30 For 30

[Tabe]

Isn't that also the diffeence between football and basketball where at the time of Oden you have home players in the NBA who didn't even step foot on campus.

There's still a couple - Kobe being the most obvious - but the "you gotta play one year" rule has been in effect for quite awhile.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

Everybody forgets that Tressel got Youngstown put on probation.

 

Tressel's problem is he didn't perfect the Lou Holtz timely bail manouever.  Leave some other fool holding the bag and you too can be a beloved football coach.  Minnesota, NC St. SC, Arkansas, and even ND.  Ole Lou was the Teflon Don of the College Footbal ranks.

[Tabe]

Everybody forgets that Tressel got Youngstown put on probation.

Tressel's problem is he didn't perfect the Lou Holtz timely bail manouever. Leave some other fool holding the bag and you too can be a beloved football coach. Minnesota, NC St. SC, Arkansas, and even ND. Ole Lou was the Teflon Don of the College Footbal ranks.

Yeah, Lou passed that torch to Pistol Pete Carroll.

[supremebve]

 

Isn't that also the diffeence between football and basketball where at the time of Oden you have home players in the NBA who didn't even step foot on campus.

There's still a couple - Kobe being the most obvious - but the "you gotta play one year" rule has been in effect for quite awhile.

 

You also aren't taking into consideration that Oden made the best possible choice.  There is not a single reason that he should have stayed at Ohio State after that season.  He was the #1 pick and made as much money as possible before his body completely fell apart.  He can afford to pay for school if he chooses to go back, but going back to school was not going to help him at all. 

[Tabe]

Knocked off another one:

The Legend of Jimmy the Greek - One of the few from the original run of 30 that I missed. I'm not sure this topic really deserved a full-length documentary. Jimmy the Greek was interesting but not THAT interesting. I'm old enough to remember Jimmy long before his firing and he WAS a big name but...yeah, just not THAT interesting. Anyway, this does a pretty good job of recapping his rise to fame, his difficulties with co-workers and his ignominious fall after ridiculously racist statements that were videotaped and air all over the place. All the key players from his time with the NFL on CBS are here - Brent Musberger, Irv Cross, and the still-gorgeous Phyllis George. They paint a well-rounded picture of Jimmy, with Phyllis having the most against him as Jimmy apparently resented her presence and was pretty awful to her. They tell a great story about a well-publicized fight between Brent and Jimmy and include clips from the NFL pre-game show that followed in which they all mock the fight - a lot. Where this documentary really fails is in covering his downfall. Yeah, the clip is played but no context for it is ever given. Who was he talking to? Why was he talking? How did the subject of black athletes even come up? And so on. No, we just get the same 30-second famous clip that aired 50 billion times back in the day. He lived for another 8 years after his firing and apparently became quite disheveled and let his hair grow very long. Where are the photos? Nothing from his post-career AT ALL? We do get to hear from his son, who's apparently bitter he got no inheritance ("Dad enjoyed EVERY CENT he made"). Anyway, this is far from the best in the series but is still miles above the execrable fantasy baseball episode. 6/10.

[Serious Darius Bagfelt]

Knocked off another one:

The Legend of Jimmy the Greek - One of the few from the original run of 30 that I missed. I'm not sure this topic really deserved a full-length documentary. Jimmy the Greek was interesting but not THAT interesting. I'm old enough to remember Jimmy long before his firing and he WAS a big name but...yeah, just not THAT interesting. Anyway, this does a pretty good job of recapping his rise to fame, his difficulties with co-workers and his ignominious fall after ridiculously racist statements that were videotaped and air all over the place. All the key players from his time with the NFL on CBS are here - Brent Musberger, Irv Cross, and the still-gorgeous Phyllis George. They paint a well-rounded picture of Jimmy, with Phyllis having the most against him as Jimmy apparently resented her presence and was pretty awful to her. They tell a great story about a well-publicized fight between Brent and Jimmy and include clips from the NFL pre-game show that followed in which they all mock the fight - a lot. Where this documentary really fails is in covering his downfall. Yeah, the clip is played but no context for it is ever given. Who was he talking to? Why was he talking? How did the subject of black athletes even come up? And so on. No, we just get the same 30-second famous clip that aired 50 billion times back in the day. He lived for another 8 years after his firing and apparently became quite disheveled and let his hair grow very long. Where are the photos? Nothing from his post-career AT ALL? We do get to hear from his son, who's apparently bitter he got no inheritance ("Dad enjoyed EVERY CENT he made"). Anyway, this is far from the best in the series but is still miles above the execrable fantasy baseball episode. 6/10.

