Author Topic: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30  (Read 68292 times)

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #430 on: October 04, 2016, 09:18:28 AM »
Next three 30 for 30 films officially announced:

Phi Slama Jama (Chip Rives)
Tuesday, October 18
They were the most popular fraternity on the campus of college basketball in the early 1980s. Led by a Nigerian soccer player named Hakeem Olajuwon and a lightly recruited hometown kid named Clyde Drexler, the University of Houston Cougars not only electrified the NCAA Final Four with three straight appearances (1982-84), but they also helped transform the game itself. In this 30 for 30 film, director Chip Rives brings back the high-flying circus act under ringmaster Guy V. Lewis and spins a tale of true greatness and crushing heartbreak. But while exploring that larger narrative, Rives also focuses on the disappearance of enigmatic role player Benny Anders and the lasting brotherhood that compels teammates and 1981-82 co-captains Eric Davis and Lynden Rose to try and find him after more than two decades of mystery.

Hit It Hard (David Terry Fine and Gabe Spitzer)
Tuesday, November 1
If professional golf were put to country music, then the song would be about John Daly. Ever since he shocked the sports world by winning the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick 25 years ago, the blond bomber from Dardanelle, Arkansas, has been one of the most popular—and polarizing—figures in a sport that cherishes its traditions and minds its manners. In this revealing and rollicking 30 for 30 film, directors Gabe Spitzer and David Fine cover Daly’s rise and fall, his redemption at the British Open in St. Andrews in 1995, and his struggles with booze, food, gambling, women and depression. They also uncover a person whose story runs much deeper than his motto of “Sip It, Grip It, Rip It.”

Catholics vs. Convicts (Patrick Creadon)
Saturday, December 10
On October 15, 1988, Notre Dame hosted the University of Miami in what would become one of the greatest games in college football history. It was tradition vs. swagger, the No. 4-ranked Fighting Irish versus the No. 1-ranked Hurricanes, one coaching star, Lou Holtz, versus another, Jimmy Johnson. But the name still attached to the contest came from a t-shirt manufactured by a few Notre Dame students: “Catholics vs. Convicts.” In this 30 for 30 documentary, director and narrator Patrick Creadon (Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A.) doesn’t just look back on the epic game. He explores the deeper narrative as a Notre Dame senior at the time, a close friend to the young men in the middle of the “Catholics vs. Convicts” controversy (Joe Fredrick and Pat Walsh) and a fellow classmate of the player behind center for the Fighting Irish (quarterback Tony Rice). The coaches and players open up about the fight that started the game, the highly debatable calls that are still being talked about and the insensitive aspects of the irresistibly popular t-shirt. As compelling as the tale of Notre Dame’s dramatic victory is—even losing quarterback Steve Walsh calls it “a helluva ballgame”—the backstory is just as riveting.



I knew about the first two, with mild interest. The third I expected to be Nature Boy, about WWF wrestler Ric Flair, which would be an intriguing direction for the series. Catholics vs. Convicts is only a middling concept with no much interest by me. I can also see it being a fairly stock representation of the rivalry. But I am sure it will still be entertaining.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #431 on: October 17, 2016, 12:55:35 PM »
Phi Slama Jama (Chip Rives, 2016)

In the current college basketball landscape, the University of Houston Cougars basketball team is fairly irrelevant, playing its conference games in the American Athletic Conference. In fact, its football team, lead by young head coach Tom Herman, seems to steal the headlines from a basketball team that has failed to make it to the NCAA tournament since 2010, and not since 1992 before that. But there was once a time when Houston was a powerhouse in college basketball, and with the college season about a month away, ESPN decided it was time to tell the story of "Texas' tallest fraternity", Phi Slama Jama. The latest in Volume III of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, Phi Slama Jama brings back some the teams brightest stars, while searching for one of their lost brothers.

Phi Slama Jama, a nickname coined by Houston Post reporter Thomas Bonk after a sleepy blowout win over a Pacific team in 1983, was a team in the early to mid 1980s that consistently made noise in college basketball, but what I didn't know (and I suspect many casual fans of the game as well) is that the University of Houston basketball program was quite good in the late 1960s as well, lead by head coach Guy V. Lewis who steered the Houston program to 5 Final Fours in his Houston career, which spanned 30 years. The three consecutive Final Fours from 1982-1984 are what everybody remembers. Unfortunately for the Houston Cougars, that three year span pre-dated the unfortunate streak of the Buffalo Bills (as seen in Four Falls of Buffalo), as the Cougars failed to cap off their Final Four runs with a championship, even having the heartbreak of being the unfortunate victim of the infamous 1983 NC State Championship team chronicled in Survive and Advance.

