BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by BRV on Aug 28, 2023 13:02:23 GMT -5
With so many streaming services available, it seems like there are more sports documentaries available than ever before. It's not just 30 for 30 or HBO Sports and nothing else.
So, with that said, what are some of the very best - and very worst - sports documentaries?*
* - This also may be a thread just for recommendations for something to watch and what to avoid.
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Post by Cyno on Aug 28, 2023 13:33:58 GMT -5
O.J.: Made In America. Granted, it isn't exactly about sport, but still a very well-made documentary about one of the most infamous pro athletes of all time.
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Aug 28, 2023 15:11:03 GMT -5
Senna is an extraordinary look at an extraordinary man, it’s hard work though. My wife who barely knew who he was and had never really seen a Formula 1 race in her life was even getting choked up at the end.
Hillsbrough (the BBC/ESPN production) is a fantastic documentary but it will make you cry with sadness and anger at the tragedy of the deaths and the travesty that followed with the cover-up that took over two decades to finally reveal the truth.
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XIII
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Post by XIII on Aug 28, 2023 15:18:45 GMT -5
The 30 For 30 about the Dallas Carter Cowboys was pretty weak. Instead of going in depth about the very real issues that surrounded the team, Texas HS football, and sports hero worship at the time they tried to make it “the U: High School version”
The 30 for 30 about OJ where it was just clips of the happenings in chronological order is one of my favorites. That dude is guilty as hell.
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Post by cornettesracket on Aug 28, 2023 15:25:03 GMT -5
Senna is an extraordinary look at an extraordinary man, it’s hard work though. My wife who barely knew who he was and had never really seen a Formula 1 race in her life was even getting choked up at the end. Hillsbrough (the BBC/ESPN production) is a fantastic documentary but it will make you cry with sadness and anger at the tragedy of the deaths and the travesty that followed with the cover-up that took over two decades to finally reveal the truth. Yes it is. It’s infuriating at how much of a mess the police made of the day and then were so dismissive in the years after. The FA knew there had been issue with that end of Hillsborough for cup semi finals in years previous. |
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Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on Aug 29, 2023 0:32:57 GMT -5
Judging from the reaction of the CFB community, Swamp Kings is up there for the worst. It was apparently just an Urban Meyer puff piece.
I haven't watched it.
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by BRV on Aug 29, 2023 10:50:39 GMT -5
Judging from the reaction of the CFB community, Swamp Kings is up there for the worst. It was apparently just an Urban Meyer puff piece. I haven't watched it. Netflix's "Untold" series is regularly guilty of this. We saw it with the Malice at the Palace documentary, which really didn't unearth any new information and almost went out of its way to absolve the players involved in the melee, and also with "Operation Flagrant Foul," which treated Tim Donaghy and his colleagues with kid gloves rather than really digging in to the subject. It's unfortunately a symptom of what documentary filmmakers do to work with subjects - they either turn over creative control to them or don't rock the boat too hard to fact check or correct them at the risk of losing access. Yahoo Sports had a fascinating article about "Swamp Kings" earlier this week that essentially called the series, and this new style of documentary filmmaking, a movie version of those old "as-told-to" autobiographies. Netflix made a calculated decision and figured that it would be better to have access to Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow rather than discussing subjects like Aaron Hernandez, Chris Rainey, Cam Newton, the Pouncey Brothers, etc. and lose access to Meyer and Tebow. But sometimes, that's exactly what a documentary needs to tell a fuller story. Imagine if "OJ: Made in America" hung on O.J. Simpson's approval. It would end up a six-hour puff piece about his time at USC and with the Buffalo Bills. |
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Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on Aug 30, 2023 1:01:12 GMT -5
Judging from the reaction of the CFB community, Swamp Kings is up there for the worst. It was apparently just an Urban Meyer puff piece. I haven't watched it. Netflix's "Untold" series is regularly guilty of this. We saw it with the Malice at the Palace documentary, which really didn't unearth any new information and almost went out of its way to absolve the players involved in the melee, and also with "Operation Flagrant Foul," which treated Tim Donaghy and his colleagues with kid gloves rather than really digging in to the subject. It's unfortunately a symptom of what documentary filmmakers do to work with subjects - they either turn over creative control to them or don't rock the boat too hard to fact check or correct them at the risk of losing access. Yahoo Sports had a fascinating article about "Swamp Kings" earlier this week that essentially called the series, and this new style of documentary filmmaking, a movie version of those old "as-told-to" autobiographies. Netflix made a calculated decision and figured that it would be better to have access to Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow rather than discussing subjects like Aaron Hernandez, Chris Rainey, Cam Newton, the Pouncey Brothers, etc. and lose access to Meyer and Tebow. But sometimes, that's exactly what a documentary needs to tell a fuller story. Imagine if "OJ: Made in America" hung on O.J. Simpson's approval. It would end up a six-hour puff piece about his time at USC and with the Buffalo Bills. Like the Nebraska Cornhuskers 30 for 30 we never got. There was supposed to be a 30 for 30 about the 90s Nebraska football teams, but it got scrapped out of nowhere. No official reason was ever given, but the most popular theory I've seen is that players and coaches didn't want to discuss the off the field issues with those teams. |
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Aug 30, 2023 11:19:47 GMT -5
38 at the Garden about Linsanity was a good watch. Helps it ends at 38 minutes exactly. You would want a bigger epilogue on Lin's career but honestly its fine to just go and have a moment in time and how it relates to a group after the fact.
