SportsThe Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots are the last teams standing as Super Bowl XLIX kicks off. Winner takes home the Lombardi trophy in this thrilling battle.
SportsIn the first Super Bowl in NFL history, the Green Bay Packers overwhelmed the Kansas City Chiefs to win their first Super Bowl title. Bart Starr would become the first Super Bowl MVP.
SportsAfter only two seasons in Los Angeles, the Raiders were able to bring the Lombardi trophy to their new home. Raiders’ legends Marcus Allen, Todd Christensen, and Howie Long discuss the 1983 season and their march to the franchises' third Lombardi Trophy. Stories that have become Raider lore are discussed from Christensen’s incredible regular season, to Marcus Allen’s record breaking day in Super Bowl XVIII.
SportsThere is another, unchronicled side to the "Miracle On Ice." The so-called bad guys from America’s ideological adversary were in reality good men and outstanding players, forged into the Big Red Machine by the genius and passion of Anatoli Tarasov. There was a reason they seemed unbeatable, especially after routing the Americans in an exhibition the week before the Winter Games began. And there was a certain shame in them having to live the rest of their lives with the results of February 22, 1980. Director Jonathan Hock ("The Best That Never Was" and "Survive and Advance") explores the scope of the “Miracle on Ice”
SportsDan Marino may be one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, but another legend would ultimately eclipse him in Super Bowl XIX. The San Francisco 49ers trounced the Miami Dolphins, 38-16, because of Joe Montana's almost perfect, MVP winning performance.
SportsThe Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots are the last teams standing as Super Bowl XLIX kicks off. Winner takes home the Lombardi trophy in this thrilling battle.
SportsStuart Scott was a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word. At a time when hip-hop music was stigmatized, and Black anchormen were few, Stuart brought both into the homes of sports fans. Once the undisputed star of SportsCenter, Stuart’s achievements in late life were later consumed by his valiant battle with cancer. But in truth, Stuart had been fighting — and winning — long before he was diagnosed.
SportsThe sports world was mesmerized by two athletes at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer – Nancy Kerrigan, the elegant brunette and Tonya Harding, the feisty blonde engulfed in scandal. Several weeks prior, at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was shockingly clubbed on the right knee by an unknown assailant and left wailing, “Why, why, why?” As the bizarre “why” mystery unraveled, it was revealed that Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had plotted the attack with his friends to eliminate Kerrigan from the competition and increase Harding’s chance at a gold medal. Two decades later, The
SportsThe 1972 season for the Miami Dolphins was incredible for two reasons. First it gave them their first Super Bowl title in franchise history. More importantly though it has become the only time in NFL history where a team completed a perfect, undefeated season. Head Coach Don Shula, Larry Csonka, and Manny Fernandez discuss their dream season from losing their top quarterback Bob Greise, to the 'No-Name Defense' to their victory over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.
SportsIn the opening round of the AFC playoffs, Baltimore held the high-scoring colts out of the end zone as the Ravens were victorious in Ray Lewis' final home game in Baltimore.
SportsBill Cowher had waited a long time for his first Super Bowl title. After failing to win a Super Bowl for the Steelers in 1995, Cowher continued to push his players to someday reach the pinnacle of professional football once again. He got his chance in 2005 and it turned out to be one of the most challenging seasons of his coaching career. Joey Porter, Jerome Bettis, and Bill Cowher himself discuss the 2005 season and the challenges they faced to the franchises fifth World Championship.
SportsSpike Lee takes us into the world of NBA nicknames, focusing on how Ray Allen's starring role in Lee's He Got Game, forever associated him with his character, Jesus Shuttlesworth.
SportsWith their top quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, out for the year, the New England Patriots had to rely on a an untested Tom Brady to lead their team. What came next was a remarkable season that launched a dynasty for the new millennium. Patriots’ legends Tom Brady, Lawyer Milloy, and Adam Vinatieri discuss the 2001 season from Tom Brady's emergence as starting quarterback to their incredible upset over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
SportsThe Oakland Raiders were a great football team throughout the early 1970s, unfortunately they could never get past the AFC Championship. But in 1976 the team finally beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship and went on to win Super Bowl XI. Raiders’ legends John Madden, Ken Stabler, and Phil Villapiano discuss the 1976 season from their dominant regular season, to defeating the Steelers, to finally receiving the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
SportsThe 1980 season was a tumultuous time for the Oakland Raiders. Owner Al Davis was at war with Commissioner Pete Rozzelle after they were denied permission to relocate to Los Angeles. Then, their season started poorly after going 2-3 and losing starting quarterback Dan Pastorini for the year. However, Jim Plunkett rose up to the challenge and rejuvenated his career with the Silver and Black. Former Raiders greats Plunkett, Gene Upshaw, and Matt Millen discusses how the Raiders garnered an unlikely championship.
