ESPN Films
llmod1
317 Posts
Been watching some stunning ESPN films on YouTube over the past few days.
Watched Catching Hell about the baseball fan who may or may not have ruined his teams chances of finally making it to the World Series.
Watched Fab 5 about arguably the best college basketball team ever.
Watched the Announcement about Magic Johnson discovering he was HIV positive.
Now just watched Once Brothers about two Yugoslavian basketball players who joined the NBA together as best friends but were split apart by the civil war back in their home country.
All of the above were amazing, truely moving film making.
So my question is what other ESPN films are must sees??
Watched Catching Hell about the baseball fan who may or may not have ruined his teams chances of finally making it to the World Series.
Watched Fab 5 about arguably the best college basketball team ever.
Watched the Announcement about Magic Johnson discovering he was HIV positive.
Now just watched Once Brothers about two Yugoslavian basketball players who joined the NBA together as best friends but were split apart by the civil war back in their home country.
All of the above were amazing, truely moving film making.
So my question is what other ESPN films are must sees??
Comments
June 17, 1994 was very cool.
But, The Two Escobars is totally face melt.
i would also recommend the one on fanstasy leagues and the fab five
"Winning Time"
"Once Brothers"
All really good. The Fab 5 one was pretty interesting, too.
+1. Incredible doc. I'll always remember watching Escobar's OG in 94 and then being stunned a few days later. To see the full story on film, amazing yet so sad.
I loved this one aswell, Silly Little Game
and of course, The Band That Wouldn't Die
"Unguarded- the Chris Herron story" is really good. Dude was crazy.
There are ones that do suck though. I thought the Bartman one wasn't very good, and there are topics that are like who cares. I'm very glad they do these though, they're very interesting for the most part.
Unguarded
Without Bias
It's crazy to think of the potential that these two players had and where they'd be today in terms of basketball fame and all-time greats if they didn't make the choices that they had.
Thanks for the recommendation, just watched The Two Escobars and it was superb.
Thanks also to everyone else for their recommendations
Waiting on approval for another doc in the next few weeks... Could be very cool.
If you want something a little shorter, here's a piece I just worked on for the Final Four pregame show on the Basketball team at Chardon HS in Ohio just after the school shooting there on February 27th.
/end self-promotion
Just watched the Matt Hoffman doc, I'm getting seriously addicted to these films!
Right, what's next!!
# Title Directed by U.S. viewers
(in millions) Original air date
1 "Kings Ransom" Peter Berg 0.645[4] October 6, 2009
The 1988 trade of Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings and the effect it had on Gretzky, the fans in Edmonton, and the popularity of hockey in Southern California.??
2 "The Band that Wouldn't Die" Barry Levinson October 13, 2009
A profile of Baltimore's love affair with football and the Colts, focusing on the Colts Marching Band. After the Colts decamped for Indianapolis in 1984, the band remained in Baltimore and helped promote the eventual return of the NFL to the city.??
3 "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" Mike Tollin October 20, 2009
Fresh interviews and archival footage track the life and demise of the United States Football League in the mid 1980s. A highlight is Tollin's interview with Donald Trump, the former New Jersey Generals owner whose post-interview comments on the league give this documentary its title.[5]??
4 "Muhammad and Larry" Albert Maysles October 27, 2009
A look at the October 1980 Muhammad Ali-Larry Holmes fight and its impact on both fighters, featuring fresh interviews with participants and previously unseen lead-up footage from both fighters' camps.??
5 "Without Bias" Kirk Fraser November 3, 2009
The death of Len Bias from a cocaine-induced heart attack, two days after Boston selected him as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, and its impact on casual drug use, especially by the sports community.??
6 "The Legend of Jimmy the Greek" Fritz Mitchell November 10, 2009
The life of Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder, from his career as a Las Vegas bookmaker to his tenure on The NFL Today, from which he was fired in 1988.??
7 "The U" Billy Corben 2.368[6][7] December 12, 2009
The racial and cultural evolution of Miami during the 1980s as represented within the University of Miami football team. (2 hours in length)??
8 "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks" Dan Klores March 14, 2010
The impact of Reggie Miller on the New York Knicks in the 1990s, specifically focusing on the 1994 NBA Playoffs, the 1995 NBA Playoffs, and Miller's interaction with Knicks fan Spike Lee.??
