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ESPN's 30 for 30

post #1 of 72
10/1/09 at 6:47pm
Thread Starter 
http://30for30.espn.com/

I didn't know this started next week. Much of the word on it's been pretty great. I love sports documentaries, and the idea that they got 30 different filmmakers to do one, plus that they're going to be avoiding the stories that have been done a million times already (like the '80 Dream team, Tiger Woods, or Title IX) is what's got me intrigued. Plus, it's a Bill Simmons brainchild and he seems very passionate about the whole thing. I'm particularly interested in "The Two Escobars" and Brett Morgan's documentary about June 17, 1994.

Peter Berg's episode about Gretzkey going to the Kings is the premiere episode next Tuesday.
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post #2 of 72
10/1/09 at 7:20pm
They've been running a spot for this at Regal Cinemas and it looks pretty fantastic. I'm looking forward to the USFL one and the Jimmy the Greek one.
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post #3 of 72
10/1/09 at 7:57pm
I'm really excited for this. Steve Nash's one about Terry Fox sounds so fascinating and its a story I had never heard about until they were promoting it for the series.
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post #4 of 72
10/1/09 at 8:04pm
Looks like some good stuff. Ice Cube's on the L.A. Raiders sounds intriguing.
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post #5 of 72
10/2/09 at 2:05am
The U from the Cocaine Cowboys guy looks good.
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post #6 of 72
10/2/09 at 11:12am
I'm looking forward to the Allen Iverson one. I know about the story because my Mom's first cousin was his coach. I can't wait to see if peoples perception of him changes a little.
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post #7 of 72
10/21/09 at 1:28am
Really liked the USFL episode but man, if there was ever a story that couldn't have been told in 60 minutes...
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post #8 of 72
11/6/09 at 2:06pm
If you're ever in an upbeat mood and want to submerge yourself in a chasm of depression for a few hours then go ahead and watch the Len Bias one. Aye yigh yigh.
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post #9 of 72
11/6/09 at 2:08pm
Tell me about, one hell of a player...oh what could have been!
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post #10 of 72
11/6/09 at 2:09pm
I thought the Len Bias 30 for 30 was the weakest one so far.
An hour of family members claiming they SENSED his coke overdose!
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post #11 of 72
11/6/09 at 2:26pm
You're so jaded, wade!

Other than the fact that he was a star ballplayer who died right after being drafted I didn't know a lot of the other details. Like what happened to his brother a few years later. I mean Jesus Christ.

Next week, Jimmy the Greek!
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post #12 of 72
11/6/09 at 2:31pm
I did feel bad about laughing when family members referred to Len as "FROSTY", though.

DID YOU HEAR WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT FROSTY????????
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post #13 of 72
11/6/09 at 2:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moltisanti View Post
Next week, Jimmy the Greek!
Looking forward to this one. My NFL Sundays as a kid weren't complete until the Greek made his picks.
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post #14 of 72
11/6/09 at 3:45pm
Even though I know nothing about sports. I'd love to check these out.
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post #15 of 72
11/11/09 at 2:19pm
I didn't know Jimmy The Greek lost 3 children to Cystic Fibrosis. Sheesh.
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post #16 of 72
11/11/09 at 4:48pm
I didn't know he made those unfortunate remarks on Martin Luther King Day. CBS really had to choice but to let him go.

For more about this episode, I highly reccomend listening to Bill Simmons 30 for 30 podcast series where he interviews the directors or a principle of the doc that airs that week. He had Brent Musberger for this one and he really shed some light about the comments the got Jimmy the Greek fired.
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post #17 of 72
11/11/09 at 4:55pm
Could have done without the "Ghost of Jimmy The Greek" narration, or whatever that was. But all the vintage Musberger footage made up for that.
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post #18 of 72
11/12/09 at 12:01pm
I agree, were those the Greek's words from a book or something? The framing shots of the Jimmy The Greek a-like on the street were awful as well. Great doc but those two negatives stood out like a sore thumb in contrast to the great vintage footage and recounts from his peers and co-workers.

on a side note. Has anyone covered more big time events then Musberger? What a career he's had. He makes good games great and great games legendary.
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post #19 of 72
11/16/09 at 10:31pm
Just finished watching it. Unbelievably sad. Agree on the Jimmy the Greek stand-in; watching the credits, I don't see any indications that the narration consisted of his actual recollections. It's a really strange creative choice.