SportsThe New England Patriots continued their dynasty in 2003 by winning their second Lombardi Trophy. New England players Willie McGinest, Rodney Harrison, and Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis discuss their 2003 season and the major storylines going into their championship win. Charlie Weis discusses his health issues during the season and McGinest and Harrison discuss the Patriots victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
SportsThere’s high school football, and then there’s Texas high school football. Oddly enough though, one of the greatest teams in state history has been lost to time… and fate. With 21 players who were offered college scholarships and a few of those who later reached professional football, they took on the best that Texas had to offer - including the Odessa Permian team that inspired Friday Night Lights - as well as the worst, a resentful bureaucracy that challenged their legitimacy because of one player’s grade in algebra. Somehow, they won it all, and somehow, they threw it all away. But thanks to searing interviews
SportsThe New York Giants returned to championship glory during the 1986 season. Giants legends Bill Parcells, Phil Simms, and Lawrence Taylor discuss the season, from Simms' rough start as New York's quarterback, to Bill Parcells motivating his team to a championship, to Lawrence Taylor leading one of the toughest defenses in the NFL.
SportsEver since he shocked the sports world by winning the PGA Championship 25 years ago, John Daly has been one of the most popular - and polarizing - figures in a sport that cherishes its traditions and minds its manners. Directors Gabe Spitzer and David Fine cover Daly's rise and fall, his redemption at the British Open in St. Andrews in 1995, and his struggles with booze, food, gambling, women, and depression.
SportsOn July 10, 1999, the U.S. Women’s soccer team reached a cultural and athletic pinnacle with its penalty-kick shoot-out victory over China to win the Women’s World Cup. As told through the voice of longtime team captain, Julie Foudy, this film takes an inside look at the strong team ethic and rare “do for each other” mentality that propelled them to victory that day and turned the team into a cultural touchstone. With unprecedented access, the film uses candid, behind-the-scenes footage shot by the players themselves during the tournament to present a unique portrait of the women who irrevocably changed the face o
SportsPete Carroll's football knowledge, upbeat personality and recruiting skills, propelled Southern Cal back atop the college football world as home attendance skyrocketed and the Trojans put together a 34-game winning streak. As it would be later discovered, though, the program was committing sins that would result in lost scholarships and victories. But those revelations didn't come until after the national championship game in the 2006 against the University of Texas. Featuring interviews with Carroll and others inside the USC program at the time, "Trojan War" looks at Carroll's nine-year USC reign through the prism of t
SportsIn 2001, sports entertainment titans Dick Ebersol and Vince McMahon launched the XFL. The brash audacity of the bid, combined with the personalities and charisma of Ebersol and McMahon and the marketing behemoths of their respective companies — NBC and WWE — captured headlines and a sense of undeniable anticipation about what was to come. At the center of it all was a decades-long friendship between one of the most significant television executives in media history, and the one-of-a-kind WWE impresario.
SportsThe improbable story of Michael Chang’s rise as a young American tennis star, a child of immigrants who turned professional at 15, and then pulled off an unfathomable and unforgettable upset of Ivan Lendl at the 1989 French Open – a match that unfolded in the shadow of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China.
SportsIn the early 1980s, the city of Baltimore was reeling, but in the city’s troubled East Baltimore neighborhood, there was one beacon of hope: The Dunbar High School boys basketball team. Over two seasons, they went 59-0, and 11 players on their rosters went off to Division I programs. Directors Marquis Daisy and Sheldon Candis chronicle the journey of four boys and their coach, who reached heights that they couldn’t have imagined, even if their saga was capped by a tragedy that made some wonder how far they ever really got away.
SportsThe Best Ever? That's what some fans claim as Super Bowl X had some of the biggest stars and some of the biggest plays in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh survived a furious Dallas rally to secure their second straight world championship.
