ESPN's 30 for 30 Program

[cumberlandreds]

Has anyone else been watching any of the series 30 for 30 that ESPN has been producing. For all the garbage that ESPN puts out there sometimes this makes up for it. These shows are really worth your time to watch. ESPN has gotten 30 different filmmakers to produce a sports related story that has happened over the last 30 years,1979-2009. They go behind the scenes and get human element of the subject. I've just started watching some of these and have DVR'd some repeated ones. Yesterday I watched their lastest one. It was about Marcus Dupree who was a celebrated HS running back from the early 80's. It was two hours which is longer than most but some of best TV viewing I have seen in a while.
Some others I have watched are:
June 17,1994
Jimmy the Greek
The Red Sox big comeback against the Yankees in 2004
The beginnings of Fantasy Baseball
Tim Richmond,the NASCAR driver from the 80's. I knew hardly anything about him but was still a very compelling story.
Below is a schedule. Looks like they will be repeating many during the holidays. I know I will be setting my DVR to get a few of these.


http://30for30.espn.com/schedule.html (http://30for30.espn.com/schedule.html)

[Reds Fanatic]

The 30 for 30 series has really been excellent. In addition to the list you mentioned that you have watched some of the other really good ones are:

The Two Escobars
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks
The U

I would highly recommend catching those when they replay.

It also looks like there is at least one more new one coming up called Pony Excess on December 11th. It is about the SMU football program and what lead to them getting the death penalty.

[Jack Burton]

I agree, these are flat out awesome. I also watched the one recently on DuPree and it was great, really heartfelt.

"Into the Wind" is a must watch as well.

[BuckeyeRed27]

I've seen about half of them, but my favorite so far has been "The Two Escobars". Just a fantastic (and tragic) story that was really well done.

[Boss-Hog]

I've seen about half of them, but my favorite so far has been "The Two Escobars". Just a fantastic (and tragic) story that was really well done.
Agreed - I really enjoyed that one.

[RiverRat13]

"The Two Escobars" was excellent. My favorite thus far on pure entertainment value is "The U".

Thanks for posting that schedule. There are several that I've missed and would like to DVR.

[macro]

What if I told you that something typed on a keyboard could be read by people around the world in a matter of seconds? that those keystrokes could be used to start a discussion about a film series? What if I told you that the person responsible for those keystrokes was just a stone's throw from a nation's capitol?

Okay, enough of that. :D Thanks for the heads-up on the upcoming schedule. I missed nearly all of these the first time around, and I think the one about Tim Richmond is the only one I've seen. It was excellent, so I'd like to catch the rest.

[dabvu2498]

The Two Escobars, The U, Run, Ricky, Run, and the ones about Tim Richmond and Marcus Dupree were all fantastic.

But the one about Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic was probably the most worthwhile time I've ever spent watching television.

Sometimes we forget that these are real flesh and blood men and women that we watch doing these things in arenas and on TV. This series reminds us how very human they are.

[BuckeyeRed27]

The Two Escobars, The U, Run, Ricky, Run, and the ones about Tim Richmond and Marcus Dupree were all fantastic.

But the one about Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic was probably the most worthwhile time I've ever spent watching television.

Sometimes we forget that these are real flesh and blood men and women that we watch doing these things in arenas and on TV. This series reminds us how very human they are.

I forgot about the Vlade Divac one. I believe it was called "Once Brothers" and it was also fantastic. I was pretty young when that was all going on and the history of it was something that I was completely unfamiliar with.

[Homer Bailey]

They do a great job of highlighting significant sports events that the average fan just doesn't know enough about. Hate ESPN. Love the series.

[Redsfaithful]

This is easily one of the best things going on tv right now.

[MWM]

It's about the only worthwhile thing ESPN has done in more than a decade. I've enjoyed most of them, especially Two Escobars as many have referenced. I have a former political refugee from Colombia who works for me who was able to give me some more context on it. She watched it and said it was very accurate.

The one that made no sense to me as far as the series was the one on Miami. I thought that one was a waste of time. I also couldn't have cared less about the Steinbrenner one.

[Redsfaithful]

Interesting, I thought the Miami episode was one of the standouts.

My favorite might have been the one on Terry Fox, but Marcus Dupree's is up there. I've missed a few though.

[1990REDS]

The 2 Escobars and Once Brothers are honestly 2 of the best, most well done documentarys ive ever seen.

[MWM]

Interesting, I thought the Miami episode was one of the standouts.

It wasn't a knock on the quality of the documentary. It was more a topic I couldn't care less about. And I really don't see how it was a topic worthy of being included in this kind of undertaking. Maybe I'm missing something, but I still don't get why it's so newsworthy.

