Bill Simmons & Barry Levinson

[Boz]

If there are any Baltimore fans out there (not Ravens fans, but fans of Baltimore), and you have a half hour to spare, this is a pretty good interview with Barry Levinson. It is ostensibly about his 30 for 30 documentary airing tonight about the Baltimore Colts marching band, but they get into a lot of Levinson's body of work and it's a good conversation about sports movies:

sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/player?id=4555454

I know, I know. I'm the last one you'd expect to link to something involving Simmons, right? Don't get me wrong. I still think the guy is a yutz and most of his columns are tired and stale, but there's one thing I've always given Simmons credit for. He does know movies (a lot more than he knows sports, IMO). Sure, at times he sounds like a skinnier, geekier version of "The Chris Farley Show" character, but his questions (when he can get them out coherently) are usually pretty good.

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing Levinson's documentary about the Colts band tonight and enjoyed this interview quite a bit during lunch today.

Here is the preview of the actual documentary:
espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4554094

[SFHoya99]

The first one, on the Gretzky trade, was pretty good. Not great, and the interviews with the filmmaker are a weird interlude, but good.

[Boz]

The film tonight was very touching for me, and probably for anyone with strong Baltimore roots.

I am hoping they put some of these out on DVD soon. I'd like to be able to get this documentary for my Mom to put in her Christmas stocking.

[Cambridge]

I watched it and thought it was great. The 30/30 idea is pretty awesome. Definitely worth tivoing and enjoying on a slow night.

[PhillyHoya]

Last night's film was fantastic. Hope the trend continues.

[Boz]

Incidentally, I e-mailed ESPN last night to ask about DVDs of these films and got a standard stock response that was absolutely useless.

I'll be keeping my eyes open and sharing anything I find out, but if anyone learns of any DVD availability, I'd love it if you could post it or send me a message.

Others I am looking forward to include:

- Len Bias: As much as we all despise Maryland, Len Bias transcended that. I still remember where I was when I heard that he died.

- Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks: This should be really funny.

- OBVIOUSLY, The Trial of Allen Iverson: The fact that Hampton native and "Hoop Dreams" maker Steve James is doing this should make it excellent.

- The Terry Fox story: Some of you might not be old enough to remember - or, God help me, not even born back then - but that was a really inspirational story. The fact that Steve Nash is doing this documentary will be interesting.


Those are some I'm definitely marking down, but I'm sure I'll watch more. The killing of Andres Escobar, the Mike Tyson-Tupac Shakur connection, the gang affiliations with the Raiders moving to LA (done by Ice Cube, which makes sense), Steve Bartman, Johann Olaf Koss, and Marcus Dupree are all very intriguing.

[theexorcist]

Anyone who thinks that Dan Snyder is the worst owner in the history of the world should watch the Baltimore Colts documentary. Irsay got drunk right before a press conference.

[Cambridge]

Oct 14, 2009 13:01:35 GMT -5 theexorcist said:

Anyone who thinks that Dan Snyder is the worst owner in the history of the world should watch the Baltimore Colts documentary. Irsay got drunk right before a press conference.

Not to quibble, but I don't think he got drunk right before a press conference...I got the impression that he was always drunk, there just happened to be a press conference that interrupted his regularly scheduled intoxication.

[Boz]

Listening to Jim Irsay (who is a genuinely good guy, IMO) talk about his father and his troubles last night almost -- almost made me feel sorry for Bob Irsay and want to forgive him.

The only thing I think Levinson missed, and I can hardly blame him since everyone else always forgets this fact as well, was when he was interviewing Baltimore fans about their mixed feelings in getting Cleveland's team, I think he omitted a key element of that narrative.

When The Colts left, there was no provision for Baltimore. When Modell moved the Browns, the NFL only allowed this to happen with a guarantee to Cleveland that they would have their team replaced within two years, which they did.

I think the fact that Baltimore fans knew Cleveland would be getting their team back went a long way in helping the city with their mixed emotions and embracing the new team.

[SFHoya99]

Not only that, but Cleveland got everything with their team -- the history, the uniforms, the name, etc.

Basically, it was a two year haitus. Now, it doesn't fix everything -- the Browns had to start from scratch and they've sucked since. But it was about as nice a move as possible.

[jgalt]

Oct 14, 2009 13:01:35 GMT -5 theexorcist said:

Anyone who thinks that Dan Snyder is the worst owner in the history of the world should watch the Baltimore Colts documentary. Irsay got drunk right before a press conference.

Maybe being drunk would be good for snyder ;D