SportsIn a battle for the ages, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos travel to New England to take on Tom Brady and the Patriots. Find out which elite quarterback prevails in this epic matchup.
SportsOctober 25, 1986: 1986 World Series, Game 6: Boston Red Sox 5 at New York Mets 6, F/10 -- Leading 5-4 in the 10th inning, just one out away from their first Championship since 1918, the Red Sox (much to the frenzied delight of the Shea Stadium crowd) watch it all roll slowly away from them... literally. Bob Stanley's wild pitch allows Kevin Mitchell to score the tying run. Then, on the final pitch of a fabulous at-bat, Mookie Wilson fights off a fastball and dribbles a grounder up the first-base line that slips between Bill Buckner's legs and into history. Ray Knight dashes home with the game-winning run, forcing a Game 7
SportsTony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys look to hand Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos their first loss of the season. Find out which gunslinger comes out on top in this Week 5 thriller.
SportsOne was a kick-boxer, the other a wrestler. One looked like he’d been in a few too many fights, the other could have stepped off a movie poster. They were Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, frenemies from SoCal who brought millions of fans to mixed martial arts and supercharged the UFC. In this brutally honest 30 for 30 documentary about a brutal sport, director Micah Brown recaptures their glory days while chronicling MMA’s unlikely history and success. Their legends became frayed in subsequent years, but their mark on the sport will live on forever.
SportsCheck out Peyton Manning's historical performance as he throws for seven touchdowns and leads the Denver Broncos to a 49-27 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in the first game of 2013.
SportsIn a battle of all-time quarterback greats, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady square off in a thrilling battle. Find out what happens as the Denver Broncos take on the New England Patriots in Week 9.
SportsHe was one of the biggest track and field stars in the world, a talent in his prime on top of his sport. But when Butch Reynolds took a drug test in Monaco in the summer of 1990, his career was upended, and his life was forever changed. Yet then and now, the facts of the case shed more than considerable doubt on what happened – instead revealing the tale of a man falsely accused and still compelled in many ways to fight to clear his name all these years later.
SportsIn what became known as the "Harbowl", Ravens' head coach John Harbaugh was triumphant over his brother, Jim, and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.
SportsGeorges St-Pierre has been the UFC welterweight champ since 2007, and has already proved how difficult it is to beat him. But when GSP travels to his homeland for UFC 129, the stakes get even higher and the monumental challenge that awaits opponent Jake Shields.
SportsThe Kansas City Chiefs look to break their two-game skid and place themselves at the top of the AFC West as they take on the dangerous Denver Broncos. Find out what happens when two of the AFC's elite battle it out in this Week 13 thriller.
SportsOctober 27, 1986: 1986 World Series, Game 7: Boston Red Sox 5 at New York Mets 8, F -- Both teams were facing their final game in one of the most dramatic postseasons ever: the Mets finally triumphant in an epic NLCS vs. the Houston Astros; the Red Sox fighting the "Curse of the Bambino" and the California Angels in the ALCS… and of course both clubs coming directly off the heels of the infamous "Bill Buckner" Game 6. And so the 1986 season for all the marbles came down to this final game at a packed and raucous Shea Stadium. A rainout of the originally-scheduled Game 7 the day before allowed the pressure to build for an
SportsThe Pittsburgh Steelers captured their fifth World Championship. All it took was three touchdowns to topple the Seattle Seahawks and earn their 5th Super Bowl in franchise history.
SportsThe Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots are the last teams standing as Super Bowl XLIX kicks off. Winner takes home the Lombardi trophy in this thrilling battle.
SportsDuring Super Bowl XLII, the Giants met with the New England Patriots who were undefeated going into the NFL finale. With two minutes left in the game, just when it looks like Giants quarterback Eli Manning will go down, he spots David Tyree, a veteran special teams player down the field and goes deep, setting up one of the most renowned plays in football history.
SportsA dynasty began as the Pittsburgh Steelers won their first Super Bowl against the Minnesota Vikings. It would be yet another missed attempt at glory for the Vikings but it would be the start of something big for the city of Pittsburgh under Terry Bradshaw and company.
