30 for 30 running thread

[Steak Snabler]

1. During the Royals-Mariners clips, did the OJ 2-under at the U.S Open joke go out on air?

Don't think so. Sounded like it was just chatter between the booth and the truck between innings.

I listened to the Bill Simmons 30 for 30 podcast with director Brett Morgen (which I'd recommend, by the way) and Morgen said when they requested the news/game footage from the networks, they got raw satellite feeds with no commercials. The off-air comments by the anchors/reporters ended up being happy accidents that all but made the film, in my opinion.

Morgen also mentioned what Charley Steiner told him following a screening of "June 17, 1994": "Here's a lesson for all of you in broadcasting --- turn off your mic during the commercials!!"

 

[MileHigh]

2. How the heck did that guy get into the Game 5 presser asking Riley about whether or not OJ cut to the left?

Well, if Vic the Brick Jacobs can still get into press conferences to this day, it certainly happened back then.

 

[lantaur]

I was wondering how having no narration would work, but after watching it now I wonder how having narration would work. It was pulled off beautifully.

 

[tripleoption34]

Probably the best sports documentary I've seen since Kevin MacDonald's "One Day in September" in 1999.

As for Chip Caray, once an assclown, always...he'd probably be doing Indy league baseball if his last name was Stewart.

What it also reminded me of was how good/great ESPN's talent base was at the time: Berman (for better or worse), Olbermann, Steiner, Ley, Schwartz, Kilborn, Levy, etc. If only they could go back and focus on the sport instead of the self-promoting.

I was doing my internship that summer and happened to have the night off. As I watched the events unfold, all that kept running through my mind was, "Good God, to be an editor on a day/night like this."

...and yes, that was one sick ass bomb Griffey hit off David Cone.

 

[DanOregon]

I was thinking about this. Before this thing went down, OJ was closest to what current celebrity?
pre-crash Tiger? Jordan?

 

[Huggy]

I just remember the guy who pranked one of the networks and said he was following OJ during the chase. It was so obvious it was a prank, but CBS (I think) bit hard and the guy screamed out Ba Ba Booey at the end of the call.

It was Peter Jennings - "and a bababooey to you all!!"

I was totally expecting them to play it - I had to google it to play it for my 16 y/o and 15 year old who watched the 30-30 with me.

What they did include was going to the local station with "breaking news" that the reporter got a different cell phone that works. The eye roll by local anchor Pat Harvey was priceless. What a bunch of putzes.

Costas appeared to be the most professional of anyone.

Haven't seen the doc yet - it's on tomorrow here in Canuckistan - but I just watched the Baba Booey thing on YouTube. It's still hilarious.

 

[poindexter]

I was thinking about this. Before this thing went down, OJ was closest to what current celebrity?
pre-crash Tiger? Jordan?

No F'ing way.

More like a Barkley without Charle's sense of humor.

 

[Brian]

I was thinking about this. Before this thing went down, OJ was closest to what current celebrity?
pre-crash Tiger? Jordan?

No F'ing way.

More like a Barkley without Charle's sense of humor.

Bill Simmons had this exact conversation on his podcast with Morgen.

Simmons said it was the equivalent of Barkley. Morgen said it would be the equivalent of Magic Johnson.

I think the Magic Johnson comparison is more apt. Barkley, as Morgen pointed out, has already declared himself not a role model.

I just got the time to sit down and watch the documentary. It's sublime in the truest sense...taking an appalling, vapid situation and making it into a powerful critique. Gives you this aching feeling that you just witnessed the turn of a new media age for the irreversible worse.

 

[DanOregon]

The thing about Barkley. No one would believe the whole "outside practicing his chipping" thing.

 

[D-3 Fan]

I was 18 years old and just graduated from high school. I was going on a field trip to visit Memphis, Atlanta, and D.C.. Before we loaded the bus, was the first I learned of Nicole and Goldman being murdered. Several days later we were in Memphis when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. I was staying in the famous Peabody Hotel (got to see the Peabody ducks -- awesome) and shared an elevator with some Rangers fans celebrating.

But that Friday (June 17th) is something I can't forget. I thought things were strange that day, but little did I know how monumental that day was in sports and news.

Our bus was heading to D.C. Friday morning for a few days of sightseeing. I had my walkman (yes, kids, iPods were not around in '94) and was able to listen thru some of the AM static on what was going on when O.J. didn't report to the LAPD. From that point on until we arrived at our hotel, everyone sat and listened as I repeated to them everything I heard on the radio. When we pulled up at the hotel, all of us bolted to our hotel rooms to watch what was going on.

Little did we know how surreal it was going to get once we flipped the TV on.

Several things I didn't realize until I finished watching it an hour ago:

1. Morgen is dead-on with "reality television." We had never seen anything of it's truest kind before. Nearly all of America watching a live car chase with a "celebrity" involved.

2. How the chase changed the media. Uncle Brent's off-air comment to his producer stood out for me. The fact that NBC was debating whether to show the chase or the game and Costas talking to his producers about is it appropriate that we talk about the chase and we have a game to call was compelling. Costas understood immediately that he had a powder keg of a story developing on top of one of the greatest days in NYC sports history (Rangers' parade and NYK taking a 3-2 lead).

I came in with low expectations of June 17, 1994 because I was expecting the usual interviews and typical documentary materials. I came away impressed.

The Pat Riley/OJ question I forgot about. Clearly, Riley had no clue WTF was going on outside of Madison Square Garden, because he was too busy coaching.

 

[SoCalDude]

Doesn't that night still stand as the all-time one-night high for pizza delivery sales?

We were at a pizza place we frequently visited, which, by the way, was only a few blocks from the 405. They had just gotten a TV a few weeks before. I asked the waitress to turn up the volume. She said no, the owner says there will be no volume on the TV.
I said, the customers demand there be volume and the customer is always right, then I laughed. She didn't. (I had met the owner several times, we were among his best customers. But he was a dickhead.)
I said, there a significant bit of American history unfolding right before our eyes, please turn up the volume. If the owner says anything, tell him I forced you to do it.
She finally did. It was an amazing night.
Later, the owner never said anything to me about it.

 

[BTExpress]

On the way home from a baseball game that night with a collegue from work, driving down a stretch of road in my county when engine starts to overheat.

The one freaking section in this county where there isn't a gas station every 2 blocks.

I wind up melting a cylinder and stuck on the side of the road with no help in sight, the nearest house a mile away and cell phones at least three years away from becoming commonplace. O.J.'s about to kill himself, the NBA Finals are going on, and I'm listening to this Red Sox fan go on about how Paul Quantrill could be the difference this season.