Top 5 ESPN Films
By Austin Johnson
ESPN Films was founded in 2008, and has produced well over 100 documentaries centered around sports stories, including the critically acclaimed 30 for 30 documentary series. I’ve seen pretty much every single thing they have produced in the past 12 years, so I wanted to make a list of my favorites. This list will not be including any series though. O.J.: Made in America might be the best documentary I’ve ever seen, but it’s a 5 part, 8 hour series and I just don’t see how I could compare it to a one hour doc about Wayne Gretzky. Another example would be Basketball: A Love Story which is 62 short films divided into 10 episodes and it’s 20 hours long in total. It’s worth every fucking second of your time. Sports are a massive part of my life and living without them has been quite strange, but it doesn’t mean I can’t talk about some sports content that I love, so here's my 5 favorite ESPN Films.
5.) Bad Boys (2014)
“Someone has to wear the black hat.”
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Zak Levitt has become a popular name in the basketball world this past decade after directing The Dream Team, The Doctor, The 84 Draft, and Clutch City for NBA TV and then Bad Boys for ESPN. Bad Boys is a part of Volume II in the 30 for 30 series and it focuses on the Detroit Pistons of the 80’s and early 90’s. Detroit native, Kid Rock narrates as we are taken through an incredible story that still affects the game of basketball today. The Eastern conference was owned by the Boston Celtics in the 1980’s as they won championships in 81’, 84’, and 86’ and lost in the finals in '85 and '87. Dr. J and Moses Malone led the Philadelphia Sixers to the championship in 83’. Michael fucking Jordan was drafted in '84, but didn’t get to the finals until the 90’s. Of course Magic Johnson’s showtime Los Angeles Lakers absolutely dominated the Western Conference in the 80’s in every way possible only missing two finals in '81 and '86 because of the Houston Rockets. It was tough to crack the top, but the Detroit Pistons did it at the very end of the decade by becoming the villain of the NBA. Isiah Thomas was the unquestioned leader, which is how it all worked out. They had order and if a player didn’t fit in, they found a way to trade them. Bill Laimbeer was the anchor of their defense, standing at 7 feet tall and 250 pounds, the dude was a beast. He famously wore a black hat around, embracing the villainous role that they inevitably got dubbed from their fiery play style. Those two along with Joe Dumars, Mark Aguirre, Dennis Rodman, Rick Mahorn, Vinnie Johnson, John Salley, James Edwards, John Long, Michael Williams, Fennis Dembo, and Coach Chuck Daly overcame all the adversity and hate to win back to back championships in '89 and '90. They broke the Celtics dynasty up, caused Jordan to become stronger for his 90’s run, and beat Magic Johnson’s Lakers to prove to everyone that playing together is what matters, even if you’re the bad boys of the league. Basketball fans will always remember those back to back titles as something really special and annoying at the same time. The Bad Boys were relentless as hell and got into fights constantly. The stuff that was going on in the 80’s would not fly today and the Bad Boys were at the forefront of all of it. This documentary has some violent footage from their games that is hard to find and the interviews in it are great because so many ex players still can’t stand the Bad Boys.
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4.) The Fab Five (2011)
“We Gonna Shock The World!”
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The Fab Five was definitely influenced by the Bad Boys Pistons team as they were a group of dudes playing at the University of Michigan in the early 90’s. Jason Hehir directed the brilliant documentary Andre the Giant for HBO a couple years ago, but I’ll always know him for directing The Fab Five, which is a part of a spin-off series for 30 for 30 called ESPN Films Presents. Pretty lazy title honestly. There are 14 in total and all of them are great, but The Fab Five stands out because it’s extremely gutsy and inspired me greatly as a player and fan of the game. The Fab Five is narrated by Taye Diggs and focuses on five freshman basketball players who attended Michigan and the cultural impact they had and still have today. They were the first team to ever start a national championship game with 5 freshmen. 4 out of the 5 were selected for the McDonald’s All-American game and 4 out of 5 went on to the NBA. My personal favorite is definitely Jalen Rose, who handled the ball a lot and ran his mouth the most. Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson are all badasses but Jalen has always stood out to me. I was in high school when The Fab Five first aired and I was the point guard on my high school team. After watching it, I realized how much influence they had on the modern game. They whipped the ball around, dunked a shit ton, wore all black shoes, black crew socks, shorts that actually hit their knees, and they trash talked nonstop, which was hard for the NCAA to process. When those 5 guys were on the court, it was like poetry. The ball movement, the team defense, and the style all made them a cultural phenomenon. People either hate them or love them just like the Bad Boys Pistons team. The Fab Five committed to Michigan in 1991 and went on to play in the National championship game in '92 as freshmen and '93 as sophomores, but they lost both games. Jalen points out that no one can name the starting lineups of the two teams that beat them in championship games, but everyone knows what the Fab Five is about. The doc has some rim-rocking footage and very raw interviews that just flat out bash other schools and players. It’s extremely entertaining and surprisingly rewatchable because the basketball action is priceless. I simply can’t get enough of Jalen Rose throwing alley oops to Chris Webber.
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3.) Hillsborough (2014)
“For fuck’s sake open these gates!”
