ESPN "30 for 30" series

[sahyder1]

How many you have been watching the "30 for 30" series on ESPN? It is a series of 30 sports documentaries (most of them were an hour long) about sports related topics from the ESPN era (since 1979).

A DVD set ($49) which includes the first 15 documentaries goes on sale tomorrow. I highly recommend the series for all sports fans despite not having had the chance watch them all myself. The ones I did watch have all been good,. What I liked about the series was that despite being part of the "30 for 30" umbrella they were each directed by someone different and each told the story differently from the others.

"June 17, 1994" jumps back and forth with news and sports clips from a very busy day. The day included the O.J chase, a victory parade for the New York Rangers, a NBA Final game, the opening of the 1994 World Cup and Arnold Palmer's final appearance at the US Open. The pace of the documentary does a great job in capturing the chaotic day and includes a lot of news footage.

"King's Ransom" takes a look at the trade that brought Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton to Los Angeles and the effect it had on both regions.

"Winning Time" takes at one of the more entertaining rivalries in recent NBA history. Reggie Miller versus the New York Knicks. The documentary looks specifically at the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals which included him scoring 8 points in 8.9 seconds.

"The Sixteenth Man"looks at the South African Rugby team and their relationship with Nelson Mandela leading up to their 1995 World Cup win. The documentary covers events that also inspired the movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman.

You can find more information on the series here.

The 15 documentaries on this DVD set are also available individually.

Which of the first 15 do you recommend?

Does anyone know when Volume 2 comes out? I really liked "Four Days in October." It took a look at the 2004 ALCS where the Boston Red Sox came back form 3-0 down to beat the Yankees on their way to their first World Series title in 86 years. I'll post more about the 2nd half of this series when that set gets released.

Edited December 6, 2010 by sahyder1

[TCO]

I don't get ESPN but I downloaded Without Bias and The Two Escobars. Both excellent. I'm a sucker for that type of sports documentary.

I loved Without Bias. Not into Basketball at all but I heard/read about the tragic stoy of Len Bias beforehand and watched it out of intrigue and it was an excellent documentary.

I might catch the Gretzky and the one about the Canadian amputee dude too.

[Pizza]

I pre-ordered the boxset for my dad for Christmas, and am looking forward to borrowing it off of him.

[sahyder1]

I don't get ESPN but I downloaded Without Bias and The Two Escobars. Both excellent. I'm a sucker for that type of sports documentary.

I loved Without Bias. Not into Basketball at all but I heard/read about the tragic stoy of Len Bias beforehand and watched it out of intrigue and it was an excellent documentary.

I might catch the Gretzky and the one about the Canadian amputee dude too.

If you're into "that type" of sports documentary. Everyone that I know who watched this series has recommended that Marcus Dupree story titled "The best there never was." I have it on DVR and will probably get around to it next weekend.

[Fait Accompli]

I often curse myself for saying I'm gonna sit down and watch the premiere of one episode but ultimately missing it due to me either forgetting or falling into my weekly television routine. But when I do manage to catch one, I'm usually stuck in my seat watching the entire thing. They're revealing, thought provoking, and captivating. If I had to recommend a few (of the ones I saw), they'd be "The U", "Muhammad and Larry", "Without Bias", "Straight Outta LA", and "The Best That Never Was".

[naiwf]

I've seen a few of them, and they've all been interesting. My favorite was the one about the Sawx coming back to beat the Yankees. I could watch that at least once a week

On a more serious note, The 16th Man was probably the "best" one in terms of learning new information and being entertaining since I wasn't at all familiar with the players involved for fairly obvious reasons.

None of the ones that I saw were bad, but it really depends on whether or not you're a fan of the sport/team/player referenced in the documentary. Once Brothers & Guru of Go are perhaps the best of the more emotional ones, and both detail the premature end of rising star basketball players. I guess the best thing I could say, is that if you're interested enough in the topic to check any of the films out, you'll probably sit through the whole thing. Similarly, if the topic isn't something you'd want to watch when they show the 30 second spots on ESPN, then you probably aren't missing out on anything.

[DYSI]

I only caught a few since I never can figure out what day/time it's on.. The most recent one about Marcus Dupree was a really good, same goes for the Len Bias and 1994 episodes.