SportsTaya Mundo returns for revenge. Ricky Mundo makes a shocking confession. Two of Lucha Underground’s fiercest rivals Mil Muertes and Fenix must team to take on their Ultima Lucha opponents.
SportsThe Dallas Cowboys repeated as World Champions in 1993 -- but it wasn't easy. Cowboys legends Jimmy Johnson, Emmitt Smith, and Bill Bates discuss the 1993 season on a variety of topics --from Emmitt Smith's contract holdout early in the season, to Leon Lett's infamous blunder against the Miami Dolphins, to their win against the Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII.
SportsWhen Jimmy Johnson signed on as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, they were one of the worst teams in the NFL. But after a few years he would coach Super Bowl Champions, and give berth to a dynasty. Their first Super Bowl championship came in 1992 and Cowboys legends Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Ken Norton Jr. discuss the lows before their dynasty started and how the championship season in 1992 that came to be.
SportsAlthough the key players stayed the same in 1995, the Dallas Cowboys were without their legendary head coach Jimmy Johnson. Second year coach Barry Switzer guided his team to their third Super Bowl in the 90s. Cowboys’ greats Larry Brown and Darren Woodson, along with public relations director Rich Dalrymple discuss the 1995 season and how they capped off their dynasty in style.
SportsIn 1977, the Dallas Cowboys won their second Super Bowl in franchise history thanks to the efforts of some of the best players in Cowboys history. Cowboys’ greats Thomas Henderson, Charlie Waters, Drew Pearson, and Tony Dorsett recount their 1977 season and how they wound up being champions yet again.
SportsAfter being labeled as 'Next Year's Team', the Dallas Cowboys wanted to prove to the NFL they could be champions. In 1971 the Dallas Cowboys would win Super Bowl VI convincingly to erase all doubt. Cowboys’ legends Roger Staubach, Duane Thomas, and Bob Lilly recount the 1971 season from Thomas's contractual troubles, to Lilly being a part of the 'Doomsday Defense', to the quarterback controversy between Staubach and Craig Morton. The 1971 season would be one of the most memorable seasons in Cowboys history and it would be the start of a legendary career for one of the all time great NFL quarterbacks.
SportsTo many observers, the story of the crime of the century is a story that began the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered outside her Brentwood condominium. But to truly grasp the significance of what happened not just that night, but the epic chronicle to follow, one has to travel back to much different, much earlier origin points.
SportsBo Jackson hit 500 ft. home runs, ran over linebackers, and—for a small window—he was the best athlete we had ever seen. You Don’t Know Bo is a close look at the man and marketing campaign that shaped his legacy. Even without winning a Super Bowl or World Series, Bo redefined the role of the athlete in the pop cultural conversation. More than 20 years later, myths and legends still surround Bo Jackson, and his impossible feats still capture our collective imagination.
SportsOne was the world inhabited by OJ Simpson: wealthy, privileged, and predominantly white. A world where celebrity was power, and where OJ - race be damned - was one of the most popular figures around. But just a few miles away from his Rockingham estate in Brentwood was a very different reality. A reality lived by millions of other black people at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department and its chief, Daryl Gates.
SportsFew teams in professional sports history elicit such a wide range of emotions as the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s. For some, the team was heroic– made up of gritty, hard-nosed players who didn’t back down from anyone. And for others, it was exactly that trait – the willingness to do seemingly anything to win – that made them the “Bad Boys”, the team fans loved to hate. Sandwiched between the Lakers’ and Celtics’ dominance of the 1980s and the Bulls' run in the 1990s, the Pistons’ two titles in 1989 and ’90 are often viewed as a transitional period in NBA history, rather than a dy
SportsLong before hip hop superstars filled our airwaves and shopping malls, the Miami Hurricanes brought street values and hood bravado into America’s living room. Recruiting from some of the toughest ghettos in Florida, a football program on the verge of collapse was re-energized with some of the most controversial and brilliant players in football history. With a newly branded swagger, inspired and fueled by the quickly growing Miami hip hop culture, these Canes took on larger-than-life personalities, winning four national titles between 1983 and 1991. Filmmaker Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys) tells the story of how these
SportsThe police arrived at the condo on Bundy Drive at 4:25 a.m. on June 13th, 1994. It was a gruesome murder scene, clearly the result of a violent confrontation that had left two people dead - one of whom, they'd quickly discover, was the estranged wife of O.J. Simpson. It was just the start of a chapter of American history like none other, one that would lay bare the realities of race, power, the legal system, the media, and so much more in Los Angeles, California and far beyond.
