By Mark Pukalo
There is so much more to sports than the scores.
It is about people, and moments in time. Great triumphs and great tragedies. Great achievements and shady characters. Happiness and heartbreaks. Heroes and villians.
Any good sports journalist knows that. Major movie directors do, too. Some of the great feature films have shown that. ESPN knew it as well and decided to create a vehicle for great sports documentaries, called 30 for 30 in 2009, after an idea from Bill Simmons and Connor Schell.
What came of that were dozens of compelling documentaries that brought back memories and took deeper dives into issues and stories. They entertain us and teach us history.
I decided to try and watch every 30 for 30, some for the first time and some for the fourth or fifth time, the last few months and rated them. There were so many good ones to chose from that it was difficult.
For some reason, many of the documentaries that resonated with me were about basketball. Perhaps that is because hoops was my favorite sport for about the first half of my life and there are so many great memories.
I hope directors keep making these great sports docs. We need a UConn basketball documentary or two and way more hockey stories. Who wants to work on a Tampa Bay Lightning and/or and Hartford Whalers documentary with me? Just saying. Hmmm.
Here's what I came up with as a list of the best 30 for 30s I have seen. It could only start with Jim Valvano.
TOP 20
1. Survive and Advance, Jonathan Hock - A Jim Valvano story. Heartwarming and Heartbreaking all in one. Getting to know the players, you realize how they won.
2. Guru of Go , Bill Cuturie - The exhilarating - but ultimately - sad story of Paul Westhead, Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and the Loyola Marymount basketball team.
3. O.J. Made in America, Ezra Edelman - A stunning, Oscar-winning five-part series on the surreal O.J. Simpson story. I learned a lot. The honest interviews are amazing from the lawyers, the friends, the family and the jurors.
4. Four Days in October, Gary Waksman, David Gavant and David Check - The Red Sox miracle comeback against the Yankees. As Kevin Millar said, "Don't let us win one."
5. When the Garden was Eden, Michael Rappaport - Story of the 70 and 73 Knicks NBA titles that were special to me. Those teams spurred my interest in basketball.
6. Of Miracles and Men, Jonathan Hock - 1980 from the Russian prospctive with Slava Fetisov and his pretty daughter visiting Lake Placid, where a group of American college kids pulled the biggest upset in sports history.
7. Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks, Dan Klores - Fond memories of breath-taking games. Poor Spike.
8. Catching Hell, Alex Gibney - The Steve Bartman story in detail. It's still amazing to me the poor guy took as much abuse as he did and no one blames Alex Gonzalez.
9. Without Bias, Kirk Fraser - The Len Bias tragedy. He would have been one of the greats in the NBA. I remember when I heard about it on the radio. I had to pull over on the highway.
10. June 17, 1994, Brett Morgan - An amazing day, around OJ's surreal bronco ride. I lived this day in Chicago where I was covering the World Cup opener between Germany and Bolivia.
11. Believeland, Andy Billman - Cleveland's nightmarish history ends with the Cavaliers' title. Brian Sipe, The Drive, Jose Mesa, Michael Jordan, poor Earnest Byner and Art Modell. All of it.
12. The Two Escobars, Jeff and Michael Zimbalist - Pablo and Andres. Drugs and soccer. A surreal time that I remember well in 1994.
13. Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies, Jim Podhoretz - The great rivalry. I learned a lot from the inside scoops. The players may be more talented now, but they are nowhere as compelling as the guys who played in this era.
14. Phi Slamma Jama, Chip Rives - I saw this for the first time recently. The search for Benny Anders is crazy. Probably the best college basketball team that did not win an NCAA title.
15. You Don't Know Bo, Michael Bonfiglio - Bo Jackson might have been the greatest athlete of all time if he stayed healthy.
16. Playing for the Mob, Joe Lavine and Cayman Grant - The BC betting scandal. Ernie Cobb was Shoeless Joe Jackson it seems.
17. Once Brothers, Michael Tolajian - Vlade Divac tells the story of his journey to the NBA with fellow Yugoslavians, and the many issues that occurred.
18. Breakaway, Rudy Valdez - The remarkable story of Maya Moore's fight to free an innocent man.
19. Requiem of the Big East, Ezra Edeman - Story of the birth of the conference is great, but it left out UConn's rise. Still, it brought back vivid memories. I was there.
20. Mike and the Mad Dog, Daniel H. Forer - Story of the best sports radio duo of all time. Could have been longer.
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Honorable Mention
The Announcement, Nelson George - Magic Johnson fnding out he has the HIV virus.
Benji, Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah - Chicago legend Ben Wilson could have been special, but died way too young.
Bad Boys, Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons - Good story, although it did not make me like the Detroit Pistons any more.
The Band that Wouldn't Die, Barry Levinson - The Baltimore Colts band stayed together despite the team's move to Indianapolis.
Catholics vs. Convicts, Patrick Creadon - Notre Dame v Miami. A game I had forgotten. One of the best in college football history.
Charismatic, Steve Michaels - The story of jockey Chris Antley and a plucky horse that won two legs of the Triple Crown.
Dream On, Kristen Lappas - Three-part series that chronicles the 1996 Women's Olympic Basketball team and how it was important in making the WNBA successful.
Elway to Marino, Ken Rodgers - The QB draft.
Four Falls of Buffalo, Ken Rodgers - Four Super Bowls, no titles for the Bills.
The Ghosts of Mississippi, Fritz Mitchell - A sad story of racism.
The Gospel According to Mac, Jim Podhoretz - The story of former Colorado football coach Bill McCartney.
I Hate Christian Laettner, Rory Karpf - Don't we all still hate him after watching the guy bury that lucky shot against UConn? Yes. This didn't help much.
The Last Dance, Jason Hehir - Michael Jordan and the Bulls win championships. Some good behind the scenes stuff. I just didn't like it as much as many of the hoops films.
The Last Days of Knight, Robert Abbott - Bobby Knight's fall.
Nature Boy, Roy Karpf - Wrestling icon Ric Flair's rise. Wooooo!!
No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, Steve James - Interesting story about the enigma that is/was Allen Iverson.
No Mas, Eric Drath - Roberto Duran says no.
Once Upon a Time in Queens, Nick Davis - The journey of the crazy New York Mets toward 1986. It's good. Thought it would be a bit better.
Price of Gold, Nanette Burstein - The Nancy-Tonya story.
Qualified, Jenna Ricker - On Janet Guthrie's rise in the racing world.
Slaying the Badger, John Dower - Greg LeMond's battle with th Badger in the Tour de France.
The Spirits of St. Louis, Daniel Forer - Marvin Barnes and the wild ABA franchise.
The Best that Never Was, Jonathan Hock - Marcus Dupree could have been something special.
Unguarded, Jonathan Hock - The story of Chris Herren, whose drug addiction hampered his basketball career.
Unmatched, Nancy Stern Winters and Lisa Lax - Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova talk of their friendship/rivalry.
The U, Billy Corben - The rise of University of Miami football, the bad boys make good.
What Carter Lost, Adam Hootnick - Friday Night Lights in Texas.
144, Lauren Stowell and Jenna Contreras - Documents the WNBA Bubble in Bradenton, Florida and their fights for social justice.
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