As the antithesis to Survive and Advance, witnessing the players, accomplishments, and shortcoming of Phi Slama Jama leaves a lasting impression. In the vein of much of the 30 for 30 series, Phi Slama Jama does not take very many chances and crafts a fairly straight forward documentary film which recaps the glory years for Guy V. Lewis and his star-studded teams that included Basketball Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Reliving the heights of the program creates for soaring experiences, but just as quickly as the program rose, it fell into obscurity after its marquee players graduated or left for the NBA. The fact still remains that Guy V. Lewis took chances on guys other programs wouldn't touch, and the result was fantastic basketball teams that provided their town and fans across the country with a lot to cheer about.

The film's major downfall is its attempt to weave the story of the team in the 1980s with the search for one of its brightest players, Benny Anders. His whereabouts unknown to his teammates in present day, former captains Dave Rose and Eric Davis follow any lead they can to find Anders and reconnect. The search is a clunky add on to the story being told and feels like a separate story entirely, and one which is not given enough time to fully evolve into something worthwhile in telling the story of Phi Slama Jama. There aren't enough details included for me to decide how/why Anders disappeared, and how/why his teammates long to find him apart from the obvious pre-assumed answers which may or may not be true. Perhaps Anders doesn't want to be found by his teammates. Regardless, the film is unable to integrate this part of the story into the recap of Houston's glory years, making Phi Slama Jama an uneven documentary experience.

That being said, the moment of reunion is quite moving, even if the human emotions alone create this sentimental moment without the help of the storytelling of the filmmakers. Phi Slama Jama plays out as a fairly standard, middle of the road entry into the 30 for 30 series. There are better films, there are also worse. It doesn't take many risks, other than the miscalculated Anders search. We meet the players, hear them relive the great moments, see the highlights and lowlights. We gain an appreciation of how good and entertaining this team was and how great a coach Guy V. Lewis was. Houston fans should appreciate this coach and this team, as they have not come close to reclaiming the success they saw under Lewis. Hopefully 30 for 30 will walk a different path and find greatness once again after this fairly mediocre film.

**1/2 - Average
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #432 on: October 25, 2016, 02:48:28 PM »
Hit It Hard (Gabe Spitzer & David Terry Fine, 2016)

Golf is not exactly the most exhilarating sport, that much I will admit. I personally love the sport, but I also concede that watching it on television can be a bore, and even following it on the course can be a snooze. It is a slow, long sport where non-athletic people are capable of winning. If you go to your neighborhood course for a weekend round you could be gone all day. To me that is the beauty of the sport, however. The ability for a common fan to be able to play at varying levels and still gain joy from the misery that is golf at times. It's a great way to kill time and spend it walking around green spaces in fresh air. Of course, the sport also has its snobby side. The country club side where golfers are rich elitists with a long list of proper etiquette and definitions of what a traditional golfer looks like, sounds like and plays like. This is what made John Daly such an attractive anti-hero when he crashed the party in the 1990s. He was just a regular dude who liked to smoke, drink, and hit it hard.

Daly's story is one of the more unique in the history of sports, particularly golf. He rose to quick fame in 1991 when, as a last minute add as an alternate, he managed to win the PGA Championship, one of the sports four major championships. He went from out of the tournament to winning the title, millions of dollars, and instant fame in the blink of an eye. Like his golfing ability, though, his personal life was just as up and down. Daly soon took to the bottle and became unable to handle the fame and pressure of performing on the golf course. After hitting rock bottom and checking into rehab, many thought his career was over, until of course he managed to come back and win the British Open in 1995 in dramatic fashion. Down, but never out, John Daly continues to tour, and he continues to be himself. His is easily one of the most unique tales in golf history.