SportsBroke explores the roads to fortune in American sports and eventually, the many detours to bankruptcy. Bernie Kosar, Andre Rison and Cliff Floyd are among the athletes who talk openly about the challenges of managing their money in an era when big contracts don’t necessarily support bigger lifestyles. Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders and saddled with medical problems, many pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. A story of the dark side of success, Broke is an allegory for the financial woes haunting economies and individuals all over the world.
SportsWhen the night of October 6, 2004 came to a merciful end, the Curse of the Bambino was alive and well. The vaunted Yankee lineup, led by ARod, Jeter, and Sheffield, had just extended their ALCS lead to three games to none, pounding out 19 runs against their hated rivals. The next night, in Game 4, the Yankees took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, then turned the game over to Mariano Rivera, the best relief pitcher in postseason history, to secure yet another trip to the World Series. But after a walk and a hard-fought stolen base, the cold October winds of change began to blow. Over four consecutive days and
SportsThe crime of the century gave way to the trial of the century, which officially began in January of 1995. It would be like nothing before it, nor anything that's come since, and reshape the landscape of the media, and, truly, American culture along the way. It would also be the fight of O.J. Simpson's life.
SportsOn March 13, 2006, a group of Duke University lacrosse players threw a team party that ended up changing lives, tarnishing a university's reputation, and jeopardizing the future of the sport at the school. A look at the party that ignited a national firestorm and resulted in a highly-charged legal investigation with its underlying themes of sex, race, class, and violence.
SportsIt took less than four hours for them to decide. And on the morning of October 3rd, 1995, it was announced. O.J. Simpson had been found not guilty of all charges. But as the reaction in the courtroom, across Los Angeles, and across the country showed, it was also much, much more than that. Meanwhile, it was also time for O.J. to go home. But if Simpson had hoped that he could return to any semblance of the life he'd enjoyed before the murders, he would quickly learn how much had changed.
SportsHe made perhaps the most dramatic shot in the history of the NCAA basketball tournament. He's the only player to start in four consecutive Final Fours, and was instrumental in Duke winning two national championships. He had looks, smarts and game. So why has Christian Laettner been disliked so intensely by so many for so long? Go beyond the polarizing persona to uncover the complete story behind this lightning rod of college basketball. Featuring extensive access to Laettner, previously unseen footage and perspectives from all sides, this film is a “gloves-off” examination of the man who has been seen by many as the
SportsWhen the 1982-83 college basketball season began, Jim Valvano and his North Carolina State Wolfpack faced high expectations with equally high aspirations. But with ten losses for the season, the Wolfpack's only hope of making the NCAA Tournament was to win the ACC Tournament and earn the conference's automatic berth. Nine straight improbable tournament wins later over the likes of Sampson, Jordan, Olajuwon and Drexler, N.C. State had "survived and advanced" its way to a national championship. Director Jonathan Hock takes a poignant look through the eyes of senior captain Dereck Whittenburg at a dream fulfilled.
SportsIn the spring of 1983, a new generation of superstars was poised to enter the NFL. Six quarterbacks were selected in the first round of that draft - still the most ever. Elway to Marino explores this landmark draft through the eyes of the players, head coaches, general managers, team owners and agents who participated - including Marvin Demoff, who represented both John Elway and Dan Marino, and kept a diary in the months leading up to the most dramatic draft day in NFL history. Learn the inside story of the draft picks, back room deals, and tension between the future Hall of Famers and the teams that selected them.
