ESPN 30 for 30

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flyonthewall2983
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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#226 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon May 11, 2020 11:12 am

ESPN aired a teaser for 3 new films premiering very soon. Including one on Bruce Lee, interesting timing seeing it comes so soon before the Criterion box set.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#227 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon May 11, 2020 11:21 am

The Lee film (Be Water) premiered at Sundance to favorable notice. It was supposed to get a theatrical run before going to TV but I guess that's not going to happen now. I don't know if it's is a deliberate tie-in, but this year would've been Lee's 80th birthday, so maybe that accounts for the timing.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#228 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue May 12, 2020 11:04 am

It'd be cool if ESPN aired the video Criterion shared on social media as a commercial during it.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#229 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon May 18, 2020 9:06 pm

I really liked The Last Dance, for what it was which was not that much different in quality than a lot of the 30 For 30s that I do. I realize there are a whole host of peripheral issues this may have skirted or not have given much if any time at all to talk about, but for them to be dissected takes away from the primary arc this tells. Also there were a lot of sports fans were turned off to this who knew this history so well, but for someone like me who is not so embedded with all that knowledge and history I was able to enjoy it on a level they couldn't.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#230 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Jun 03, 2020 7:58 pm

I got more entertainment value out of Bill Burr ranting about the Pistons than Lance. And maybe some of the reviews on Letterboxd. One of them called him a stupid sociopath which feels correct. It's probably the most timely of the whole 30 For 30 series, because while he undoubtedly did good things for the cancer community irregardless of everything else, he is maybe the most Trump-like subject they have ever covered.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#231 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:56 am

Long Gone Summer is a nice enough nostalgia trip about the 98 home run race. My brother is a huge Cubs fan and I remember watching some of those games with him on TV, certainly the highlights on SportsCenter. I didn't come away from it thinking they are best friends, but seeing Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire not take each other on as deep rivals and actually smiling and joking around in some of the old footage, was nice. It's not an entirely rosy picture towards the end, as it discusses the fallout from the steroid revelations and the Cubs' refusal to acknowledge Sosa. Was this George Will's first 30 For 30?

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hearthesilence
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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#232 Post by hearthesilence » Mon Jun 15, 2020 12:26 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:56 am
Long Gone Summer is a nice enough nostalgia trip about the 98 home run race. My brother is a huge Cubs fan and I remember watching some of those games with him on TV, certainly the highlights on SportsCenter. I didn't come away from it thinking they are best friends, but seeing Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire not take each other on as deep rivals and actually smiling and joking around in some of the old footage, was nice. It's not an entirely rosy picture towards the end, as it discusses the fallout from the steroid revelations and the Cubs' refusal to acknowledge Sosa. Was this George Will's first 30 For 30?
While the home run chase was going on, the idea that they both were juiced was suggested by at least one prominent Chicago sports columnist. McGwire was already open about taking something that would soon be banned (and was already banned by the Olympics), and you'd have to be dense to deny the possibility of steroids when an anomaly like this happens. But it felt like everyone just wanted to enjoy a feel-good story that was "bringing baseball back" (a term that was beaten to death over and over), and I'm sure MLB was happy to look the other way. I do remember an endless parade of Chicago celebs who sat in at the broadcast booth during every single Cubs game that year, and that was pretty fun to watch - everyone from Joan Cusack to Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins stopped by.

How was George Will? Every time I hear his name connected to baseball, I think of George Will's Sports Machine.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#233 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:35 pm

He was fine. Far easier to stomach than Bob Costas and Chip Caray.

98 was the first season after Harry died, and they started the tradition of having celebs come in and sing at the 7th inning stretch. More than just local ones, I think Robert Plant did it when him and Jimmy Page made a stop in Chicago on tour.

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Brian C
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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#234 Post by Brian C » Mon Jun 15, 2020 10:50 pm

Yeah, the Cubs have kept that up to this day, although these days the 7th-inning celebs are a bit fewer and farther between.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#235 Post by Andre Jurieu » Thu Jun 18, 2020 3:35 pm

I would be more interested in a 30 for 30 on Barry Bonds and BALCO than either Lance or Long Gone Summer. If someone could actually get Bonds to agree to an in-depth interview on the subject (which I assume is nearly impossible since his distaste for "the media" is well documented), it would be far more engrossing than watching Lance skate by as "fascinating" and "complicated". Bonds might have been the most talented baseball player of his generation before he used PEDs, but his ego wouldn't allow him to be content with his status, especially since he was being overshadowed by McGwire & Sosa (or Brady Anderson?). I would easily watch a 10-part series on Bond's entire career. Actually, that's a stretch. Maybe a 4-part series, if they also went in-depth on BALCO. Or if Bonds discussed how annoying Jeff Kent was. Or if Bonds discussed the gigantic TV he requested for the Giants locker-room that was arranged specifically so that he was the only one who could watch it.
hearthesilence wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 12:26 pm
... the idea that they both were juiced was suggested by at least one prominent Chicago sports columnist. McGwire was already open about taking something that would soon be banned...
I may have mentioned this on the forum before, but I still remember watching an interview (might have been TSN or The Score, in Canada) that summer, as McGwire & Sosa were starting to approach the record. Their MLB analyst at the time was a former player (with a mullet, but not John Kruk), who stated bluntly that it was well known that McGwire placed the Creatine in his locker as a way to throw the press off the scent of his steroid use. He stated that it was just a distraction, and that most of the players in the league believed that McGwire was enhancing his performance through other medications. He also suggested that MLB was desperately trying to ensure that no one would dig any deeper on McGwire's sudden resurgence. I still remember that interview because it was the first time anyone was so blunt about the fact that McGwire was using PEDs, and I was surprised that the claim was mostly ignored for months.
Lemmy Caution wrote:
Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:42 am
The NBA was a lot more physical in the late 80's and 90's. There were no flagrant fouls. You were cheap-shotted, you got up and punched somebody, or the enforcer on your team shoved the guy who delivered a hard foul. Or everybody got together and milled around angry. When McHale clotheslined Rambis in the Finals, Worthy kept Rambis from attacking McHale, and when they got it all under control it was just a common foul on McHale. Play on.
I'm aware. I own a handful of nostalgic Pistons t-shirts that celebrate that era. It was nearly impossible to watch NBA games in Canada at the time. Luckily, when the Pistons started becoming competitive, I could follow their assault/success (and watch rare NBA highlights) because our feeds for CBS & NBC were from Detroit. I also vividly remember how bleak the news updates were back then. Also a tonne of Bob Probert's fight-highlights.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#236 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Jun 18, 2020 6:45 pm