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Post by sfvega on Aug 30, 2023 11:55:25 GMT -5
Judging from the reaction of the CFB community, Swamp Kings is up there for the worst. It was apparently just an Urban Meyer puff piece. I haven't watched it. That's what I hate about a lot of docs. They just care about the story through the scope of the people they got rights to and footage of and availability to. Like the Jerry Jones doc Netflix is making. It's a story that would 100% worth being told. But it's gonna be Jones' idea of reality and not what actually happened and his real issues. You'd have to pay me big money to ever consider watching it. It's gonna be trash. |
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by BRV on Aug 30, 2023 13:23:43 GMT -5
Like the Nebraska Cornhuskers 30 for 30 we never got. There was supposed to be a 30 for 30 about the 90s Nebraska football teams, but it got scrapped out of nowhere. No official reason was ever given, but the most popular theory I've seen is that players and coaches didn't want to discuss the off the field issues with those teams. It's the difference between "The U" and "The U Part 2." In "The U," enough time has passed from the moments in time that the players can look back on it and take responsibility for their actions and indiscretions. You had people like Michael Irvin accepting responsibility for himself and the team. And it makes for a better documentary - one of the best in the original run of "30 for 30" if you ask me. In "The U Part 2," the players take no responsibility, pass the buck, and blame everyone but themselves. And because of it, the quality of the film suffers and "The U Part 2" becomes just another team-endorsed puff piece. |
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XIII
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Post by XIII on Aug 30, 2023 14:47:39 GMT -5
Judging from the reaction of the CFB community, Swamp Kings is up there for the worst. It was apparently just an Urban Meyer puff piece. I haven't watched it. That's what I hate about a lot of docs. They just care about the story through the scope of the people they got rights to and footage of and availability to. Like the Jerry Jones doc Netflix is making. It's a story that would 100% worth being told. But it's gonna be Jones' idea of reality and not what actually happened and his real issues. You'd have to pay me big money to ever consider watching it. It's gonna be trash. I don’t know. Jerry Jones is probably near Vince McMahon levels of insanity and his version of reality could be some funny shit. I hope he tries to explain firing Jimmy Johnson and hiring Barry f***ing Switzer. LMAO. |
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Post by sfvega on Aug 30, 2023 15:29:03 GMT -5
That's what I hate about a lot of docs. They just care about the story through the scope of the people they got rights to and footage of and availability to. Like the Jerry Jones doc Netflix is making. It's a story that would 100% worth being told. But it's gonna be Jones' idea of reality and not what actually happened and his real issues. You'd have to pay me big money to ever consider watching it. It's gonna be trash. I don’t know. Jerry Jones is probably near Vince McMahon levels of insanity and his version of reality could be some funny shit. I hope he tries to explain firing Jimmy Johnson and hiring Barry f***ing Switzer. LMAO. Plz no. We've been subject to Vince's revisionist history, and it's eyeroll-inducing not entertaining. |
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Post by fw91 on Aug 30, 2023 19:57:58 GMT -5
Ken Burns: Baseball
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Aug 30, 2023 21:37:09 GMT -5
I don’t know. Jerry Jones is probably near Vince McMahon levels of insanity and his version of reality could be some funny shit. I hope he tries to explain firing Jimmy Johnson and hiring Barry f***ing Switzer. LMAO. Plz no. We've been subject to Vince's revisionist history, and it's eyeroll-inducing not entertaining. I still want a Vince autobiography just to see how much bullshit there will be in it. |
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