On a more shallow note, I'm unable to see Brent Musberger without thinking of Kevin Nealon's impersonation: "Here on ZzzzzzzzBSSS!!!"
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post #20 of 72
5/13/10 at 11:38am
This week’s look into the Raiders’ days in Los Angeles, directed by Ice Cube, was phenomenal. Highly recommended.

Cube interviews Al Davis and they cover everything from what led him to move the team to L.A., what drove them away, and the rage Al felt when the Los Angeles Kings stole his team’s colors. I applaud Al for being able to express himself while suffering from rigor mortis. Good gravy. Not for the faint of heart.
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post #21 of 72
5/13/10 at 12:17pm
I enjoyed it as well. Al Davis is the worst thing to happen to the HD TV, absolutely horrifying. His yellow teeth are burnt into my brain. But I liked how defiant Davis was about running his business. "I never sued, I only counter-sued".
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post #22 of 72
5/13/10 at 12:17pm
I seriously had to look away when modern day Al Davis appeared on screen. I think his skin was actually rotting and peeling off during his interview with ice cube. And his teeth are an amazing neon yellow.
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post #23 of 72
5/13/10 at 12:44pm
The thing with Al's teeth is that one half is off-white and the other half is piss-yellow. Someone needs to tell him that you just gotta go one color and end it. So horrifying.

Loved the animated sequences with Cube growing up in South Central, especially the one where the depict how NWA got their name.

Up until the credits for this show I had never seen the Raiders' rip-off of The Super Bowl Shuffle, Silver and Black Attack. Howie Long has got mad rhymes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eEF8zplJY8
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post #24 of 72
5/13/10 at 1:06pm
What a dickhead Matt Millen is! He probably ruined the director's vision by refusing to take off that crappy old cap.
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post #25 of 72
5/13/10 at 2:24pm
Hate the Raiders. But it was a damn good show.

Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg playing catch felt a bit awkward though. And yeah, Al Davis looks like the Mummy without his bandages.
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post #26 of 72
5/13/10 at 2:40pm
Not a Raiders fan either, but I do find their whole mystique to be hilariously fascinating. This doc may have been the best of these yet, though the one for the University of Miami was almost as compelling.
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post #27 of 72
5/13/10 at 3:10pm
I only hope that there's a box set of these, since I'm in London and all.
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post #28 of 72
5/13/10 at 3:47pm
A lot of the ones that have already aired are on DVD, might be a while until there's a box set.

Until then, enjoy this clip from Straight out of L.A. and behold Al in all his ghoulish splendor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=062ilVaQ6mE
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post #29 of 72
5/13/10 at 3:52pm
Winning time
Reggie Miller vs The New York Knicks is hysterical, these are all really well done
and the the Two Escobars looks fantastic
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post #30 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moltisanti View Post
A lot of the ones that have already aired are on DVD, might be a while until there's a box set.

Until then, enjoy this clip from Straight out of L.A. and behold Al in all his ghoulish splendor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=062ilVaQ6mE
Really? Well, shit.

"This video contains content from ESPN, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

Damn you, copyright laws!
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post #31 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:09pm
Adam Carolla had Alex Gibney, director of Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side on his podcast to discuss his episode about Bill Buckner and that Cubs fan that grabbed the foul ball. Worth a listen.
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post #32 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:18pm
Is it too late to add Al Davis to my death pool?
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post #33 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:27pm
Al is gonna make 100. Bank on it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
Adam Carolla had Alex Gibney, director of Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side on his podcast to discuss his episode about Bill Buckner and that Cubs fan that grabbed the foul ball. Worth a listen.
Don't think that one is gonna air until later this year, but it's one I'm anxiously awaiting.

Looks like there isn't another new episode until the one about the O.J. chase/'94 NBA finals that'll run in mid-June.
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post #34 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Barg View Post
Really? Well, shit.

"This video contains content from ESPN, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

Damn you, copyright laws!
Because I don't want you to feel left out:

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post #35 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:32pm
GAH, that picture! Just think: that's how he looks after makeup is applied.

I missed this special, but I hear that The Two Escobars is incredible. Looking forward to that one.
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post #36 of 72
5/13/10 at 4:37pm
The Raiders mystique was earned for a while. In the 70s and early 80s, they were hell on wheels.
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post #37 of 72
5/13/10 at 5:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mangy View Post
GAH, that picture! Just think: that's how he looks after makeup is applied.

