30 for 30 running thread

[Small Town Guy]

Totally agree. The Internet and cable nets allow people to go from scandal to redemption in record time. I was thinking about this today.
The Notorious Top 10 (this week).
- New Mexico soccer player
- Carrie Prejean
- Balloon Boy and Dad
- Jon and Kate
- Andre Agashi
- Larry Johnson
- Levi Johnston
- Seth McFarlane/Marlee Matlin
- Tom Cable
- Tea Party Holocaust sign guy

- no longer ranked: Erin Andrews, Lagarette Blount, Hulk Hogan, Greg McMackin, Joe Wilson, Allan Grayson.

Eventually, as part of the reclamation, it would have been, "Coming up next on Dancing With the Stars, Jimmy the Greek!"

 

[DanOregon]

I don't even think going to rehab is required. You lay low for doing something, then eventually come back take your medicine (Dr. Phil, SNL, spoof yourself on the VMAs or Larry King).
Part of Prejean's problem was she didn't master the "lay low" part of the deal. If she just waited a couple of days and took the loss of the crown with grace and humor and didn't appear to be so eager to package herself as a casualty in the "culture war" she'd be .......just another former beauty queen. Who is Miss America right now?

 

[Webster]

This one didn't do it for me. I hated the narration and I didn't feel like I learned enough about him.

 

[buckweaver]

Agreed, Webster. Was waiting for the film to get to the controversy of his firing -- which was the whole point of doing a Jimmy the Greek episode, no? -- and it took about 40 minutes to get there. Kind of a letdown.

And yeah, the "voice-over" was too awkward. Hearty swing, but still a swing and miss.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Had this happened today, he'd have eventually been re-hired by another network, like Don Imus, or gotten a satellite radio show.

One thing that was pointed out in the documentary is that even before the scandal, The Greek was getting old and no longer had the contacts inside the NFL he'd once had. He was in danger of being phased out by CBS anyway. Rozelle retired two seasons after The Greek's firing, and it would have been interesting to see if Tagliabue would have continued the league's policy of turning a blind eye to The Greek's tap dance around the league's anti-gambling stance.

 

[exmediahack]

Loved it. Thought it was the best 30/30, beating out the USFL. This is the great "next step" for ESPN after the SportsCentury series 10 years ago.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Agreed, Webster. Was waiting for the film to get to the controversy of his firing -- which was the whole point of doing a Jimmy the Greek episode, no? -- and it took about 40 minutes to get there. Kind of a letdown.

And yeah, the "voice-over" was too awkward. Hearty swing, but still a swing and miss.

I caught good chunks of it, even though I was mostly watching the Buf-Ohio game (long half time and I flipped a lot). I thought the voice over technique was corny and didn't work, so I totally agree about that. But I disagree with you about the controversy being the whole point of doing a Greek episode. I grew up with the Greek on the old Irv Cross NFL Today shows, and he was an institution. He brought betting -- which the NFL struggled with acknowledging -- into the mainstream and even as a kid, I remember tuning all the way through just to see his picks -- I wasn't gambling.

The point of that documentary, I believe, was to point out that yeah, everyone today knows about the things he said and the controversy (they covered that, but by giving you more, they avoided rehashing just what we DO remember easily about the guy). It wanted to give him his due for the pioneer he was and introduce you to a lot of stuff you didn't know. I only had the slightest inkling about just how much of an insider the Greek really was and how much of the NFL was on his speed dial. He was actually a real reporter (as many gamblers trying to get an edge are), which is interesting to people like me who mostly remember him at the end when he was kind of a caricature of himself and mailing it in. The guy set the line for Super III. I had no clue. The documentary did a good job of getting into the tensions behind the scenes at the CBS show, when CBS pretty much owned NFL coverage, and the part the Greek played in it. I found that part interesting. I had no clue he was quite that much of a high-maintenance diva (the expense accounts, living large, increasing demands) and that CBS had had it with him by the time the controversy came about. I don't think it spent too much time on any of those things, and it certainly gave the controversy the coverage it deserved. It covered it really well, including surprisingly, Brent Musberger, who gave some excellent context -- the Greek came from a messed up background, wasn't educated and as he was wont to do, started trying to sound intelligent about a minefield someone more savvy would never have stepped in. It's amazing that he could have the gambling savvy and street smarts he supposedly had, but not understand that. I also thought using Dan Rather to talk about network politics and how they threw the Greek under the bus was an obvious, but well-implemented--bit of camera time.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Well said, Ragu.

To me, the most fascinating tidbit from the show (which I think I'd heard before, but still), was about him paying train conductors and porters to pick up newspapers from across the country and bring them back to Steubenville for him, so that he could read local news coverage and pick up a gambling edge. Fascinating, and an absolutely genius move.

 

[Webster]

Ragu, I thought that we didn't really learn anything about him.

He was a gambler and a big spender. The stuff about his conviction and what he did in Vegas afterwards was a bit confusing (was he a gambler, a PR man and oddmaker or some combination).

The insider stuff about NFL today was probably the best stuff in the documentary.

 

[93Devil]

Ragu, I thought that we didn't really learn anything about him.

He was a gambler and a big spender. The stuff about his conviction and what he did in Vegas afterwards was a bit confusing (was he a gambler, a PR man and oddmaker or some combination).

The insider stuff about NFL today was probably the best stuff in the documentary.

I would think his uncle killing his mother and aunt (when he could have been with them) was very interesting.

 

[Webster]

Ragu, I thought that we didn't really learn anything about him.

He was a gambler and a big spender. The stuff about his conviction and what he did in Vegas afterwards was a bit confusing (was he a gambler, a PR man and oddmaker or some combination).

The insider stuff about NFL today was probably the best stuff in the documentary.

I would think his uncle killing his mother and aunt (when he could have been with them) was very interesting.

It was certainly an interesting fact, but I didn't really get how it helped shape the man.

 

[93Devil]

Ragu, I thought that we didn't really learn anything about him.

He was a gambler and a big spender. The stuff about his conviction and what he did in Vegas afterwards was a bit confusing (was he a gambler, a PR man and oddmaker or some combination).

The insider stuff about NFL today was probably the best stuff in the documentary.

I would think his uncle killing his mother and aunt (when he could have been with them) was very interesting.

It was certainly an interesting fact, but I didn't really get how it helped shape the man.

True.

An hour probably was too little time if you really dig into the sportsbook/Vegas stuff, his childhood, CBS, his funeral, his family and deaths of his children.

Maybe cut out the personal stuff and focus on bookmaking and CBS?