SportsReggie Miller single-handedly crushed the hearts of Knick fans multiple times. But it was the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals which solidified Miller as Public Enemy #1 in New York City. With moments to go in Game 1, and facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit of 105-99, Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to give his Indiana Pacers an astonishing victory. This career-defining performance, combined with his give-and-take with Knicks fan Spike Lee, made Miller and the Knicks a highlight of the 1995 NBA playoffs. Peabody Award-winning director Dan Klores will explore how Miller proudly built his legend as "The Ga
SportsIn the fall of 1993, in his prime and at the summit of the sports world, Michael Jordan walked away from pro basketball. After leading the Dream Team to an Olympic gold medal in 1992 and taking the Bulls to their third consecutive NBA championship the following year, Jordan was jolted by the murder of his father. Was it the brutal loss of such an anchor in his life that caused the world’s most famous athlete to rekindle a childhood ambition by playing baseball? Or some feeling that he had nothing left to prove or conquer in basketball? Or something deeper and perhaps not yet understood? Ron Shelton, a former minor league
SportsProduced in 2009 for the 30 for 30 series, “The U” took a look at all that was good and bad about the rise of the University of Miami’s football program in the 1980s. But that wasn’t the end of the story. “The U Part 2″ picks up where the original film left off, with the program trying to recover from the devastation left by NCAA sanctions and scandals that had some calling for the school to drop football. The Hurricanes rose from those ashes to win another national championship, only to face new controversies when a booster used a Ponzi scheme to win favor with the program.
SportsPerhaps no family has had more influence on a sport than the Mannings. Written into the pages of football folklore is the Manning legend – a father and his sons. Patriarch Archie Manning, a star quarterback at the University of Mississippi and in the NFL, followed by oldest son Cooper, whose football dreams were cut short by a spinal condition, then sons Peyton and Eli – both of them quarterbacks, All-SEC, number one draft picks, back-to-back Super Bowl champions and MVPs. Director Rory Karpf explores how a tragedy shaped the course of not only Archie’s life, but his family’s as well.
SportsOn Valentine’s Day 1993, 17-year-old Bethel High School basketball star Allen Iverson was bowling in Hampton, Va., with five high school friends. It was supposed to be an ordinary evening, but it became a night that defined Iverson’s young life. A quarrel soon erupted into a brawl pitting Iverson’s young black friends against a group of white patrons. The fallout from the fight and the handling of the subsequent trial landed the teenager, which some considered the nation’s best high school athlete, in jail and sharply divided the city along racial lines. Oscar nominee Steve James (Hoop Dreams) returns to his hometo
SportsThe documentary focuses on a legendary cast of characters, including head coach Mike Ditka, QB Jim McMahon and the inimitable William "The Refrigerator" Perry who made Chicago Bears as riveting off the field as they were on it on their way to winning Super Bowl XX.
SportsIf at its essence, the popularity of professional wrestling has always been about its characters, there's never been a performer more original and more electrifying than Ric Flair. As a pure wrestler, he was beloved. His "Woooo" showmanship was imitated by athletes from other sports, as well as the hip-hop community. But as interviews with family members and Flair himself reveal, his frenzied lifestyle masked the loneliness of a man who could never please his physician father and ran away from his own wives and children, toward an almost unbearable tragedy. It was Ric Flair who popularized the boast, "If you want to be Th
SportsWhile rival drug cartels warred in the streets and the country's murder rate climbed to highest in the world, the Colombian national soccer team set out to blaze a new image for their country. What followed was a mysteriously rapid rise to glory, as the team catapulted out of decades of obscurity to become one of the best teams in the world. Central to this success were two men named Escobar: Andrés, the captain and poster child of the National Team, and Pablo, the infamous drug baron who pioneered the phenomenon known in the underworld as "Narco-soccer." But just when Colombia was expected to win the 1994 World Cup and t
Sports“Eddie Would Go.” It’s a phrase that has long carried deep meaning with countless Hawaiians and surfers worldwide. Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau goes beyond those famous three words and chronicles the remarkable life and power of Eddie Aikau, the legendary Hawaiian big wave surfer, pioneering lifeguard and ultimately doomed crew member of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a. With a rich combination of archival imagery, contemporary interviews and meticulously researched historical source material, this film is a compelling exploration of the tragic decline and extraordinary re-birth of the Hawaiian cultu
SportsIn some ways, Barry Switzer and Brian Bosworth were made for each other. The Oklahoma coach and the linebacker he recruited to play for him were both outsized personalities who delighted in thumbing their noses at the establishment. And in their three seasons together (1984-86), the unique father-son dynamic resulted in 31 wins and two Orange Bowl victories, including a national championship, as Bosworth was awarded the first two Butkus Awards. But Bosworth's alter ego – “The Boz” – was taking over. Eventually, he went on a downward spiral and became known as an NFL bust. In "Brian and The Boz," the dual identitie
SportsBefore Lance Armstrong, there was Greg LeMond, who is now the first and only American to win the Tour de France. In this engrossing documentary, LeMond looks back at the pivotal 1986 Tour, and his increasingly vicious rivalry with friend, teammate, and mentor Bernard Hinault. The reigning Tour champion and brutal competitor known as “The Badger,” Hinault ‘promised’ to help LeMond to his first victory, in return for LeMond supporting him in the previous year. But in a sport that purports to reward teamwork, it’s really every man for himself.
