ESPN 30 for 30 - Season 2
ESPN Films' 30 for 30 is a documentary series featuring today's finest storytellers from inside and outside of the sports world. What started as a celebration of ESPN's 30th anniversary has come to life as an eclectic and fascinating collection of passionate films about sports and culture. Individually, each of the films in this series is meant to tell an intimate, compelling story that stands on its own and brings to life the filmmaker's vision. Broke: According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, 60 percent of former NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders, saddled with medical problems, and naturally prone to showing off, many pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. ; 9.79*: The 100-meter men's final at the 1988 Seoul Games was the fastest and perhaps most thrilling sprint in Olympic history. But within 48 hours, gold medalist Ben Johnson had tested positive for anabolic steroids, and scandal reigned. This one race still haunts the eight men who took part. ; There's no place like home: On December 10, 2010, Sotheby's auctioned off what could be considered the most important historical document in sports history - James Naismith's original rules of basketball. This is the story of one man's fanatical quest to win this seminal American artifact at auction and bring the rules 'home' to Lawrence, Kansas, where Naismith coached and taught for over 40 years. ; Benji: In 1984, 17-year-old Benjamin "Benji" Wilson, Jr. was a symbol of everything promising about Chicago: a beloved, sweet-natured youngster from the city's fabled South Side, Wilson was the first high school player in Chicago's history to be ranked as the nation's #1 recruit. The day before his senior season, his life was abruptly and tragically cut short, sending ripples through the city and the country. ; Ghosts of Ole Miss: In the fall of 1962, James Meredith becomes the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi under the order and protection of the federal government. Director Fritz Marshall, along with Mississippi native Wright Thompson, explore how the Ole Miss football team became caught in the middle of the most significant moments in the Civil Rights movement. ; You don't know Bo: A profile of Bo Jackson and how his college and professional feats in two sports (baseball and football) captured the public's imagination and made Jackson a cultural (and marketing) icon. Survive and advance: A look at the North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team's successful and improbable championship runs through the 1983 ACC and the 1983 NCAA tournaments. ; Elway to Marino: A look at the 1983 NFL Draft and the six quarterbacks taken in its first round, specifically John Elway (the first overall pick) and Dan Marino (the last QB picked in Round 1). ; Hawaiian : the legend of Eddie Aikau: A chronicling of the life of Eddie Aikau, a big wave surfer and lifeguard whose death served as inspiration to an entire spiritual movement. ; Free spirits: Chronicles the American Basketball Association team the Spirits of St. Louis during their two years in the league, and the ABA's eventual merger with the NBA. ; No más: An inside look at the two boxing matches between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán in the 1980s, with insight from boxing experts, family members and the two fighters themselves. ; Big shots: The story of how young businessman John Spano struck a deal to purchase the New York Islanders in 1996, only to be later revealed as a fraud and being near financial insolvency. ; This is what they want: A colorful clook at the re-invention of tennis in the first decade of the Open era through the lens of Jimmy Conners' career and his famous run the 1991 U.S. Open. Bernie and Ernie: When Bernard King arrived in Knoxville, he was only the third African American ever to play for the University of Tennessee varsity team. By the time he left he was a legend. Along with talented teammate Ernie Grunfeld, the duo gained national acclaim as part of what was known as "The Ernie and Bernie Show." ; Book of Manning: The Book of Manning features revealing interviews with Archie, Olivia, Cooper, Peyton and Eli Manning along with other family members, friends, former teammates and coaches as well as never-before-seen photos and home movie footage of Archie and his sons. ; Youngstown boys: Explores the class and power dynamics in college sports through the parallel interconnected journeys of one-time dynamic runnning back Maurice Clarett and former elite head coach Jim Tressel. -- The price of gold: The world couldn't keep its eyes off two athletes at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer: Nancy Kerrigan, the elegant brunette from the Northeast, and Tonya Harding, the feisty blonde engulfed in scandal. Just weeks before the Olympics on Jan. 6, 1994 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was stunningly clubbed on the right knee by an unknown assailant. As the bizarre mystery unraveled, it was revealed that Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had plotted the attack with his misfit friends to literally eliminate Kerrigan from the competition. Requiem for the Big East: Takes a nostalgic look at the rivalries and successes that catapulted the Big East to groundbreaking success. Told primarily through the lens of famed Big East coaches and some of its most iconic players, the film encapsulates the era and region in which the Big East was born. ; Bad boys: "Few teams in professional sports history elicit such a wide range of emotions as the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s and early '90s. The team had some of the best--and most