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Gonzo

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He already had one and I don't think it stopped him from appearing on and ruining NFL pre-game shows.

 

If given the choice between Caliendo and Rob Riggle. . .if gouging my eyes out isn't an option. . .Caliendo is clearly the better choice. Riggle is just awful on every level.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Technically not a 30 For 30, but still from ESPN Films, I finally watched The Book of Manning that's been sitting on my DVR for months.  Other being almost unbearably sycophantic in its praise of all the Mannings, this was really good.  Almost half the show was focused on Archie's career at Ole Miss and in the NFL with the rest covering his three sons.  TONS of great home videos as Archie was apparently pretty obsessive about videotaping his kids.  We are treated to this awful school musical thing where Peyton Manning tries to do the salsa, lots of high game footage, and LOTS of backyard game footage.  Peyton was apparently quite the crybaby whiner as a kid so there's plenty of that, which is good for laughs.  Like I said, overall very good.  It's obvious that the three boys and Archie have a great relationship and they very much like, love and respect each other.  Good stuff.

 

On Netflix, caught The Price of Gold, the Nancy/Tonya 30 For 30.  This was very good, up to the normal high standards for the series.  Tonya is interviewed extensively and serves as the basis for nearly the whole film.  Several of Nancy's coaches and friends are interviewed, as is her husband, but not Nancy herself.  Nothing from the surviving idiots who actually committed the crime.  Tonya had quite the rough upbringing with an abusive mom and no money.  One of her closest friends made a documentary about her as a teenager and Harding quite frankly admits that her mom beats her.  There's also a tough moment when Tonya calls her mom with results from the US Nationals - where she had a very good result - and her mom is just terrible to her.  Harding tries hard to sell the idea that she was not involved in the attack but, as always, that comes across as tough to swallow.  Nancy is painted, as always, as the perfect heroine but rightly gets called out a couple times by Harding for being a crybaby.  No mention is made of her post-Olympics behavior that helped tank her career as a product spokesman (most infamously being caught saying "This is so corny. This is so dumb. I hate it. This is the most corny thing I've ever done." during a Disney parade).  They also sell us hard on how heroic she was for recovering from a bone bruise and being able to skate - 7-1/2 weeks later.  We're supposed to think she was near death or something.  Then they try to create controversy over the results at the Olympics, all but stating that the outcome was fixed to screw Nancy out of a gold.  Hogwash.  Any objective eye watching that night knows that Oksana Baiul, the actual winner, was better.  Anyway, this was really good and well worth checking out.

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  • 3 weeks later...

On the NBC documentary about the same topic, her claim regarding the whole Disney Parade incident was she was embarrassed about being the centerpiece of a parade while wearing her medal because she didn't like anything that was that self-aggrandizing. 

 

There might be something to that, but considering it came on the back of her being snippy about 1) losing the gold medal and 2) Oksana Baiul herownself plus just Nancy-Tonya fatigue in general, it was the wrong time to get caught mouthing off on camera again, context or no context.  

 

1994 was just The Year Punk Broke in terms of bizarro sports stories. 

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I've always enjoyed his Bill Walton, if he isn't doing Walton then I can't stand him. That being said, ESPN and Fox Sports have really shitty opinions on what is and is not funny.

 

They're jocks.  If you want to know what they think is funny, watch the Alpha Beta's talent show entry in REVENGE OF THE NERDS.  Basically its "us dancing around because everyone loves us."

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Absolutely no doubt that this is one of the top 5 30 for 30's ever and still have 30 minutes left on it.   Very good detail, not a lot of fluff, and had all of the best personalities that made the Big East great in Boeheim, Thompson, Rollie, and Louie. 

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John Thompson doesn't get nearly as much shit as he deserves for only getting 1 championship at Georgetown. He had Deke and Zo together for 3 years and couldn't even make a Final Four.

 

The drug lord story however nearly redeems him, that is an all-timer.

 

edit: God that was so much more depressing than I thought it would be. I fucking hate Jim Boeheim.

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People don't criticize John Thompson as much as he deserves because they're afraid of being labeled racist. Thompson was never afraid to claim racism whenever he or his program was criticized. A lot of times - a LOT of times - he was right. But he, especially later in his career when the success dropped, also liked to say "racism" to shut people up.

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John Thompson doesn't get nearly as much shit as he deserves for only getting 1 championship at Georgetown. He had Deke and Zo together for 3 years and couldn't even make a Final Four.

That's awfully harsh considering he was 3 points away from winning 3 titles in 4 years with Ewing. It took a horrible pass in '82 and Villanova playing a perfect game in '85 to deny him those trophies.

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They were losing before the bad pass in '82 and got the ball back after it.  Thompson chose to use his last timeout to ice James Worthy (it worked - Worthy missed both) but Georgetown then was forced to throw up a prayer instead of running an actual play.

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The Iverson teams were great too, especially his second year. Aside from Iverson, Othella Harrington, Jerome Williams and Jahidi White all played in the NBA for more than a few years. Victor Page was more talented than all of them save AI but was sadly a head case. Really there was no reason that Hoyas team should've lost by 20 to UMass, no matter how good Camby was in college.

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