The subject of Black athletes came up because it was Martin Luther King Day when that interview took place.  I enjoyed this 30 for 30.  Jimmy The Greek was a big friggin deal in the late 70's early 80's.  

[supremebve]

The 30 for 30 about the Russian National Hockey team was pretty damn good.  They were essentially indentured servants for the Russian government contracted for 25 years to play hockey.  The parts with Tarasov, and his daughter, were my favorite parts.  He just seemed like a genuine person who realized the entire system was bullshit.  He coached his players to love each other and play a wholly unique brand of hockey, and of course the Russians fired him. 

[odessasteps]

It's interesting this comes out right when the Red Army doc is getting its widest release in theaters.

[mco543]

I haven't seen Red Army yet but Of Miracles and Men is amazing. Of everything it did great the greatest thing it did was humanize the Soviet players, which is something I don't think has ever been done before. It's insane that the Olympic Village was a prison, that's something people would expect from Russia not America. My favorite person on this doc is Boris Mikhailov, as far as hockey players go he has the charisma of prime-Shawn Michaels. The Soviets seemed to age pretty well, much better than I ever would've expected.

 

As someone who grew up playing goalie, I loved hearing Tretiak dissect the Mark Johnson goal at the end of the 1s period. It's really just absolutely incredible to hear about all the little minutiae that had to go perfectly right for the US to win that game; the defensemen letting up on the Johnson goal, Tretiak getting yanked (which is still the worst decision ever), the puck going between a boot and skate on another goal, Soviet players having the puck roll or hit the post or lose their edge on their skates. They could've played 100 times and it really would've never ever happened again. I liked how they didn't have a single US player on to talk about the game, they let the Soviets tell their stories without any Jim Craigs or Mike Eruziones. One of the biggest highlights was Tarasov's daughter's gigantic shit eating grin while talking about Tikhonov pulling Tretiak.

 

Of all the non-criminal villains in hockey history, the one that no one ever tries to romanticize or speaks well of is Tikhonov. People will say good things about even the dirtiest shithead player or most overbearing asshole coach but not Tikhonov. I would love a follow up 30 for 30 about some of the amazing and harrowing shit the Soviet players had to do to come over to the US, like Mogilny hiding in a car trunk, Konstantinov faking heart problems, etc.

 

It's interesting how Fetisov has become the face of the Soviet hockey system. I completely get why he is, he's far better connected politically than anyone else, but still it's interesting. I wish the doc would've gone into it a bit more about his former best friend Alexei Kasatonov coming over to play for Jersey with him and how they had allegedly played together for years without ever speaking to one another. I think that could be a fascinating story and it wasn't mentioned at all.

 

Another thing I noticed; I guess most of the old Soviet players have beautiful daughters, cause Fetisov's can run a really good race with Larionov's.

[Charro!]

We get some of the 30 for 30's on the UK version of ESPN. Haven't seen 'When the Garden was Eden' yet, but as a NBA fan I will be checking it out once it airs here (or when it's repeated). 

[Tabe]

For any that care, Of Miracles and Men will be on Netflix on March 1.

[Dewar]

For any that care, Of Miracles and Men will be on Netflix on March 1.