I missed this special, but I hear that The Two Escobars is incredible. Looking forward to that one.
This one is gonna air a few more times in the coming days on various ESPN channels. Here's a rundown of the schedule:

http://30for30.espn.com/schedule.html
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post #38 of 72
5/13/10 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moltisanti View Post
This one is gonna air a few more times in the coming days on various ESPN channels. Here's a rundown of the schedule:

http://30for30.espn.com/schedule.html
As good as most of these are. There are some stinkers. The one with Ali being the worst.
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post #39 of 72
5/13/10 at 6:41pm
I liked a lot of the mustachioed Ali footage, so that one worked for me.

The worst one I've seen is the one dealing with the start of rotisserie baseball. I know some of these directors want to spruce things up a bit but all the "funny" dramatizations in that one were agonizing to endure.

Other than that I've liked just about all the episodes I've seen. The one about Allen Iverson throwing chairs at people at a bowling alley was pretty good.
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post #40 of 72
5/13/10 at 6:51pm
The footage was great. I did dig Ali with the 'stache too. It was just a boring one for me. Like the footage of Holmes with the car phone...meh

The rotisserie baseball was pretty bad too.
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post #41 of 72
5/15/10 at 3:01pm
I agree about the rotisserie baseball one.

The Ali Holmes one was well done, but damn was it depressing. Just seeing him progressively lose his mental faculties was just too sad to be enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to the one about Steve Bartman. I am a Tigers fan and was watching that game live and Alou was not going to make that play. My heart broke watching how the Cubs fans treated him, a lifelong fan who coached baseball for teenage kids.
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post #42 of 72
5/15/10 at 4:19pm
The one about The U is my favorite so far. The stuff those guys pulled was pretty damn outrageous.
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post #43 of 72
5/16/10 at 11:22pm
It's not 30 for 30, but there's an excellent doc about St. Anthony's basketball team in Jersey City, The Street Stops Here - made the rounds a few times on public television.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hRTlHmxums
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post #44 of 72
5/25/10 at 8:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wadew1 View Post
Because I don't want you to feel left out:
Jesus! Those Count Al jokes KSK make seem so... underplayed now.
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post #45 of 72
5/27/10 at 8:13pm
Apparently someone's gone and uploaded the entire series to date on YouTube. Score!

Almost through King's Ransom, this is really good so far...
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post #46 of 72
6/18/10 at 11:27am
Loved June 17th, 1994. At first when the director stated in the intro that he wasn’t gonna have any talking head interviews and was gonna just let the clips from that day speak for themselves I got a bit worried. But he was right. Shit that day was surreal enough as is without folks reminiscing about their recollections after the fact.

The behind the scenes footage of various media personalities trying to report on the day’s events was stellar. I’m a longtime fan of watching when sports broadcasters have to get real serious so seeing Bob Costas have his make-up applied while getting into “Somber Costas” mode was a treat.

Boy oh boy did Arnold Palmer blow a lot of putts that day.
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post #47 of 72
6/18/10 at 3:50pm
June 17th, 1994 was fantastic. I loved how they just let you relive that day. No one remembers now how most of us thought OJ was innocent at the time and we thought we we going to see him commit suicide on live television. I remember how the reading of that suicide note was so sad at the time. He was freaking Nordberg for christsakes.

The raw video feed was Fascinating like Moltisanti mentioned above. It shows what a pro Costas is when he was trying to find a want not to be so callous about what was happening.

Plus that day gave me one of my favorite all time quotes that I still bust out when a friend or cowoker asks who is it. "This is A.C.! I got O.J. in the car!............ This is A.C.! You know who this is goddammit!"
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post #48 of 72
6/18/10 at 4:10pm
Oh yeah, the A.C. dialog really brought back some fond memories.

I couldn't believe the joke that the one broadcaster told during the Royals/Mariners game. Obviously O.J. jokes got run into the ground pretty fast but for him to tell that one, on that particular day, during a Royals/Mariners game was mind-blowing. The guy tried hard to backtrack after he told it, but still.
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post #49 of 72
6/19/10 at 9:19pm
Thread Starter 
Why aren't we talking about the hilarity of Young Olbermann's mustache?
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post #50 of 72
6/22/10 at 11:17pm
The OJ one was amazing - it really was like watching the beginning of the 24 hour news cycle din we find ourselves in now. Damnit OJ!

'The Two Escobars' so far is outstanding. Simmons said it made Cannes this year?
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