Do you like documentaries? Do you like sports? ESPN is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a fantastic slate of 30 premiere documentaries about seminal sports events of the past 30 years, done by a murderers' row of directors and sports talents. The brainchild of The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons (click here to read his essay about the origin of the series), here are just a few of the names involved, both directors and subjects—Ice Cube, Albert Maysles, Barbara Kopple, Alex Gibney, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, Peter Berg, Barry Levinson, Steve Nash, and much more.

Alan Sepinwall, the TV critic for The Newark Star-Ledger, gave 30 for 30 a rave review in his column this week: "That's why '30 for 30,' the primary component of ESPN's 30th anniversary festivities, is so remarkable—both surprising and great. Though the project—a series of 30 documentaries covering sports stories big and small from the last three decades—celebrates ESPN's legacy by limiting itself to the channel's lifespan, it doesn't spend any time telling you why ESPN is so wonderful. Instead, it shows you, by virtue of the directors the project was able to attract, the quality and sweep of the films they made with minimal executive interference. This is ESPN using its power for good instead of evil, for a celebration of sports rather than a celebration of itself." (Click here for full article, it's worth a read. Best TV critic in the country, we'd wager.)


Still from the horse documentary Charismatic, by Steven Michaels, Joel Surnow, and Jonathan Koch

The docs started screening this week with Berg's (Friday Night Lights) Kings Ransom, about the trade of hockey legend Wayne Gretsky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. Levinson's The Band that Wouldn't Die, about the Colts Marching Band in Baltimore, is next on deck, and Maysles' Muhammad and Larry is the fourth film in the series.

It's an embarrassment of riches, and we wanted to put it on your radar. Here are some relevant links.

Sepinwall's interview with Simmons.

30 for 30 Twitter.

The 30 for 30 homepage.