 

I watched this one last night, and it was great. Loved the Russian guy being asked if he had seen the movie "Miracle", then going on a rant about never wanting to see it.

 

The Slava Fetisov stuff was interesting as well. I had not heard of the USSR promising to let him leave.

[Death From Above]

I need to see this at some point. There is still to this day so much mystery around Soviet sports programs of which hockey was one of the crown jewels.

 

Hell even in that documentary that Sportsnet aired earlier this year about Alexander Mogilny's defection, it was obvious that as good as it was (and it was pretty intriguing), there were a lot of people that simply wouldn't talk to them on the Russian side.

 

I remember reading a book in my teens that was written by the Soviet national coach in either the very late 60's or very early 70's, before the 72 Summit Series. And it was so fascinating to me because it was literally the only look inside the Russian sports mindset I'd ever really had beyond the "Russia is the mysterious enemy" stuff we got on TV. And that was into the mid-90's by which time communism was gone, but you still then and now have this veil of mystery around a lot about the Soviet years.

[odessasteps]

Igor Lirianov was on Prime Time Sports today talking about watching the game as a 19 year old in the soviet hockey system.

[Dewar]

I need to see this at some point. There is still to this day so much mystery around Soviet sports programs of which hockey was one of the crown jewels.

 

Hell even in that documentary that Sportsnet aired earlier this year about Alexander Mogilny's defection, it was obvious that as good as it was (and it was pretty intriguing), there were a lot of people that simply wouldn't talk to them on the Russian side.

 

I remember reading a book in my teens that was written by the Soviet national coach in either the very late 60's or very early 70's, before the 72 Summit Series. And it was so fascinating to me because it was literally the only look inside the Russian sports mindset I'd ever really had beyond the "Russia is the mysterious enemy" stuff we got on TV. And that was into the mid-90's by which time communism was gone, but you still then and now have this veil of mystery around a lot about the Soviet years.

 

The 30 for 30 talks a lot about that coach, his coaching techniques, and how he got punted out of the program because they could not "control" him. Interesting stuff.

[Tabe]

Watched Of Miracles and Men last night. This was really, really great. As others mentioned, I loved that they didn't speak to any Americans and that the entire thing was from the Soviet perspective. All the stuff on the Soviet hockey system under Tarasov was fantastic. Seems like his players really liked him, no matter how hard he worked them. It's a shame he got canned before the '72 Summit Series. Was neat seeing the Soviets rightly taking so much pride in the way they destroyed the NHLers in the first game, leading the Canadians to the thuggish behavior (with a big assist from referees colluding against the Soviets) that eventually lead to Canada winning the Series.

Of course, there was a lot of focus on the 1980 Olympic game but it was great hearing the Soviet perspective. They kind of implied, but never really stated, that the players were out partying with the figure skaters (who'd won gold) the night before the game, leading to the lackluster performance. I was shocked at the conditions they lived under - had no idea the "Olympic Village" was (literally) a prison. Somehow have missed that tidbit in all the stuff I've read about that game. Hearing Tretiak break down Mark Johnson's tying goal that led to him getting pulled was awesome. Seeing Tarasov's daughter gleefully say "It was a mistake!" with regard to him getting pulled was great, too. And funny to see Myshkin essentially blame the rest of the team for the loss. Probably best were Boris Mikhailov and his "Why the heck would I watch Miracle? I want to watch a good movie. Let the Americans watch a movie where they win." reaction and the funny (but true) analogy from the Russian journalist with regard to the game and how it's (not) thought of in Russia/USSR. To wit: if a young man kisses Sophia Loren, that is something he will remember forever and always talk about. But for Sophia Loren? Instantly forgotten.

