ESPN Announces Two New ‘30 for 30’ Documentaries

The Bad Boys doc—which hopefully will feature the involvement of Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, and Dennis Rodman, if they can drag the Worm from his diplomatic duties—will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the team's first championship. I'd kill for a Michael Jordan interview, because I'm pretty sure he'd say something along the lines of “I still fucking hate Isiah Thomas.” 

From SI:

In an interview with SI.com this week, ESPN Films executive producer Connor Schell said a documentary on Detroit's championship years titled “Bad Boys” will air in the spring of 2014 sometime between the end of the NBA regular season and the NBA Finals. It will part of ESPN's “30 for 30” series. The idea for a doc on the Pistons had been percolating for years among the “30 for 30” brass and executives at NBA Entertainment. “We felt like the timing of the 25th anniversary of the first title was the right time to do it,” Schell said.

Given the previous collaboration between ESPN Films and NBA Entertainment — they partnered on the brilliant “Once Brothers” and the terrific “The Announcement” — Bad Boys is likely to be one of the better “30 for 30” efforts. (NBA Entertainment also produced the last year's sensational “Dream Team” documentary for NBA TV.) “They are great storytellers and the right guys for this topic,” Schell said. “They have a great working knowledge of the players and a rich archive of that period.”

 

The Harding-Kerrigan doc should also be an interesting watch—especially for those of us too young to remember what was unquestionably one of the most bizarre intersections between sports and crime, ever. The film is called “The Whack Heard Round the World.” Which is kind of hilarious.

In an interview with SI.com last week, [director] Nanette Burstein said the film will focus heavily on the six weeks in 1994 when it seemed the entire sporting world was focused on the two American skaters. The film will also examine how the events impacted the sport of figure skating and the sporting culture at large. “This story raises a lot of issues,” Burstein said. “It raises the issue of class, it raises the issue of feminine sports, and it raises the issue of media because this story came at the beginning of tabloid stories taking over as major news and occupying the public for weeks on end.”

 

There's no way they keep calling it “The Whack Heard Round the World,” right? Was no one involved in this 15-years-old once?