I’ve watched about one third of ESPN’s 30 For 30 series of documentaries. I plan on watching most of the rest as long as they remain On Demand via Time Warner. I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve seen so far.
Several have made me cry. I was especially moved by “The Guru of Go,” about Paul Westhead and Loyola Marymount. Watching Hank Gathers’ teammates struggle to talk about his death 20 years after the fact, did me in completely. My boys came in the room and couldn’t figure out why I was crying. (They’re used to seeing me cry, but it’s usually when I’m watching a Cowboy game.)
I found the one about Marcus Dupree (The Best That Never Was) to be the most interesting. It’s hard to imagine what he could have done if he had stayed at Oklahoma or better yet, chosen to play for a coach who would have brought out the best in him. I found his lack of bitterness in the piece to be refreshing. He was disappointed, but not angry. He could have had a great career, but he doesn’t seem to think he was entitled to one just because he was talented.
Several times, whether it was a story about Len Bias or Hank Gathers or Marcus Dupree, Ecclesiastes 9:11 came to mind:
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
Time and chance happen to them all.
Like I said, I haven’t seem them all, but I wonder if this wouldn’t make a nice subtitle for the whole series.
Work hard and always try to do the right thing: Time and chance happen to them all.
The most talented person on the planet has a bright future: Time and chance happen to them all.
Everyone makes mistakes. Some are of little consequence. Others impact thousands of people. At the time the mistake is made, no one can predict its impact: Time and chance happen to them all.
If everything always worked out the way we thought it would, we wouldn’t have very many good stories to tell: Time and chance happen to them all.
I’m all for living a productive, empowered, goal-oriented life, but if this verse doesn’t spread a little humility on your bread, you probably haven’t had very much time and chance happen to you.
Yet.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
its time and chancing all over the place here. 30 for 30
has been great.
still waiting on mine, made the mistake of ordering through Amazon, who was backordered.
can’t wait to see the len bias one, that’s the main reason I bought it but look forward to the rest
Ironically, since the 30 for 30 on Marcus Dupree, there has
actually been a “reconciliation” of sorts. I think he doesn’t
harbor any bad feelings towards the Sooners and he is welcome back
in the fold. It reminds me of what happened when they heard Billy
Sims was down on his luck… a group of his teammates got together,
helped him get back on his feet, and now he owns a chain of BBQ
restaurants across Oklahoma. It’s good when messy, yucky stories
turn out for the better.
http://newsok.com/espn-documentary-helps-restore-marcus-duprees-connection-to-oklahoma/article/3526396
The one about Colombia in 1994 was simply astonishing. I was a political science major in college, joining the military that year, reading the NY Times every day — and yet I still had no idea as to the extent of what was haapening there. It was also the first World Cup that I’d ever watched….pretty much the first soccer I’d ever watched — but I watched it religiously for two weeks. This documentary rocked my world.