry for her the entire time and having to go to jail, ignoring the fact that she knowingly cheated.

Actually, the one about the Colts marching band was really good too, except for the fact that they made the entire documentary about how it was bs that Indy stole the Colts from Baltimore, while glorifying the NFL returning to Baltimore as the Ravens, completely ignoring the fact that Cleveland got screwed over in the same way.

One of the best decisions espn made was to keep doing these docs even after the 30 for 30 were finished.

Playmakers was gold, but remember how god awful Tilt was, as far as an espn original series.

[Pipkin]

My favorite from the 30 for 30 series is one about Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovich, Once Brothers. Winning Time was really good too.

[Dubya]

E:60 was pretty good tonight. The segment on Aaron Rodgers was really good. I had a good laugh at the Gatorade Bath segment too.

The Dotted Line wasn't all that great. I think I've just seen enough about agents that it didn't really show me much new .. other than the guy like being able to drive up to the locker room.. that was pretty messed up.

[VanillaJello]

Here's the video of Scott Hall on E:60

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7124904

[Dubya]

Watch the segment with Patrick Willis too. It's really good.. and kinda sad too.

They were both really sad stories, but only one had a happy ending.. I'm sure you know which without watching. Good episode, though.. you guys should check it out. Dwight Gooden is the feature story and its a good one, but the Hall and Willis stories are ones to watch.

[Chris Dolmeth]

Just watched the rest of it. Patrick Willis' dad is a fuckin douche.

[Dubya]

Yeah.. and that house that Patrick bought is fucking PIMP.

[Chris Dolmeth]

Hell yeah it is. Guy deserves it, that's for sure.

Also found it funny that Dwight Gooden was at a crack house during the Mets' World Series parade.

[Ochoa]

I saw the one yesterday about Petrovic and Divac being torn by the war in Yugoslavia and the whole Croatian flag thing.

[Dubya]

Outside the Lines did a segment on the Joplin, MO high school football team. Pretty good stuff.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7102370

[Chris Dolmeth]

Funny, I finally got to watch that today. Very sad stuff.

[Dubya]

The Real Rocky was really good. Stallone is a bum and needs to pay up. I actually own one of the super old copies of Rocky that has the interview with Wepner on it.. if the story isn't really about him, why the fuck is there an interview with him on there? Wouldn't seem relevant to anything.. unless ya know, its about him.

[Chris Dolmeth]

Now that they did yet another story on Bill Buckner, maybe that shit can finally go away.

[Reveille]

Wasn't he just a small tid bit part of the Bartman story? Which would make sense to have him part of it...

[Chris Dolmeth]

I'm talking about the E:60 thing they ran on him yesterday. I might be wrong, maybe it wasn't new. But it was new to me damnit :p

[Reveille]

Well in that case I couldn't agree with you more on its time to move on, but the media never will because, lets admit it, its one of the most important plays in the history of sports...

[Chris Dolmeth]

It was blown up to be way bigger than it actually was.

[JoJo the rabid monkey]

No. No, it is not.

[Chris Dolmeth]

:hyper: it's coming back

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/espn-doubles-up-on-30-for-30-documentary-series/

Also, they're doing short films on Grantland.com. The first one is up:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7930049/another-30-films-subjects-stories-captured-our-attention

[Dubya]

That's pretty awesome. Love this series so much. They take stories about people I don't even give a shit about and make them interesting. Cheers.

[Mr. Boombastic]

Hmmm, on the surface it sounds good but still they have put out like 12 of the full hour long docs out since the original 30 for 30 ended about a year and a half ago, which were basically just an extension of the original series. I would rather they keep that pace than just spew out 5 minute outside the lines pieces and call it 30 for 30. Maybe I am wrong but thats how I read it that they would just be like 5-10 minute long pieces rather than a full in depth doc.

With that said I only saw the Magic Johnson HIV one recently and it was tremendous.

[Pablo Diablo]

The way it seems to me is that we'll get 30 full length docs and 30 short 5-8 minute films on grantland.

Great news though.

[Dubya]

That's how I read it too.

[Myles]

So I downloaded the whole series, and have been enjoying them. Some are better than others, but most are interesting. The South Africa rugby one was good, as was the Allen Iverson. Favorite though has to be reggie miller. His playoff runs were when I was young and just getting into basketball. I loved seeing the history there.

I don't know if its just me, but the basketball episodes seems to be the most interesting. Guru of go, Len Bias, Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller, and the Herren one that I watched last night were all fantastic.

[Fro]

Yeah I love the Reggie/Spike Lee feud.

http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=1273045&t=o

[Chris Dolmeth]

I finally got a chance to watch The Best That Never Was a couple weeks ago. That might be my favorite one.

[Dubya]

The Reggie Miller one is definitely one of the best ones. Its one that I always watch when I see it on TV.

[MikeSportsFan]

the only 30 for 30 film i loved was the one made by Barry Levinson called The Band That Wouldn't Die. It was about the Baltmore Colts band and how they survived after the Colts left in '84

[Myles]

lol i watched all 29 other episodes but skipped that one... i hate the ravens, baltimore is a shit town, and a marching band? no thanks brah ;)

[MikeSportsFan]

Myles, you must be a steelers fan, correct?

[Chris Dolmeth]

What does being a Steelers fan have to do with anything? I hate the Steelers, but I found the Colts one rather boring.

[Dubya]

I think he's more referring to his overwhelming hatred of Baltimore and the Steelers being Baltimore's rival ..