complex--players in NBA history: Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, John Salley; and the mixture of grit, professionalism and style possessed by coach Chuck Daly. Sandwiched between the Lakers' and Celtics' dominance of the 1980s and the Bulls' run in the 1990s, the Pistons' two titles in 1989 and 1990 are often viewed as a transitional period in NBA history, rather than a dynamic championship era in its own right. But for anyone who experienced the Bad Boys in action, they more than carved out their own identity, both in the league and in American popular culture." ; Slaying the badger: Before Lance Armstrong, there was Greg LeMond, who is now the first and only American to win the Tour de France. LeMond looks back at the pivotal 1986 Tour and his increasingly vicious rivalry with friend, teammate and mentor Bernard Hinault. The reigning Tour champion and brutal competitor known as The Badger, Hinault "promised" to help LeMond, in return for LeMond supporting him in the previous year. But in a sport that purports to reward teamwork, it's really every man for himself. ; Playing for the mob: Set in the seemingly golden world of college basketball, this intriguing film tells the true story behind the 1990 Martin Scorsese classic, Goodfellas, and how mobster Henry Hill helped orchestrate fixing of Boston College basketball games during the 1978-79 season. ; The day the series stopped: On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PT, soon after Al Michaels and Tim McCarver started the ABC telecast for Game three of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, the ground began to shake beneath Candlestick Park. The 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake rolled through, bringing death and destruction. The Bay Area pulled together and baseball took a backseat. When the Garden was Eden: During the tumultuous and racially discordant early 1970s, Madison Square Garden was a place where individuals from different backgrounds worked together, and the New York Knicks, under the stewardship of coach Ray Holzman, was seen to be a model of cooperation and harmony. ; Brian and the Boz: In some ways, Brian "The Boz" Bosworth and Barry Switzer were made for each other. The Oklahoma coach and the linebacker he recruited to play for him were both outsized personalities who delighted in thumbing their noses at the establishment. And in their three seasons together (1984-86), the unique father-son dynamic resulted in 31 wins and two Orange Bowl victories, including a national championship. ; Brothers in exile: Discover the remarkable story of Cubans Livan and Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez, who risked their lives to get off the island, and eventually went on to world championship success in Major League Baseball in the United States. ; Rand University: One of the most gifted athletes to ever play the game, Randy Moss has long been an enigma, largely known for his athletic brilliance on the football field and his troubles off it. Go back to where he came from - Rand, West Virginia - and explore what almost derailed his extraordinary career. After overcoming legal troubles and losing opportunities to play with Notre Dame and Florida State, Moss would eventually revive his promising football career at Marshall University. The U part 2: Picking up where "The U" (2009) left off, "The U part 2" chronicles the controversial Miami Hurricanes as the team becomes embroiled in a scandal involving a ponzi scheme operated by one of the team's boosters. ; Of miracles and men: The story of one of the greatest upsets in sports history has been told. Or has it? On a Friday evening in Lake Placid, a plucky band of American collegians stunned the vaunted Soviet national team, 4-3 in the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympic hockey competition. But there was another side to the 'Miracle On Ice.' The so-called bad guys from America's ideological adversary were in reality good men and outstanding players. ; I hate Christian Laettner: He made perhaps the most dramatic shot in the history of the NCAA basketball tournament. He's the only player to start in four consecutive Final Fours, and was instrumental in Duke winning two national championships. He had looks, smarts and game. So why has Christian Laettner been disliked so intensely by so many for so long? Go beyond the polarizing persona and uncover the complete story behind this lightning rod of college basketball. ; Sole man: This definitive, first-hand and unflinching account examines one of the sports world's most polarizing and influential figures, Sonny Vaccaro. A fast talking maverick, his zeal for basketball and instinct for sales forged an era of unprecedented growth for two pillars of pop culture: basketball and sneakers. Vaccaro was instrumental in launching Nike's 'Air Jordan' empire in the '80s and started the movement of paying college coaches to have their players wear Nike shoes. ; Angry sky: In 1965, at the height of the space race, Nick Piantanida launched the first civilian space program. A truck driver and exotic pet dealer from New Jersey, Piantanida had no formal training, no college degree and barely enough money to support his devoted wife and their three children. But he had a dream-to take a balloon to the edge of the atmosphere and jump out. If he succeeded, he'd set a world record as he free-fell back to earth for nearly 17 minutes. "Angry Sky" is the story of a man whose dream took him to the edge of space but whose obsession led to his tragic downfall.
adult
ESPN Films
Produced in 2016
Aired on cable between 2012 and 2015
Blu-ray, widescreen; requires Blu-ray player
In English with subtitles
Blu-ray; requires Blu-Ray player