9 "Guru of Go" Bill Couturi?? April 3, 2010
Paul Westhead's coaching tenure at Loyola Marymount University (1985???1990) features his high-scoring run-and-gun offense and players such as Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers.??
10 "No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson" Steve James April 13, 2010
The 1993 trial of Hampton, Virginia high school athlete Allen Iverson, convicted for his role in a racially tinged melee, and its impact on both the community and on Iverson's life. (90 minutes in length)??
11 "Silly Little Game" Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen April 20, 2010
Meeting at New York City's La Rotisserie Francaise restaurant in 1980, a group of writers and academics develop Rotisserie Fantasy baseball, only to see it take off in popularity and leave them behind.??
12 "Run Ricky Run" Sean Pamphilon and Royce Toni 0.972[8] April 27, 2010
A profile of Ricky Williams focuses on his brief 2004 departure from the NFL, when he sought self-redemption amidst media criticism and fresh rumors of marijuana use.??
13 "The 16th Man" Clifford Bestall, Lori McCreary, and Morgan Freeman 0.463[9] May 4, 2010
How hosting (and winning) the 1995 Rugby World Cup and Nelson Mandela's support of the Springboks national team affected post-apartheid South Africa.??
14 "Straight Outta L.A." Ice Cube May 11, 2010
The relationship between the Raiders and the minority fan base in Los Angeles during the team's 13 seasons in L.A. (1982???1994).??
15 "June 17, 1994" Brett Morgen June 16, 2010
Quick-cut archival footage captures the various sporting events on the day in question and the emotions they generated, with O.??J. Simpson's run from the police overshadowing an NBA Finals game between the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, the opening of the U.S.-hosted 1994 FIFA World Cup, the last-ever U.S. Open golf tournament round for Arnold Palmer, Ken Griffey, Jr. hitting a home run to add to his record-setting pace, and a parade in New York after the New York Rangers finally won their first Stanley Cup in decades.??
16 "The Two Escobars" Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist June 22, 2010
The lives of soccer player Andr??s Escobar and drug lord Pablo Escobar; the intertwining of crime and soccer in their native Colombia; and the connections between the murders of both men. (2 hours in length)??
17 "The Birth of Big Air" Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, and Spike Jonze July 29, 2010
The life of Mat Hoffman and his 25-year career of advancing BMX riding, both creatively and promotionally.??
18 "Jordan Rides the Bus" Ron Shelton August 24, 2010
Motivated by the dream his late father had for him, Michael Jordan retires from basketball and has a brief career in minor league baseball.??
19 "Little Big Men" Al Szymanski August 31, 2010
The Kirkland National Little League team's success at the 1982 Little League World Series, examining why their title win is considered one of the biggest upsets in the event's history.??
20 "One Night in Vegas" Reggie Rock Bythewood September 7, 2010
The friendship of boxer Mike Tyson and rapper Tupac Shakur and the night of September 7, 1996, when Shakur was murdered after attending the Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas.??
21 "Unmatched" Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern, with Hannah Storm September 14, 2010
A look at the rivalry and friendship between tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.??
22 "The House of Steinbrenner" Barbara Kopple September 21, 2010
The legacy of George Steinbrenner's ownership of the New York Yankees.??
23 "Into the Wind" Steve Nash and Ezra Holland 0.894[10] September 28, 20101
Terry Fox's attempt to run across Canada in support of fundraising for cancer research captures the attention of his fellow Canadians and the world. (This film first aired on Canada's TSN2 on September 19, 2010.).??
24 "Four Days In October" Major League Baseball Productions 1.45[11] October 5, 2010
The remarkable comeback of the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.??
25 "Once Brothers" NBA Entertainment October 12, 2010
The story of Croatian Dra??en Petrovi?? and Serbian Vlade Divac, NBA players and Yugoslavian national teammates, and how upheaval in their homeland adversely and irretrievably affected their friendship. (90 minutes in length)??
26 "Tim Richmond: To the Limit" NASCAR Media Group and Rory Karpf October 19, 2010
The career of NASCAR driver Tim Richmond, his flamboyant lifestyle, and his 1989 death from AIDS.??
27 "Fernando Nation" Cruz Angeles October 26, 2010
The euphoria created by Fernando Valenzuela's 1981 arrival with the Los Angeles Dodgers.??
