30 for 30 running thread

Ken Jeong, he of Hangover fame, directed this piece on Reggie Ho, he of Notre Dame kicking fame circa '88.

Nicely done.

 

I really enjoyed the Marcus Allen episode of A Football Life. Some of his HS footage is unreal. Didn't realize he was such a dominant defensive back; not that it's surprising at all.

 

The cool thing is that he became a doctor. I wonder how many of his patients realize he played football for Notre Dame.

 

Between McConaughey and Snoop on the sidelines, no player on either side could've tested clean after that game.

 

Last weekend I caught some 30 for 30s discussed earlier on this thread.
1. I thought the one on the Boz was excellent. I can understand people having issues with the segments of Boz and his son in the storage locker, but I thought they added great context. For someone his son's age, having all the cameras pointed at you seems like a dream come true, while the "NCAA" shirt was seen as a holy grail of sorts. To Boz, who lived through those nightmares and what followed, he had the perspective to know it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Especially the part with him talking about the NCAA shirt and how it wasn't something he was proud of. Forced or staged? Yeah, maybe. But I still enjoyed those scenes.
2. Overall I really liked the Bo Jackson one, though I didn't see the need for some of the interviews. I wasn't too impressed with the animation graphics, but some of the comments were great. In particular George Brett talking about Bo scaling the wall after a great catch and the idea that if Bo had come along 10 years later, the natural assumption would have been he was juiced.
3. Elway to Marino was fascinating to me. I was only 5 at the time, so I didn't remember many of the details discussed. Loved the recreated details, especially the helmet phones. Some of the players who got picked higher than Marino seem hysterical now, but it really drove home the point that trying to peer into the future is hard to do. I'm not sure the new interviews with some ESPN people (cough cough Berman) were needed and the agent's notes felt a bit overdone, but overall it was great. Loved Jim Kelly's comments on Buffalo, not to mention Elway's thoughts on Baltimore. Some good lines from Marino, too.

Somewhat separate but in the spirit of the thread, I also caught A Football Life Staubach and Jerry Rice episodes. Fascinating details in both. The emphasis in the Rice one about his obsession with practice and improvement jumped out to me, especially the story from Steve Young about clearing his locker a few days after winning the Super Bowl and seeing Rice practicing his routes.

 

The "I hate Christian Laettner" 30 for 30 was outstanding.

Most of the "A Football Life" are excellent. As someone previously mentioned, the exception is the Ray Lewis one, which is not strong at all. It's done very differently than the others.

 

John Daly is getting a 30 for 30.
Yes, please!

 

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 9 p.m. – “Trojan War” -> Pete Carroll's tenure (rebirth of program and problems)

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 9 p.m. – “Down in the Valley” -> Kevin Johnson saving Kings in Sacramento

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 9 p.m. – “The Prince of Pennsylvania” -> ESPN version of Foxcatcher

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 9 p.m. – “The Gospel According to Mac” -> Bill McCartney, strange title runs & Promise Keepers

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 8 p.m. — “Chasing Tyson” -> Tyson vs. Holyfield

 

Eh. I'll watch because I've liked the past 30 for 30s, but all of those seem like well-mined territories already, or still too fresh that you're not going to get incredibly candid stories.

 

What? No The U, Part III?

 

Would love to see something on the Hagler-Hearns and/or Hagler-Leonard fights.