[Magus978]

The only ones I saw were the "King's Ransom" & the one about the 2004 BoSox. I keep wanting to see "June 17, 1994", so I might pick up this boxset.

Love these kinds of documentaries though

[TCO]

Oh and the "What if I told you?" ad is quality too, really sells it.

[Damian WayLNKe]

This might be because I'm from Baltimore, but I really enjoyed "The Band that Wouldn't Die". Also, "Silly Little Game" is a must watch for fantasy sport players.

[EddieG]

I watched King's Ransom and the one on the USFL, both were pretty interesting.

Considering I don't tend to watch documentaries often, that's quite the accomplishment.

[ROZAY]

I caught the one about Mike Tyson and Tupac (forgot what it was called), as well as "Jordan Rides The Bus" and the aforementioned "Four Days in October" and "Winning Time". Those last two sting a bit, but that's just the New Yorker coming out of me. The four I've seen have all been very interesting stuff, and I may just look into getting the first season.

Also, if anyone on here has Comcast, they have quite a few of these under the ESPN section of On Demand if you want to check them out and get a free taste of what the documentaries are like.

Edited December 7, 2010 by The Aztec Warrior

[sahyder1]

Tyson/Tupac one was "One Night in Vegas" I believe. I agree, it was very well done. The Navratilova/Evrett one I liked too since it was pretty much a one on one conversation.

[Meacon Keaton]

The only one I've seen was "The U" and it was great. I wanted to see "One Night in Vegas" but completely forgot it was on.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I liked Kings Ransom, though I'd just read the Stephen Brunt book not long before, so there wasn't a whole lot I didn't already have fresh in my mind. Still some great footage, and I marked out for the Gord Miller, Paul Romanuk, and Knowlton Nash cameos.

June 17, 1994 was just pure awesome, easily my favourite of the ones I've seen and just a really novel way of storytelling.

Also seen the Jimmy the Greek one (pretty straightforward, nothing exceptional) and the Terry Fox one (enough I didn't know about the story to keep me entertained, still prefer the shorter version just because it uses the phrase "impromptu telethon").

Might have seen a couple others but those are the only ones I remember right now.

[JStarr]

Winning Time FTW. Anything that can remind me of the days when the Pacers were serious contenders is beautiful in my book. The lingering shots of Spike when he says "I've never had any kind of interplay with athletes," just waiting for him to crack up, are worth the price of admission themselves.

The Two Escobars was also great. Andres Escobar is one of the saddest sports stories I've ever heard, and the documentary portrayed it well.

[Blaze09]

"The U", "Winning Time", "Guru of Go", "Run Ricky Run", "June 17th, 1994", "Little Big Men", "One Night In Vegas", and "Once Brothers" are the ones I would recommend in a heartbeat. I also liked "King's Ransom", "No Crossover" (although the tone was a litte too much for me, and has nothing on Hoop Dreams when I think of Steve James), "Four Days in October", and "The Best That Never Was" (and the timing it premired) out of the ones I've caught.

The ones I'm looking forward to that haven't came out yet are "Pony Express" and the Bartman one. Bill Simmons also said more are going to be made, so more execellent ones should come out down the line.

[sahyder1]

I was just reading up on the Bartman one, it got pushed to 2011 and will now also include Bill Bucknor. No idea why they changed the release date on it but they are still listing it on Amazon as being part of the "30 for 30" series. Pony Express is the last of the original 30.

[caucasianheat]

June 17, 1994 was just pure awesome, easily my favourite of the ones I've seen and just a really novel way of storytelling.

Agreed on this. The style was so refreshing and pulling all those stories and all that footage together in a cohesive way seems like such a task. The candid stuff with Bob Costas and Ahmad Rashad is so amazing (as was the remark from I think a Mariners game by one of the announcers about Simpson's guilt), and closing on the Palmer/Simpson rental car commercial was so haunting and surreal.

No Crossover is definitely heavy on the racial division but it is the story of a race riot that happened in the first place slaves landed in the United States. Iverson is a really intriguing figure and I thought the filmmaker did an admirable job showing the events that shaped him dramatically and capturing the environment he came up in.

It's a really great series on the whole, I'm considering gifting my dad with the first boxset if I can't track down Legends of Hockey. June 17, 1994 and Winning Time are both exceptional and there are a whole bunch of very good ones as well.

[Blaze09]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtX-4fXOyk

This might be the best one.