30 for 30

Kings Ransom

50min - On 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 that sent Wayne Gretzky, a Canadian national treasure and the greatest hockey player ever to play the game, to the Los Angeles Kings in a multiplayer, multimillion-dollar deal. As bewildered Oilers 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 sellout crowds and standing ovations, and a league often relegated to "little brother" status exploded from 21 teams to 30 in less than a decade. Acclaimed director Peter Berg presents the captivating story of the trade that knocked the wind out of an entire country, and placed a star-studded city right at the humble feet of a 27-year-old kid, known simply as "The Great One."

Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?

51min - In 1983, the upstart United States Football League (USFL) signed three straight Heisman Trophy winners and future NFL stars Steve Young, Reggie White and Doug Flutie. Winning over fans with its aura of fun & flamboyance, the new league averaged crowds of 25,000. But with success came expansion and new owners, including a high profile real estate baron whose vision was at odds with the league’s founders. Academy-Award-nominated director Mike Tollin attempts to answer the question, “Who Killed The USFL?”

Muhammad and Larry

53min - In October of 1980 Muhammad Ali was preparing to fight for an unprecedented fourth heavyweight title against his friend and former sparring partner Larry Holmes. To say that the great Ali was in the twilight of his career would be generous; most of his admiring fans, friends and fight scribes considered his bravado delusional. What was left for him to prove? In the weeks of training before the fight, documentarians Albert and David Maysles took an intimate look at Ali trying to convince the world and perhaps himself, that he was still “The Greatest.” At the same time, they documented the mild-mannered and undervalued champion Holmes as he confidently prepared to put an end to the career of a man for whom he had an abiding and deep affection

The Legend of Jimmy the Greek

51min - This film follows the career of Jimmy Synder, a professional gambler. He helped legitimize betting in NFL games by finding ways to give points spreads during pre-game shows. His demise was both dramatic and swift when he finally stepped over the mark.

The U

1h 43min - After years of indifferent results, new coach Howard Schnellenberger revitalizes the University of Miami's football program by introducing fresh blood and fresh attitude into the team.

Winning Time: Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks

1h 9min - A film that explores the rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and New York as seen through the eyes and actions of Reggie Miller star player of the Indiana Pacers.

Guru of Go

51min - By the mid-1980s Paul Westhead had worn out his welcome in the NBA. The best offer he could find came from an obscure small college with little history of basketball. In the same city where he had won an NBA championship with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Westhead was determined to perfect his non-stop run-and-gun offensive system at Loyola Marymount. His shoot-first offense appeared doomed to fail until Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, two talented players from Westhead's hometown of Philadelphia, arrived gift-wrapped at his doorstep. With Gathers and Kimble leading a record scoring charge, Westhead's system suddenly dazzled the world of college basketball and turned conventional thinking on its head. But then, early in the 1989-90 season, Gathers collapsed during a game and was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat. Determined to play, Gathers returned three games later, but less than three months later, he tragically died on the court. Working with both Westhead and Kimble, Oscar®-winning director Bill Couturié tells a fast-paced and emotionally moving story of innovation, triumph and tragedy.

Silly Little Game

50min - In 1980, a group of writers and academics met at La Rotisserie Francaise in New York City and formed a baseball league of their own: The Rotisserie League. The game quickly grew in popularity, and today, fantasy sports is a multi-billion dollar industry with over 30 million participants. Take a look at the game’s inception and its “founding fathers,” who never foresaw how their creation would take off and ultimately leave them behind.

The Two Escobars

1h 38min - This ESPN documentary draws parallels between two renowned Colombians: soccer star Andrés Escobar and international drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

The Birth of Big Air

Jordan Rides the Bus

51min - In 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 Chicago 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?

Marion Jones: Press Pause

51min - Few athletes in Olympic history have reached such heights and depths as Marion Jones. After starring at the University of North Carolina and winning gold at the 1997 and '99 World Track and Field Championships, her rise to the top culminated at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

Four Days in October

51min - When the night of Oct. 16, 2004 came to a merciful end, the Curse of the Bambino was alive and well. The vaunted Yankee lineup, led by Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Gary 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 nights, this unlikely group of Red Sox miraculously won four straight games to overcome the inevitability of their destiny. Using extensive archive coverage from that week, Major League Baseball Productions will produce a film in "real-time" that takes an in-depth look at the 96 hours that brought salvation to Red Sox Nation and made baseball history in the process.

Fernando Nation

53min - Fernando Valenzuela's MLB debut.

Marion Jones: Press Pause

Pony Excess

1h 42min - From 1981-1984, a small private school in Dallas owned the best record in college football. The Mustangs of Southern Methodist University (SMU) 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 to the city's oil barons and real estate tycoons and flagrant and frequent NCAA violations became the norm. On February 25, 1987, the school and the sport were rocked, as the NCAA meted out "the death penalty" on a college football program for the first and only time in its history. SMU would be without football for two years, and the fan base would be without an identity for 20 more until the Mustangs' win in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl. This is the story of Dallas in the 1980s and the greed, power and corruption that spilled from the oil fields onto the football field and all the way to the Governor's Mansion. Director Thaddeus D. Matula, a product of the SMU film school, chronicles the rise, fall, and rebirth of this once mighty team.