30 for 30

I’ve finally seen all of the 30 for 30 documentaries on ESPN. Thanks to the marathon on Sunday I was able to catch the last two. Thanks to Fios On Demand, where they look to have all of them, I was able to finally see Birth of Big Air over the weekend as well. Here are a couple of my favorites from the series.

Winning Time
I don’t care about the Knicks, Packers, Reggie Miller, or Spike Lee. With all that, this was the most fun of the bunch. It’s been 15 years and everyone remembers every detail of this rivalry and it still gets them fired up.

Four Days in October
A bit biased because I was firmly on that Red Sox bandwagon that October. The amount of time I spent watching baseball that month was the reason for my only poor semester in college. Not being a full time Red Sox fan, I hadn’t really watched a full review over their amazing run since it happened.

The Best that Never Was
I knew nothing about the story of Marcus Dupree going in. Two parts made this one amazing. First, just how incredible he was. Second, how completely content he is with his life now. You really couldn’t blame him if he was a little bitter.

Once Brothers
Much different than the others. It followed Vlade Divac and basketball in Yugoslavia. I didn’t know about any of the political issues involved. Vlade’s leading of the story kept me interested.

The Birth of Big Air
This one I couldn’t get to see until this week. I knew I’d love it. The Tremaine crew. That’s all I need. The stories of the beginnings of all the sports now in the X Games all go the same way. But the crazy stuff that Mat Hoffman pulled back then, that makes it all stand out.

The U/Pony Excess
I’ll limit the similarities to these being about programs. They were questionable in their own ways. The dynamics of the players, coaches, city, and boosters give these stories so many characters it’s almost hard to keep track. It’s almost too much to squeeze in to the two hours. Both did a nice job getting to as much of the story as they could. Longer would have allowed them to dig deeper, but also would have been, well, longer.