SportsRequiem For The Big East chronicles the meteoric ascension of the Big East conference, and how in less than a decade, it became the most successful college basketball league in America. Told through the lens of the Big East’s famed coaches and its most iconic players, the film tells the story of an eccentric group of outsiders who rode the success of their teams on the court to become unlikely celebrities in their sport and beyond it.
SportsFrom 1981-1984, a small private school in Dallas owned the best record in college football. The Mustangs of Southern Methodist University were riding high on the backs of the vaunted "Pony Express" backfield. But as the middle of the decade approached, the program was coming apart at the seams. Wins became the only thing that mattered as the University increasingly ceded power of the football program t o the city's oil barons and real estate tycoons and flagrant and frequent NCAA violations became the norm. On February 25th, 1987, the school and the sport were rocked, as the NCAA meted out "the death penalty" on a college
SportsIn the mid-1990s, Orlando was the center of excitement in the NBA. The young franchise, led by mega-stars Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, beat the mighty Bulls en route to the 1995 NBA Finals. While it was clear Orlando was a dynasty in the making, the Magic's moment on top was never fully realized.
SportsThere are rivalries, and then there is the Celtics vs. the Lakers. In Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies Part One, director Jim Podhoretz chronicles the storied franchises' epic clashes, tracing not only the history, but also presenting a fabulous cast of characters who would change the NBA and open America’s collective mind. At the center of it all in the 1980s was a pair of brilliant players - Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
SportsRandy Moss has long been an enigma known for his brilliance on the football field and his problems off it. “Rand University” gets to the intersection of those aspects of Moss by going back to where he came from – Rand, West Virginia – and exploring what almost derailed him before he ever became nationally known for his extraordinary abilities as a wide receiver.
SportsIn 1989, the Buffalo Bills were a talented team featuring four future hall of famers. Dysfunction and in-fighting ran deep in the locker room, but the team soon transformed into an elite force on the way to an unprecedented run of four AFC Championship victories, and four straight Super Bowl appearances. Of course, that isn't what the Bills are remembered for. This is the story of a team that went down in history for making four straight Super Bowls, and losing them all.
SportsWhat happens when you combine "Goodfellas" with college basketball? You get "Playing for the Mob," the story of how mobster Henry Hill -- played by Ray Liotta in the 1990 Martin Scorsese classic -- helped orchestrate the fixing of Boston College basketball games in the 1978-79 season. The details of that point-shaving scandal are revealed for the first time on film through the testimony of the players, the federal investigators and the actual fixers, including Hill, who died shortly after he was interviewed. "Playing for the Mob" may be set in the seemingly golden world of college basketball but, like "Goodfellas," this is
SportsOn August 9, 1988, the NHL was forever changed with the single stroke of a pen. The Edmonton Oilers, fresh off their fourth Stanley Cup victory in five years, signed a deal and exported Wayne Gretzky, a Canadian national treasure and the greatest hockey player ever to play the game, to the Los Angeles Kings in a multi-player, multi-million dollar deal. As bewildered Oiler fans struggled to make sense of the unthinkable, fans in Los Angeles were rushing to purchase season tickets at a rate so fast it overwhelmed the Kings box office. Overnight, a franchise largely overlooked in its 21-year existence was suddenly playing to
SportsOn October 15, 1988, Notre Dame hosted the University of Miami in what would become one of the greatest games in college football history. The coaches and players open up about the fight that started the game, the highly debatable calls that are still being talked, about and the insensitive aspects of the irresistibly popular "Catholics vs. Convicts" t-shirt.
SportsIn Part Two, the Celtics and Lakers meet in the NBA Finals for the first time in 15 years. A culture clash is brewing on the hardwood and the stakes are huge. Beyond Magic and Bird, there is Abdul-Jabbar and Parish, Worthy and McHale, Scott and Ainge, Buss and Auerbach. Throw in the Forum and the Garden, Chick Hearn and Johnny Most, add a heavy dose of ill will, sprinkle in underlying racial tension, and you have a recipe for a battle royal.