28 "Marion Jones: Press Pause" John Singleton November 2, 2010
The successful track and field career of Marion Jones, her 2007 admission of performance-enhancing drug use, and subsequent prison sentence.??
29 "The Best That Never Was" Jonathan Hock November 9, 2010
The 1981 recruiting of high school football player Marcus Dupree by multiple big-time college programs, his resulting injury-prone college and professional career, and how his college and later USFL recruitment changed the recruiting process. (2 hours in length)??
30 "Pony Excess" Thaddeus D. Matula 2.517[7] December 11, 2010
The rise, fall, and rebirth of the SMU Mustangs football program, which received a 2-year "death penalty" for major infractions after David Stanley blew the whistle on the long-suspected program. (2 hours in length)??
[edit]Additional episodes
Other films were previously announced for the 30 for 30 series but were not included in the series. These films, which began airing in 2011, are a continuation of 30 for 30, dealing with more sports stories that 30 for 30 did not cover. According to 30 for 30 producer Bill Simmons: "We're spinning off the "30 for 30" series next year into something that will probably be called "30 for 30 Presents" or something like that... we're going to be putting out 4???5 sports docs per year on the level of the best "30 for 30" docs and getting the best filmmakers to do them. Same creative team is involved. We have some terrific ideas in the hopper. So even though the SMU doc will be the 30th one (right after the Heisman ceremony) don't think the spirit of the series is going away."[12] These additional movies, presented under the title ESPN Films Presents, include:
# Title Directed by U.S. viewers
(in millions) Original air date
31 "The Fab Five" Jason Hehir 2.74[13] March 13, 2011
The story of the 1991 Michigan men's basketball recruiting class, called the Fab Five, one of whom (Chris Webber) was later involved in a notorious pay-for-play scandal.??
32 "Catching Hell" Alex Gibney 1.379[14] September 27, 2011
The relationship between Chicago Cubs fans and Steve Bartman following Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series??
33 "Ren??e" Eric Drath 0.508[15] October 4, 2011
The life of transsexual athlete Ren??e Richards, who shocked the world with her entry into the 1977 U.S. Open.??
34 "The Dotted Line" Morgan Spurlock 0.939[16] October 11, 2011
Sports agents Peter Greenberg and Eugene Lee are profiled with their clients Johan Santana, Jacquian Williams and Robert Hughes.??
35 "Charismatic" Steven Michaels, Joel Surnow, and Jonathan Koch 0.672[17] October 18, 2011
The run of Charismatic and its jockey, Chris Antley, at the 1999 Triple Crown.??
36 "The Real Rocky" Jeff Feuerzeig 1.386[18] October 25, 2011
A profile of Chuck Wepner, the original inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. Wepner was left out of the ???Rocky??? glory, and his career took turn after strange turn as he worked to stay in the spotlight: he went on to fight Andr?? the Giant as ???The Assassin??? and twice boxed a 900-pound bear.??
37 "Unguarded" Johnathan Hock 1.377[19] November 1, 2011
The story of Chris Herren, a high school basketball star who played in the NBA, struggled with drug abuse his entire career and ultimately, found redemption and personal fulfillment through the game.??
38 "Roll Tide/War Eagle" Martin Khodabakhshian 1.698[20] November 8, 2011
The continuing rivalry between Auburn University and the University of Alabama. This is the story of the history between the two programs, the bad blood between its fans and how this intense rivalry came to a pinnacle, just when they ended up needing each other most.??
39 "The Marinovich Project" Andrew Stephan and John Dorsey December 10, 2011
The rise and fall of former USC and NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich is chronicled. The film focuses primarily on the complex relationship between Marinovich and his father.??
40 "The Announcement" Nelson George March 11, 2012
The events and aftermath of former Los Angeles Lakers player Magic Johnson announcing he tested positive for HIV to the world.??
41 "26 Years: The Dewey Bozella Story" Jose Morales March 15, 2012
Life of Dewey Bozella in his 26 years behind bars, where he found strength and purpose through boxing, becoming the light heavyweight champion of Sing Sing Prison. He made it a goal to be proven innocent and box professionally once he was released.??
Marinovich one ok
Real Rocky-must watch
Broke was boring as all hell
Bo Jackson, i enjoyed. Tecmo Bowl reference was lovely.