STEEL CURTAIN

[The Rick]

Many of these have just popped up on Netflix. Looks like about 12-15 or so. Watching the Roll Tide War Eagle right now

edit: Not sure why. But now over 30 are showing up on my Netflix. Some from the first series, and some documentaries not included in the box set. They still carry the 30 for 30 tag. Roll Tide War Eagle is actually the 38th film in the series, and not a part of the original 30 for 30. Pretty good doc, but no where near the best. I will probably power through as many of these this weekend as possible.

[JoJo the rabid monkey]

The Colts one is pretty fun, just for the footage of drunk Bob Irsay being a shithead.

There were a few scattered films last year released as just "ESPN Films" productions, and six new episodes will air in the fall with the 30 for 30 brand name back.


lol i watched all 29 other episodes but skipped that one... i hate the ravens, baltimore is a shit town, and a marching band? no thanks brah ;)
So you watched the one about the NASCAR driver with AIDS, but no marching bands, that's a little questionable, right

[Olympus]

I watched the June 17, 1994 one. I was only 9 when all that stuff happened, so it was really weird watching that with my adult perspective. I had no idea that OJ was suicidal in the Bronco. I didn't even know that there was someone else driving. Also, the Arnold Palmer footage was really emotional.

[VanillaJello]

I watched the June 17, 1994 one. I was only 9 when all that stuff happened, so it was really weird watching that with my adult perspective. I had no idea that OJ was suicidal in the Bronco. I didn't even know that there was someone else driving. Also, the Arnold Palmer footage was really emotional.

That was my favorite as well... I was also, 9 at the time... and wasn't fully aware of what was going on at the time.

[Dubya]

I WAS ALSO 9 AT THE TIME.

:panic:

[Reveille]

Omg...

x3...

Still remember coming in from recess and my teacher telling us about the jury verdict. Dunno why he thought a bunch of 5th graders had to know...

[The Rick]

Omg...

x3...


One Man Gang times 3!!! No fuckin way. I liked that particular doc quite a bit too. So many sports emotions going on, and OJ overshadowed it all.

Just got done watching the Once Brothers doc. It goes into the relationship of the Yugoslavia teammates, and features heavily on Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic. It captivated me. So good.

[Stringer Bell]

Been catching up on these on Netflix. Always loved watching them but I was never able to catch many of them on TV and it seems like ESPN rarely shows reruns.

So far I've seen Ricky Williams, Iverson, Len Bias, Jordan, the Fab Five, and maybe a couple others I've forgot. Watching Reggie Millers right now.

Really wish I could see the Magic Johnson one but it doesn't seem to be on Netflix yet. Dream Team too.

I think I've got all of the ones that are currently available in my queue, planning to watch them throughout the next few weeks.

Also, read that a new season starts this fall. Pumped for that.

[Myles]

The Colts one is pretty fun, just for the footage of drunk Bob Irsay being a shithead.

There were a few scattered films last year released as just "ESPN Films" productions, and six new episodes will air in the fall with the 30 for 30 brand name back.


So you watched the one about the NASCAR driver with AIDS, but no marching bands, that's a little questionable, right

first off I hate the steelers, big ben and all the shit... also I was pretty disappointed when Arizona didn't beat them in the superbowl a few years back. At least they covered the points though. :)

Yeah I thought the Tim Richmond one was class. The guy was a rockstar. :yes:

This series in general is class, although the Tupac Mike Tyson episode was pretty shit as well. I liked some that I knew nothing about (run and gun, maruc dupree, and the pay to play stuff) Solid series. I'd recommend Unguarded to everyone here.

[Dubya]

I agree the Tyson/Pac one was pretty boring. Just a re-hashing of so many things I've already heard in various docufilms about Tupac with a few things about Tyson that didn't really matter. Besides that one, however, I would also agree that they're pretty much all quality. Even the ones about subjects I don't really care about at all.. are pretty enjoyable.

[The Rick]

I just finished watching three of these.

30 for 30: Big Shot covers Spano "buying" the NY Islanders, it was good.

30 for 30: Elway to Marino is about the 1983 NFL draft and focuses on John Elway and Dan Marino. With Elway being the reason I started being a fan of the Broncos, I was interested going in.

then I watched 30 for 30: Hillsborough.
I was surprised at how much I was engaged by this doc. It is all about the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy. I don't have the words to do the story, the documentary, and especially the event justice.

If you don't have Netflix here is a reddit post that has a link to watch the last one. http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/235ii8/espn_30_for_30_hillsborough/

[Judas Iscariot]

The 30 for 30's are brilliant.

Didn't know about the Once Brothers, one, though. Gonna have to sit down with my girl's dad, a bottle of Kruskovac and give it a watch as he's mad about the old Yugoslavian team and doesn't shut up about how great they were at basketball.

[MikeHunt]

I hate yank sports on the whole bit these are excellent wee shows. The once brothers one is by far the best. I was greeting by the end. Great story.

[Brian M.]

The Hillsborough one was absolutely gut wrenching. Very well done though. The one they just did on Randy Moss "Rand University" is already one of my all time favorites of these. The guy was an absolute freak of nature on the football field, and it was nice to get to know his side of the story with all of his off the field issues.

[Mills]

I need to watch that one, it looks amazing from the little I got to see of it

[Fro]

This is NFL Network not ESPN but Ricky Williams: A Football Life was really cool. He's a fascinating guy.