[dabvu2498]

It wasn't a knock on the quality of the documentary. It was more a topic I couldn't care less about. And I really don't see how it was a topic worthy of being included in this kind of undertaking. Maybe I'm missing something, but I still don't get why it's so newsworthy.

On the surface, I might have thought the same thing. But that was forgetting how freaking good they were. Throw in the cultural aspects of what they did, and yeah... it was worthy of its' own documentary.

Bill Corben's "personal statement" on ESPN's website sums it up best:


Long before hip hop superstars and thug culture filled our airwaves, shopping malls and iPods, the Miami Hurricanes brought street values and hood bravado into America’s living rooms. If the ’Canes didn’t invent the end zone celebration dance, they certainly popularized and perfected it.

By the late 1980s the Miami Dolphins were no longer capturing the collective imagination of South Florida as they once had. The Hurricanes had become Miami’s team. My team. I remember my father paying 10 bucks to park on somebody’s front lawn and then following the crowd a couple of blocks to the Orange Bowl. I remember watching these young warriors emerge through that smoke to the bloodcurdling roar of Miami football fans. They were not the steeped-in-tradition choirboys of Notre Dame, but they were our hometown heroes: diverse, brash and dangerous. Just like the city of Miami itself.

They spoiled us with national championships: 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991. And then a fifth in 2001. We literally expected to win a national title every year. Beano Cook called the ’Canes “the greatest dynasty since Caesar,” and he was right. I watched this team, over the course of a generation, pump out some of the most thrilling, controversial and brilliant players in football history: Jim Kelly, Michael Irvin, Vinny Testaverde, Cortez Kennedy, Warren Sapp, Jerome Brown, Jessie Armstead, Ed Reed, Bernie Kosar, Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey, Jon Vilma, the list goes on.



http://30for30.espn.com/film/the-u.html

[blumj]

Our friends at NBA Entertainment wanted to make a film about how Yugoslavia's basketball team was ripped apart by the Bosnian War--not just because it was a terrific story, but because they were sitting on a treasure chest of footage that nobody had ever seen. The talented crew from Rakontur Productions wanted to tackle University of Miami in the same spirit with which they nailed "Cocaine Cowboys". How do you say "no" to any of those stories?


And that's how it went. We thought we would be shaping "30 For 30" like matchmakers on Harmony.com--let's give this idea to him, and this idea to her, and this one to them--but, really, the filmmakers shaped the series for us.


http://30for30.espn.com/bill-simmons-essay.html

[Redsfaithful]

It wasn't a knock on the quality of the documentary. It was more a topic I couldn't care less about. And I really don't see how it was a topic worthy of being included in this kind of undertaking. Maybe I'm missing something, but I still don't get why it's so newsworthy.

That's what I've found interesting about this. Quite a few of the ones I've watched have been about things I would have thought I couldn't care less about, and they ended up being outstanding. Really the only one that didn't wow me was the fantasy baseball one, and they did all they could there, the subject matter was just a little too dry for me. And even that one I'd still call an hour decently spent.

[Chip R]

I've enjoyed pretty much every one. The only ones that I didn't really enjoy as much as the rest were The Birth of Big Air and Fernandomania. I did find it interesting that Chavez Ravine was once a home for Mexican immigrants and them getting forced out was a big reason the Dodgers weren't popular with them. My girlfriend doesn't really care for sports but she watched the Roto documentary with me and she liked it; probably because it was so goofy and we both like that.

I thought The Two Escobars was fantastic. The Terry Fox one made things get awful dusty when I was watching it. I thought the Tim Richmond one was fascinating and I don't even care for NASCAR. He reminded me of those flamboyant pro wrestlers of that time.

[RichRed]

That's what I've found interesting about this. Quite a few of the ones I've watched have been about things I would have thought I couldn't care less about, and they ended up being outstanding. Really the only one that didn't wow me was the fantasy baseball one, and they did all they could there, the subject matter was just a little too dry for me. And even that one I'd still call an hour decently spent.

I agree, except that I really enjoyed the Rotisserie baseball one. I liked the humor they added to punch it up a bit.

Another one I really enjoyed was the one about the Baltimore Colts marching band that continued to play together long after the team moved to Indianapolis. That episode also had some interesting insight into the volatile Jim Irsay.

[redsfanmia]

I agree, except that I really enjoyed the Rotisserie baseball one. I liked the humor they added to punch it up a bit.

Another one I really enjoyed was the one about the Baltimore Colts marching band that continued to play together long after the team moved to Indianapolis. That episode also had some interesting insight into the volatile Jim Irsay.

I think you meant the volatile Bob Irsay, Jim is the son who owns the team now. Bob was the owner who moved the franchise and had some serious issues.

[RichRed]

I think you meant the volatile Bob Irsay, Jim is the son who owns the team now. Bob was the owner who moved the franchise and had some serious issues.

Yep, Bob's the one I meant.