The tale of double-crossing and perseverance on cycling’s biggest stage provides a unique insight into the sport. If you think Lance Armstrong brought a new cutthroat attitude to cycling, check out this doc about Greg LeMond having to beat Bernard "The Badger" Hinault to become the first American to win the Tour de France. This documentary about Liván and Orlando Hernandez defecting from Cuba in the 1990s to play Major League Baseball is compelling just don’t expect it to delve into U.S./Cuba relations, which clearly had to be a factor.
Maya Moore walking away from professional basketball to fight for someone who was wrongfully imprisoned was an act of courage and it is great that 30 for 30 told this story. This doc does not have an arc, but the on-the-court stories are very engaging. Paul Westhead’s fast-break system of play in basketball has had controversy and success. This film does just that for Randy Moss, covering his youth in Rand, West Virginia, and offering insights into his past self-sabotaging behavior. When someone’s behavior makes no sense to you, it can be helpful to walk in their shoes. The Big East Conference was and is a basketball powerhouse, but at one point it was a major player in football and seemed to have 75 basketball teams. Some athletes peak before they become teenagers and kudos to 30 for 30 for telling the story of the Kirkland, Washington, team who won the 1982 Little League World Series and their lives that followed.
It was also a bit like McMahon’s WWE documentaries, which offer enough meat to keep you engaged, but never the full picture. The wild story of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon’s attempt to launch a new football league in 2001 is fun to watch and informative on the league’s contributions to pro football. down to the clothing room and tells them to grab what they want. This is worth watching just for the scene where Raiders staff take N.W.A. revolutionized not only rap, but also the Los Angeles Raiders' relationship with the music genre when the group made the team’s apparel part of their look. This Ice Cube-directed documentary tells the story of how his N.W.A.
Related: 5 Greatest Martial Arts Stars for a Casual Movie Fan It has since been overshadowed by “The Last Dance,” but made it clear that MJ was 100 percent serious about his baseball career and was getting better when the 1994 MLB strike hit. “Bull Durham” and “White Men Can’t Jump” director Ron Shelton helmed this doc about Michael Jordan’s stint in minor league baseball. However, it is too short to really be introspective. Wright Thompson’s account of the 1962 Ole Miss Rebels team that went undefeated as the school was being integrated is interesting because the squad was basically forgotten. This is really more of an extensive interview between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, but you do learn how deep their relationship runs off the tennis court. He approaches this film with that same type of raw fandom. I once heard Michael Rapaport, the director of this documentary and diehard New York sports fan, explain that Lawrence Taylor was the greatest player in NFL history because he won the league MVP while on crack.