SportsWhen former New York Mets superstars Dwight "Doc" Gooden and Darryl Strawberry were good, they were great. They were the biggest stars on a team that captured the imagination of New York City and won the 1986 World Series. But when life spiraled out of control for both men, they broke the hearts of Mets fans. The pitcher and the power hitter look back on the glory days of the mid-80s and the harrowing nights that turned them from sure Hall of Famers into prisoners of their own addictions.
SportsAfter the thrilling 1984 NBA Finals, Part Three explores the saga from 1985 to 1987 as the teams’ disdain for each other gradually turns to respect. The Celtics and Lakers - Bird and Magic in particular - transform the fans' view of the game from simple black-and-white to full-blown Technicolor. By the end of their last battle of the 80s, while there’s still animosity, there’s also a hard-earned respect for each other. It’s a rivalry that forced America to no longer view the league in black and white.
SportsIn 1996, the once-dominant New York Islanders were in serious trouble. Lousy performance and poor management were driving away the hockey franchise's loyal fan base. The team hit bottom. Then along came a Dallas businessman named John Spano, who swooped in and agreed to buy the team for 165 million dollars. Things began to look up for the Islanders - way up. But it was all smoke and mirrors. Big Shot goes inside an extraordinary scandal that engulfed the Islanders. Featuring the only interview Spano has ever given about the Islanders deal, this film is an unforgettable tale of a dream that became a lie -
SportsWith five outs remaining in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, a foul ball descended from the cold Chicago sky, seemingly destined for the glove of Cubs left fielder Moises Alou. But a flurry of hands reached up and one hand, belonging to Cubs fan Steve Bartman, fatefully tipped the ball away from a frustrated Alou. Most long-suffering Cubs fans, including a chorus of hostile ones in Wrigley Field, quickly became convinced that Bartman had swatted away Chicago’s chance of advancing to the World Series for the first time 58 years. The mild-mannered Bartman released a sincere public apology, but his fate was already sealed by the Cu
SportsMore than two decades after his tragic cocaine overdose, the late Len Bias still leaves more questions than answers. When Bias dropped dead two days after the 1986 NBA Draft, he forever altered our perception of casual drug use and became the tipping point of America's drug crisis in the mid-80s. Future generations continue to face the harsh punishment of drug policies that were influenced by the public outcry after his heartbreaking death. Instead of becoming an NBA star, he became a one-man deterrent, the athlete who reminded everyone just how dangerous drug use can be. Amazingly, questions still linger about his death n
SportsThe Two Bills traces the relationship between coaching masters Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells that spans over four decades. They first worked side by side as assistants with the New York Giants, and after Parcells took over as head coach, they won two Super Bowls together. Buttressed by what he learned from Parcells, Belichick has won five Super Bowls of his own with the Patriots. Through all the ups and downs of their careers, including some memorable games when they were on opposite sides of the field, they forged a bond that few men of their stature have ever experienced.
SportsIn the midst of boxing’s contemporary golden age - the 1980’s - stood two fighters who established a captivating rivalry. Their pair of bouts within a span of just over 5 months in 1980 had all the trappings of instant classics. Sugar Ray Leonard, an American hero, who had become a household name after a Gold Medal-winning performance at the 1976 Summer Olympics that led to numerous corporate sponsorships, versus the Latino champion, Roberto Duran, the toughest - some said meanest - fighter of all time. It was not just the drama and action of these fights that would endure, but those two words uttered in the se
SportsDo you remember where you were on June 17, 1994? Thanks to a wide array of unrelated, coast-to-coast occurrences, this Friday has come to be known for its firsts, lasts, triumphs and tragedy. Arnold Palmer played his last round at a U.S. Open, in Oakmont, Pa., the FIFA World Cup kicked off in Chicago, the Rangers celebrated on Broadway, Patrick Ewing desperately pursued a long evasive championship in the Garden and Donald Fehr stared down the baseball owners. And yet, all of that was a prelude to O.J. Simpson leading America on a slow speed chase in a white Ford Bronco around Los Angeles. Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-