If I had one complaint, and it's a minor one, it's that I think a little too much focus was put on Slava Fetisov and his transition to the NHL. Yeah, he as a groundbreaker, but he wasn't alone. Sergei Makarov came over that same season too - and won the Rookie of the Year - but that garnered nary a mention. And I would like to have seen more on the Fetisov/Kasatonov relationship after Kasatonov betrayed Slava and then came over and was a teammate with the Devils. Still, I love hearing from Fetisov. The guy is beloved in Detroit for being part of the Russian Five and winning a Cup. Interesting that they didn't mention Fetisov was in the limo crash that crippled Vladdy Konstantinov.

Anyway, this was a really, really great entry in the series - probably top 5 overall.

[hammerva]

Damn this new 30 for 30 I Hate Christian Laettener is great.  it isn't really a documentary in the sense that it goes skips around in history as they try to explain why people hate him and Duke in 5 steps.  

 

No surprise that one of the main things that made him an asshole was that his big brother was worse.    Also the footage of him and the brawl at high school is just insane

 

Wow I remember all of the gay rumors with Brian Davis (and boy was this guy a trip on this show) but damn the chants at the LSU game was really rough.  Can you imagine if that happened now the hell reigned down on the college

[odessasteps]

I didnt watch it yet, but didnt Laentter and Davis troll people by walking around campus holding hands?

[Josh Mann]

Damn this new 30 for 30 I Hate Christian Laettener is great.  it isn't really a documentary in the sense that it goes skips around in history as they try to explain why people hate him and Duke in 5 steps.  

 

No surprise that one of the main things that made him an asshole was that his big brother was worse.    Also the footage of him and the brawl at high school is just insane

 

Wow I remember all of the gay rumors with Brian Davis (and boy was this guy a trip on this show) but damn the chants at the LSU game was really rough.  Can you imagine if that happened now the hell reigned down on the college

 

Other takeway from the LSU footage: God DAMN, I forgot Shaq used to be that svelte in college. 

[hammerva]

I didnt watch it yet, but didnt Laentter and Davis troll people by walking around campus holding hands?

 

Yeah they brought that up and someone (I think Coach K but not sure) brought up that if he would do things to help his bad guy image as a pretty boy

 

Oh and damn who can forget those shitty early 90's T-shirt designs:

 

[Jiji]

It was Doug Collins who mentioned the hand holding.

 

One of my favourite 30 for 30s and a great deconstruction of the Laettner hate. For me, he was white, pretty boy entitlement of that era when I was just a li'l kid and the episode just took the bricks of the Laettner hate house out one by one. Fantastic work. They didn't make him into a good guy by any means, but by examining the misconceptions surrounding why he was hated so much - well, maybe he didn't perfectly embody Duke entitlement. Though, did a printer and an elementary teacher really make for a working class family back then as the narration suggested?

 

Oh, and the guests on this episode rocked. Ariel Helwani, Pete Rosenberg, Ric Flair, and Ken Jeong. Whodathunkit? 

 

We also got to find out where

<----

this came from! People Magazine's most beautiful people.

 

Also, this:

The Iron Sheik ‏@the_ironsheik  21m

21 minutes ago

BEST HEAT WHEN THEY HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU THE BEST BUBBA #IHateChristianLaettner

[Burgundy LaRue]

I've got to watch this at some point, but I remember seeing a picture of Laettner and Davis in a magazine (I'm thinking Sports Illustrated), posing with Laettner's cat like a couple and even then, I could detect the trolling.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Just a really random note, The mention of the Boise State game on page 3 got me to go rewatch it and find that yes, that Ian Johnson is still married to the Cheerleader he proposed to.

I don't know why that mattered so much to me, but god damn I hope they are the happiest couple ever.

[Jiji]

I've got to watch this at some point, but I remember seeing a picture of Laettner and Davis in a magazine (I'm thinking Sports Illustrated), posing with Laettner's cat like a couple and even then, I could detect the trolling.

That's featured heavily when they talk about the rumors of homosexuality. Even his cat was cute.

[odessasteps]

As an IU grad who lived thru all that at the time, only Laettner could turn Kentucky babyface.