 |
| Credit: ESPN |
With last weekend’s sublimely named “Pony Excess”, the original run of the series is at an end. And while not every film was revolutionary (or good), and despite the (deserved) criticism the Worldwide Leader gets, this series showed exactly what ESPN is capable of and should strive to achieve in every facet of its coverage. With the resources it has, we should never have to suffer through Ed Werder spending ten minutes updating the world on Brett Favre's life or spend any time at all (ever) hearing about "The Heat Index." And while there were some clunkers and sterile productions, for the most part I would say the series was a success which the network can build upon.
When the series was at its best, as it was with “The Two Escobars,” “The Best That Never Was,” “Winning Time,” and a handful of others, it was an engaging glimpse into a slice of sports history that perhaps the audience didn’t have a full picture of. “July 17, 1994,” perhaps the riskiest film due to its stylistic choices, was retelling a story we all knew by heart, but with a distinct perspective. As for the obvious misses, well...we can’t all be winners.
“Pony Excess,” like “The U,” was a tale of an institution run amok in an age and industry which, for the most part, didn’t care. The problem with these sprawling subjects is that the directors had to spend so much time telling the story that they had trouble finding room for an interesting way of how to tell that story. And while the subjects themselves were not necessarily less interesting, I didn’t find either “Pony Excess” or “The U” as compelling as the more personal story of Marcus Dupree, something which holds true throughout the series. The more personal documentaries have the benefit of a narrower scope and, given the time limitations, these usually ended up being the best films. “Without Bias” suffered only because it was a feature film cut down to 40 minutes to fit the network’s demands.
Ultimately, the blueprint for success of the 30 for 30 series goes something like: find an acclaimed director who has a personal relationship to a story, give him an hour or two to tell that story and, in so doing, show how this small sliver of history speaks to our sporting culture and (when done well) something far bigger than sports. With luck, we'll see more of this from ESPN and less about Rachel Nichols wearing a funny hat.
When the series was at its best, as it was with “The Two Escobars,” “The Best That Never Was,” “Winning Time,” and a handful of others, it was an engaging glimpse into a slice of sports history that perhaps the audience didn’t have a full picture of. “July 17, 1994,” perhaps the riskiest film due to its stylistic choices, was retelling a story we all knew by heart, but with a distinct perspective. As for the obvious misses, well...we can’t all be winners.
“Pony Excess,” like “The U,” was a tale of an institution run amok in an age and industry which, for the most part, didn’t care. The problem with these sprawling subjects is that the directors had to spend so much time telling the story that they had trouble finding room for an interesting way of how to tell that story. And while the subjects themselves were not necessarily less interesting, I didn’t find either “Pony Excess” or “The U” as compelling as the more personal story of Marcus Dupree, something which holds true throughout the series. The more personal documentaries have the benefit of a narrower scope and, given the time limitations, these usually ended up being the best films. “Without Bias” suffered only because it was a feature film cut down to 40 minutes to fit the network’s demands.
Ultimately, the blueprint for success of the 30 for 30 series goes something like: find an acclaimed director who has a personal relationship to a story, give him an hour or two to tell that story and, in so doing, show how this small sliver of history speaks to our sporting culture and (when done well) something far bigger than sports. With luck, we'll see more of this from ESPN and less about Rachel Nichols wearing a funny hat.
