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30 for 30 and Beyond...
12 years ago
General
What if I told you that after the Baltimore Colts bailed for Indianapolis in the middle of the night, the team band kept on playing? That the seeds to the billion-dollar fantasy sports empire were sown by a group of friends in a lousy restaurant? Or that on June 17th 1994, no less than six major stories ran through the sporting world, all of them overshadowed by a slow speed chase in a white Ford Bronco?
What if I told you how a black president and a white rugby team united a nation torn apart by racial tension? That even as the campus of the University of Mississippi erupted over integration, the students swelled with pride over their football team threatening to go undefeated in the season? That a lot of those broke young men suddenly thrust into the high life of sports end up even worse off at the end of it all?
What if I told you that when the NCAA dropped the "death penalty" on Southern Methodist University and suspended their football program for two years, it would devastate the fan base for decades after? That for a brief moment, it appeared the United States Football League might overtake the National Football League in popularity? Or that the true story of one fan's quest to return James Naismith's original rules of basketball to it's birthplace in Lawrence, Kansas is one you couldn't write, even if you tried?
And what if I told you that the best sports documentaries are almost never about the sport itself? That the human emotion and struggle are more dramatic than any amount of game footage? That in the end, it truly is only a game?
You can watch these stories and many, many more through ESPN's 30 for 30 series, rerunning regularly on ESPN Classic with new films debuting on ESPN. I can tell you personally that I'm not too deep into sports, but I have not watched a 30 for 30 yet that I haven't been completely fascinated by.
Perhaps you will be too.
What if I told you how a black president and a white rugby team united a nation torn apart by racial tension? That even as the campus of the University of Mississippi erupted over integration, the students swelled with pride over their football team threatening to go undefeated in the season? That a lot of those broke young men suddenly thrust into the high life of sports end up even worse off at the end of it all?
What if I told you that when the NCAA dropped the "death penalty" on Southern Methodist University and suspended their football program for two years, it would devastate the fan base for decades after? That for a brief moment, it appeared the United States Football League might overtake the National Football League in popularity? Or that the true story of one fan's quest to return James Naismith's original rules of basketball to it's birthplace in Lawrence, Kansas is one you couldn't write, even if you tried?
And what if I told you that the best sports documentaries are almost never about the sport itself? That the human emotion and struggle are more dramatic than any amount of game footage? That in the end, it truly is only a game?
You can watch these stories and many, many more through ESPN's 30 for 30 series, rerunning regularly on ESPN Classic with new films debuting on ESPN. I can tell you personally that I'm not too deep into sports, but I have not watched a 30 for 30 yet that I haven't been completely fascinated by.
Perhaps you will be too.
I did enjoy watching "Roll Tide/War Eagle". If I had seen it as part of the 30 for 30 collection while writing this, I would have mentioned it for sure. The whole "if you don't pick a side then both sides hate you" thing always made me laugh.