B-Pre-AirA 30 For 30 about Ric Flair breezes too quickly through pro wrestling’s most important eraNoel Murray11/07/17 1:00pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkNearly every film about professional wrestling hits a crucial point, where the participants have to decide how fully…
B+Season 3A short, sharp 30 For 30 looks at one of sports talk radio’s most famous teamsNoel Murray7/13/17 8:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkFans of rock docs or any other Behind The Music-style specials about the rise and fall of a popular band should be…
A-Season 3The epic Celtics-Lakers rivalry inspires one of the best 30 For 30sNoel Murray6/13/17 12:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkWhen ESPN launched 30 For 30 back in 2009, one of the mandates for the series was to tell sports stories that hadn’t…
B-Season 330 For 30 shrugs at the train wreck that was the XFLNoel Murray2/02/17 12:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkDo sports qualify as entertainment, or are they news? That usually depends on who’s telling the story and why. At a…
B+Season 3A classic college football game gets the 30 For 30 treatment in “Catholics Vs. Convicts”Noel Murray12/09/16 12:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkTwo months ago, ESPN’s 30 For 30 offered a counter-narrative to its own “Survive And Advance” with the episode “Phi…
A-Season 330 For 30 swings big with John Daly, golf’s flawed folk heroNoel Murray11/01/16 12:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkGiven that 30 For 30 aired the sprawling five-part documentary masterpiece “O.J.: Made In America” just a few months…
B-Season 3The latest 30 For 30 looks at Houston’s game-changing “Phi Slama Jama” eraNoel Murray10/18/16 9:44amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalink30 For 30 has been around long enough now to start contradicting itself. One of the series’ best and most popular…
B+Season 330 For 30 looks at two Mets superstars who didn’t fulfill their early promiseNoel Murray7/14/16 12:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkWhen Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game Six of the 1986 World Series, it was a pivotal…
ASeason 3ESPN’s five-part O.J. Simpson documentary is a masterful portrait of a crime and its contextNoel Murray6/08/16 12:00amSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkThanks to one of those odd periodic showbiz confluences—the kind that gives us two killer earthquake movies in the same…
C+Season 3There are too many Cleveland sports woes to squeeze into one 30 For 30Noel Murray5/14/16 10:01pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkWay back in October of 2009, the second episode of 30 For 30, “The Band That Wouldn’t Die” (directed by Barry…
B+Season 3The Magic’s too-brief heyday is the subject of a 30 For 30 about fickle fateNoel Murray4/14/16 10:06pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalink30 For 30 has been on a real losing streak lately. I don’t mean that the episodes have been bad. If anything, the…
B+Season 3A gripping, discomfiting 30 For 30 looks back at the 2006 Duke lacrosse caseNoel Murray3/13/16 10:02pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkHere’s more or less what we know about what happened in Durham, North Carolina on the night of March 13th, 2006. Some…
B-Season 3The Chicago Bears 30 For 30 sticks with the obvious story, but what a story it isAlasdair Wilkins2/04/16 10:00pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkBroadly speaking, this 30 For 30 entry fits with other tales of brash, arrogant football teams that won big, then…
B+Season 3A moving 30 For 30 honors the NFL’s most fantastic losersNoel Murray12/12/15 10:45pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkOne of the great fallacies of team sports fandom is that championships are the ultimate measure of value. Don’t get me…
BSeason 330 For 30 bounces back with a tight episode about an underrated championNoel Murray11/10/15 8:35pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkOkay, that’s more like it. This third season of 30 For 30 has been kind of a bust up to now—with one embarrassing…
CSeason 3A controversial football coach receives an overlong, overly fawning 30 For 30Noel Murray11/03/15 10:03pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkIf anyone ever constructs a museum dedicated to the life of Bill McCartney—the former Colorado Buffaloes football…
BSeason 3An odd 30 For 30 retells Foxcatcher’s story without mentioning the movieNoel Murray10/20/15 9:05pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalink“The Prince Of Pennsylvania” isn’t the first 30 For 30 episode to cover the same ground as another documentary or major…
C+Season 230 For 30: Angry SkyDavid Kallison7/30/15 9:27pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkAs sports stories go, Nick Piantanida’s is a boring one. He attempted a feat, three times, and failed. Nick Piantanida…
B-Season 230 For 30: “I Hate Christian Laettner”Noel Murray3/15/15 9:34pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkIt’s the little dribble. Ask any Kentucky fan—heck, ask any non-Duke fan—what was so aggravating about Christian…
B+Season 230 For 30: “Of Miracles And Men”Noel Murray2/08/15 10:00pmSaveEditEmbiggenSend to EditorsPromoteGo to permalinkWhen ESPN announced that 30 For 30 would tackling the 1980 Olympic hockey tournament—the “Miracle On Ice” here in the…
