Someone mentioned these the other day as a good sport substitute whilst there's nothing on and I've decided to watch them all. I've already seen about 15 of them previously, but I thought I'd start from the beginning and listen to the stories I'd never heard as well. Even the sports I have no interest in (Hockey and Basketball) have some fascinating stories. Here are my summaries of the first 2 episodes. Not anywhere close to the best in the series.
Episode 1 - King's Ransom
This is the story of Wayne Gretzky's trade from Edmonton Oilers to the LA Kings in 1988 which was completely unheard of at the time. It was probably the biggest trade that sport has ever seen with vast money, 2 players and 3 first round draft picks going to the Oilers in exchange for their star player.
The documentary is interesting because it has all the key people talking about the deal from their perspective and of course none of them regret it, but on the face of it, it doesn't seem to have worked out for most of the key people.
The Oilers have won 5 Stanley Cups in their history and 4 of them were with Gretzky. Gretzky won nothing with the LA Kings.The Kings saw their fanbase almost double overnight so perhaps they won to an extent.
The real winner though seems to by hockey - The popularity of the sport took off after Gretzky moved to America, within a decade there were 8 new franchise teams, 3 of which were in California and Gretzky was seen as the big influence behind that.
In true fan fashion, the fans still blame the former owner to this day and haven't forgiven him for the events that took place over 3 years ago.
6.5/10
Episode 2 - The Band that wouldn't die
The story of the Baltimore Colts marching band and how they carried on for 12 years without a team and helped to promote the eventual return to NFL in the city by marching all over America.
It's almost a nice little story. It starts off with Jonny Unitas winning that first Championship in a huge televised game and almost starting the movement and popularity that would lead to the NFL. Then it goes on to the Colts leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night in 1984 to move to Indianapolis. Their owner was a drunk and an arse and you start to feel sorry for them. A community that had the heart of it ripped out. But the marching band kept on in good spirits and giving the people of Baltimore hope.
Then we get to their "happy" ending in 1996 when they stole a franchise from Cleveland and left another community to have to suffer exactly like they had. **** them!
5/10
I love backstories behind historical sports events so feel free to contribute to the thread with any good documentaries or even books on sporting history, but I'm going to work through all of these over the next few weeks.
Episode 1 - King's Ransom
This is the story of Wayne Gretzky's trade from Edmonton Oilers to the LA Kings in 1988 which was completely unheard of at the time. It was probably the biggest trade that sport has ever seen with vast money, 2 players and 3 first round draft picks going to the Oilers in exchange for their star player.
The documentary is interesting because it has all the key people talking about the deal from their perspective and of course none of them regret it, but on the face of it, it doesn't seem to have worked out for most of the key people.
The Oilers have won 5 Stanley Cups in their history and 4 of them were with Gretzky. Gretzky won nothing with the LA Kings.The Kings saw their fanbase almost double overnight so perhaps they won to an extent.
The real winner though seems to by hockey - The popularity of the sport took off after Gretzky moved to America, within a decade there were 8 new franchise teams, 3 of which were in California and Gretzky was seen as the big influence behind that.
In true fan fashion, the fans still blame the former owner to this day and haven't forgiven him for the events that took place over 3 years ago.
6.5/10
Episode 2 - The Band that wouldn't die
The story of the Baltimore Colts marching band and how they carried on for 12 years without a team and helped to promote the eventual return to NFL in the city by marching all over America.
It's almost a nice little story. It starts off with Jonny Unitas winning that first Championship in a huge televised game and almost starting the movement and popularity that would lead to the NFL. Then it goes on to the Colts leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night in 1984 to move to Indianapolis. Their owner was a drunk and an arse and you start to feel sorry for them. A community that had the heart of it ripped out. But the marching band kept on in good spirits and giving the people of Baltimore hope.
Then we get to their "happy" ending in 1996 when they stole a franchise from Cleveland and left another community to have to suffer exactly like they had. **** them!
5/10
I love backstories behind historical sports events so feel free to contribute to the thread with any good documentaries or even books on sporting history, but I'm going to work through all of these over the next few weeks.