Andre Jurieu wrote:
Thu Jun 18, 2020 3:35 pm
I would be more interested in a 30 for 30 on Barry Bonds and BALCO than either Lance or Long Gone Summer. If someone could actually get Bonds to agree to an in-depth interview on the subject (which I assume is nearly impossible since his distaste for "the media" is well documented), it would be far more engrossing than watching Lance skate by as "fascinating" and "complicated". Bonds might have been the most talented baseball player of his generation before he used PEDs, but his ego wouldn't allow him to be content with his status, especially since he was being overshadowed by McGwire & Sosa (or Brady Anderson?). I would easily watch a 10-part series on Bond's entire career. Actually, that's a stretch. Maybe a 4-part series, if they also went in-depth on BALCO. Or if Bonds discussed how annoying Jeff Kent was. Or if Bonds discussed the gigantic TV he requested for the Giants locker-room that was arranged specifically so that he was the only one who could watch it.
The reporters who broke that story actually spoke at my school, days before they were to report to prison. Ultimately, an attorney's confession saved them in the 11th hour, but it was both admirable and sobering to see these two who were willing to go to prison over their story without feeling the least bit good about it. One of them was particularly bitter, flat out saying "we're not martyrs. We don't want to go to prison." FRONTLINE and others covered the story in-depth when it broke, which may be why ESPN didn't feel an urgency to do one - has there been much new information since?

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Andre Jurieu
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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#237 Post by Andre Jurieu » Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:46 pm

Don't get me wrong; I loves me some Frontline. However, I think a 30 for 30 reaches a broader audience, especially if it somehow includes an in-depth interview(s) with Bonds (which, I can admit is a bit of a pipe-dream).

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#238 Post by Lemmy Caution » Thu Jun 18, 2020 10:17 pm

Just going back to the McHale clothesline on Rambis, Bird goes over and helps Rambis up. Basically acknowledging okay we got you one a little much. A subtle sorry about that gesture.

There's also a school of thought, never help an opponent up. Don't expend your energy assisting the other team. A bit hardcore.

The Riley Knicks and Daly Pistons were said to have a philosophy that the refs weren't going to call a foul on every play, so you could get away with constant small fouls if you played physical defense the whole game. I always thought Derek Fisher's game was predicated on the same notion. Sidenote: I just learned that one of the dozen players banned from the NBA for drug use was Duane Washington who was Derek Fisher's older brother.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#239 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Nov 11, 2020 12:26 am

The Last Dance out on Blu-ray today, exclusively at Target. It has 3 hours of extra footage, making this way more tempting than it should be.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#240 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:17 am

Al Davis vs. The NFL, February 4th. Looks great, as you got just a taste of how deep the rivalry went in the film Ice Cube directed early on about the Raiders when they were in Los Angeles. My brother has basically made Las Vegas a home away from home and has told me about the billion-dollar stadium set up for them.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#241 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:38 am

Once Upon a Time in Queens is a staggering triumph of the format and maybe the best entry into this series I’ve seen, pretty unflinching in turns at the subject matter as it is celebrated.
Last edited by flyonthewall2983 on Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#242 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Oct 15, 2021 6:18 am

As a diehard Mets fan who lived through those years, I can attest to those times as being rough and tumble as documented in Once Upon a Times in Queens. Watching it brought back tons of memories for me. I have to agree that it’s in the top five of the 30 for 30 series. I
have even heard from young Yankee fans who watched it and were blown away by it and the times in which it happened. One guy said it seemed like the wild west. I hope they will release it on disc.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#243 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 15, 2021 8:45 am

It’s the first sports documentary I have seen to treat the national pastime as complicated as America itself. As an impartial observer that’s the quality of this that goes above and beyond any notions of rose-tinted nostalgia, like the wonderful Ken Burns documentary or the other baseball 30 For 30s.

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#244 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:38 pm

It also has two of the best needle drops I’ve heard in years

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Re: ESPN 30 for 30

#245 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:23 pm

Not 30 For 30 but I’ve been watching the Antoine Fuqua Lakers docuseries on Hulu. The Buss family dynamic is fascinating though not as nearly much as the players and coaches featured in this. Especially the coaches, Riley and Jackson are nothing less than magnanimous in these docs to the point you understand a little more of their killer instincts about winning and just how ruthless sometimes their job is.

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