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ESPN Films made a series in 2014 called the Soccer Stories, which featured 8 documentaries focusing on the most beautiful game in the world. I love basketball, but I’m in love with soccer. Football. It’s the world's game for a reason and the amount of history within it is actually intimidating. On April 15th, 1989 in Sheffield, England, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were scheduled to play the FA Cup semi final. The FA Cup is an annual knock out tournament between all of the English football teams. It’s a massive tournament and the semifinal is obviously a big deal. The semifinal games are always played at a neutral site, and on April 15th, 1989 the stadium Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were scheduled to play at was the Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, which holds around 38,000 people. This was a semi final between two massive clubs, so it was packed. The fans are always segregated at English matches to avoid any violence so for this particular match, the Forest supporters were allocated the South Stands and the Spion Kop on the East End and the Liverpool supporters were given the smaller sections of the North and West End, known as Leppings Lane. Liverpool had more people there, but they gave them the smaller sections to avoid the opposing supporters crossing paths while traveling to the match. This documentary tells the story of the horrible day as too many people entered an entrance to the stadium at once, causing supporters to get crushed up against the fencing behind the goal. The details are shocking and this is something that is hard to swallow all together. The crush killed 96 Liverpool supporters and over 700 people were injured. The Hillsborough disaster is one of the worst days in sporting history and this doc captures it extremely well. It’s a tough watch because you forget that this shit isn’t written, it’s true and people lost their lives. Rest in peace, Hillsborough 96.
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2.) Once Brothers (2010)
“A spur of the moment reaction one year earlier,
made me a hero in Serbia and a villain in Croatia.” |
Once Brothers is one of the original 30 for 30 documentaries, directed by Michael Tolajian and narrated by Vlade Divac who is one of the subjects of the film. The other subject is Drazen Petrović and they were indeed close as brothers at one point. Once Brothers was the 25th doc in the original series and it came out at the beginning of my freshman year of high school. I immediately bought a Drazen Petrović New Jersey Nets shirt after seeing it for the first time and I still have it 10 years later. Divac and Petrović were both born in Yugoslavia during the 60’s, both played for the national team together from '86 to '90, both got drafted into the NBA, and then the Yugoslav Wars split them apart as Divac is from Serbia and Petrović from Croatia. Divac was 7 feet tall and 250 pounds during his playing days, but he could move extremely well and his passing ability made for a very cool offensive asset. He is one of 7 NBA players to record at least 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, and 1,500 blocks over their career. The other guys are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'neal, Pau Gasol, and Hakeem Olajuwon. Now, Drazen Petrović on the other hand was 6 foot 5, 190 pounds, a wicked playmaker, and a deadly 3 point shooter. He started his NBA career with the Portland Trailblazers where he found it hard to get minutes with the likes of Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Danny Young, and Danny Ainge taking most of the guard minutes. During his second year, Drazen was part of a 3 team trade that sent him to New Jersey. He immediately got more minutes and more looks. In the following '91-'92 season, he started every game for the Nets, averaged 20 points, and became the leading offensive threat on a playoff team. The season after that was his best and he will always be recognized for it as he got voted onto the '92-'93 All-NBA Third Team. The Nets made it to the playoffs again that season, lost in the first round, but they were a fun team with Drazen lighting it up and Derrick Coleman wreaking havoc on the rim. The Nets last game was on May 9th. 1993 NBA Finals started on June 9th, but there was a dark cloud as Drazen Petrović passed away on June 7th in a car accident while traveling in Germany to play in a tournament for his home country, Croatia. He was 28 years old and a hell of a player. This documentary is a big ol' history lesson with basketball at the center and two amazing individuals at the core. Drazen will always be one of all time favorite players to grace the hardwood and it’s cool to have a very well done documentary showcasing his skills because he is gone but never forgotten in the basketball world.
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1.) The Two Escobars (2010)
“In that era, football became a tug-of-war between drug lords.”
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I’ve talked about 3 basketball related documentaries and a football related documentary. Like I said earlier, footy is the world's game for a reason and The Two Escobars involves one of the most infamous drug dealers ever with one of the most promising footballers ever. This is the oldest ESPN Film on my list as it is the 16th doc in the original 30 for 30 series and directed by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, who have become a well known duo in the documentary world. The Two Escobars made an unprecedented festival run in 2010, appearing at Cannes, Tribeca, and the Los Angeles Festival, garnering all sorts of attention because it’s just as dramatic as any film you can name. Pablo Esobar was born in Rionegro, Colombia but raised in Medellín. He was the King of Cocaine and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. His rise to drug lord status came fast and violently. Pablo bought Atletico Nacional in the late 80’s because he loved football and wanted to launder money through the club. This influenced other drug dealers to buy clubs, dubbing Colombian league play as Narco Futbol. Pablo was reportedly worth around 30 billion dollars in 1993 when he died in a shootout with Colombian National Police. Andres Escobar was born and raised in Medellín. He started for Atletico Nacional as a central defender while Pablo owned the team. He played on the Colombian National team from 1988 to 1994 and was a key part of the success they had during that stint. In '94, heading into the World Cup, Colombian football was in a sort of funk, with head coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats from drug dealers over team selection. The players were clearly affected by it and lost the opening match to Romania 3-1. They lost to the USA 2-1 with Andres scoring an own goal and then won their last group stage game against Switzerland, but it didn’t matter. It was too little, too late and Colombia were already knocked out of the tournament. On July 1st, 1994, 5 days after Colombia got eliminated, Andres Escobar went out with some friends and found himself in a dangerous situation early the next morning as 3 men appeared outside his car when he was alone and shot him 6 times. He died at the hospital about 45 minutes later and it is widely believed to be punishment for his own goal against the USA. That proved to be true as a cartel member admitted to killing Escobar just a day later. Pablo and Andres aren’t related in any way, but The Two Escobars is a wonderfully crafted documentary that intertwines their lives in a fascinating way. Sports are always going to be a huge part of our culture and sometimes that isn’t a good thing. It’s obviously not just a game for some people and serious consequences have been paid due to sports. There’s an unlimited amount of sports stories out there that can teach, inspire, and humble us. I won’t stop watching these documentaries because the knowledge is priceless, but mainly because they are made with so much passion.
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