30 for 30 complaint

Decades? I would say some of the Sports Centuries were better. Just my opinion.

 

So Netflix is free for a month, and The 2 Escobars is the first of these I have watched other than Bo.

That was great. Got teary a few times.

 

Give me Outside The Lines (the writing more than the broadcasts, but either works) and Grantland anyday.

 

Those are two different things, Vers. Outside the Lines is journalism. 30 For 30 is filmmaking.

 

The Two Escobars is journalism in film format.

 

Maybe we're parsing too much, but that's just an old-school -- and tremendous -- documentary. It is journalistically sound, faithful to the truth and all that, but it's still a movie. Bigger in scope, bigger budget, etc.

There are elements in that in a few of the movies. But, again, they're movies.

 

I'll settle for that. Up next: Marcus Dupree and then the OJ Day of '94.

 

Wow, some of y'all are watching a different series than I am. I agree with Lugnuts -- of the first 30 films, all but about 3-4* were absolutely outstanding.

* The U and the Red Sox/Yankees ones were particularly shallow, both owing to the same problem: fanboi directors/talking heads.

But "The Two Escobars"? Marcus Dupree? Iverson? "Once Brothers"? Tim Richmond? Truly fantastic film-making, on all levels.

I will offer this criticism: None of the films after the first 30 have come close to living up to the same standard as Volume 1. I'm talking about the films produced under the "ESPN Films Presents" banner (such as Fab Five, Bartman and Marinovich) or the Volume 2 films (such as "Broke", "9.79", Ole Miss and Bo Jackson.)

But man, that first season ...

 

I agree with this for the most part, but I thought "Unguarded" (Chris Herren) was as good as anything in the first group.

 

Buck, totally agree about "Once Brothers." Had not been mentioned yet and an absolutely outstanding piece of film making.

 

Did you see Benji? I thought that was on the level of Iverson, Once Brothers, etc.

Catching Hell was really good. It needed one little thing to be a truly elite film, and we all know what (who) that was.

For me Marcus Dupree is #1. Unguarded (not part of the original 30) a close #2. Then there's a tiny drop. Two Escobars #3. Muhammad & Larry #4. Then there's a huge pack of really good films tied for #5, including Once Brothers, SMU, the OJ Day, Ricky Williams, Jimmy the Greek, Fab Five, Winning Time, etc. Then there's a group of entertaining films at #6 like The 'U' and 'Broke,' the Kansas/Naismith Papers doc, Marinovich, the Colts Band, etc. Then there's a few 'just average' and maybe one or two that are thumbs down for me.

Still need to see....

Small Potatoes (USFL)
Straight Out of LA
Tim Richmond
.. a few more of the original 30
9.79
Ole Miss

And Verse... I'm sure there's some fact-checking. Every network has a standards division. These films are put through something, rest assured. BUT the greatness of this series is that there's no formula to the films. They've given the filmmakers freedom. If Billy Corben wants to include a guy spouting off, that's the filmmaker's choice. It's more of an art than a science. For me, that's why this series tops Sports Century. Which, you know, was great in its day.

 

I thought the USFL one was really dry and boring. I might be the only one here that did not like it very much.