The 30 for 30 series is chock full of incredible stories. However, there have been a few instances where I felt like the film could have been even longer and full of detail. Hit It Hard is just such a film. At just 50 minutes, it is one of the shorter installments in the series, and as a result it feels very stunted, just scratching the surface of the details to John Daly's life. As a fan of the game of golf, and someone at least superficially familiar with Daly's story, I was able to jump right in, but someone with less background knowledge of the subject and his accolades may find the film to be bereft of character defining details. The highlights are there, but that does not make a good documentary. A good documentary delves into the details and paints a fuller picture.

I did appreciate the directors, Gabe Spitzer and David Terry Fine, interviewing Daly himself and not shying away from portraying the alcohol abuse and domestic issues that have arisen in Daly's past. These details are essential to understanding Daly as a man, and as a major figure in the sport of golf over that time. It still feels incomplete when telling his story from cradle to grave, and maybe they weren't intending on telling that story, but there wasn't even laser focus on one aspect or time period to be able to grasp onto and tag along for the ride. John Daly is a larger than life character, yet someone so down to earth and "of the people" that it is easy to see how he might have garnered so much attention and fan support. In some ways he reminds me a little of Bubba Watson today, though in different ways.

What the film does get right is its treatment of its subject, John Daly. Daly has had his troubles, and many of them. As I mentioned he is a larger than life character. So it would be very easy for this film to somehow celebrate Daly for his misgivings, or even to vilify him. It would have been wrong to do this. In presenting Daly as he is, in a very subdued, soft, and reflective manner, the audience, along with Daly, are able to consider his issues and successes in a different light: Daly's. Spitzer and Fine make Daly sympathetic without making us pity him. It's a very fine line to walk, but Spitzer and Fine do it marvelously, bringing out the most human aspects of John Daly's story. I only wish we could have gotten much more.

*** - Good
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #433 on: November 10, 2016, 11:40:27 AM »
New 30 for 30 announced:

This Was the XFL (Charlie Ebersol)
To premiere February 2, 2017

A bold challenge, a fearless experiment and ultimately, a spectacular failure. In 2001, sports entertainment titans Ebersol and McMahon launched the XFL. It was hardly the first time a league had tried to compete with the NFL, but the brash audacity of the bid, combined with the personalities and charisma of Ebersol and McMahon and the marketing behemoths of their respective companies -- NBC and WWE -- captured headlines and a sense of undeniable anticipation about what was to come.
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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #434 on: November 18, 2016, 09:36:14 AM »
Catholics vs. Convicts (Patrick Creadon, 2016)

Much of the drama of sports comes from the idea of the "haves" and the "have nots". They come in many different forms, but at the end of the day the best underdog stories are not only the most popular, but also the most dramatic and inspiring. University of Miami versus Notre Dame is not inspiring, however, but it is still a story of the haves and have nots. In 1988, the team college football teams squared off in what has become known as "Catholics vs. Convicts", in large part thanks to a famous t-shirt that was illegeally created and distributed by a group of Notre Dame students who had taken offense not only to Miami's unnecessarily running up the score in their previous meeting in 1985, but also to Miami's tremendous swagger and reputation as "bad boys" on and off the field.

The phrase has been debated quite a bit since, especially since it uses a rather unfortunate descriptor for the Miami Hurricanes, "Convicts". What all started as a harmless joke exploded way more than any of the students could have imagined. One of the students was now filmmaker Patrick Creadon. In returning to this game, director Patrick Creadon attempts to tell not only the dramatic story of the game and rivalry between the two teams, but also the little known back story to the infamous moniker that now persists whenever the two teams are mentioned in the same breath. Notre Dame is of course a prestigious, Catholic, and predominately white university with a rich football history. Miami on the other hand, as chronicled in another 30 for 30 film, The U, does not have a rich history, is made up of predominately poor African Americans, but plays with a sharp swagger which gives them an incredible edge. The haves and the have nots.

The history of the two teams, and ultimately the game itself seem to take a backseat to the more personal, unknown story of the t-shirts, which is a nice change of pace from most of these types of films from the 30 for 30 series. However, by not focusing on the game as much, the recap felt a little bit of a letdown. Creadon tries a balancing act where he gets the best of both worlds, the game feature recap and the personal, quirky t-shirt story. What ultimately happens in the outcome is a little bit of a mess where neither aspect feels as complete or polished as I am cure Creadon would have hoped for. Getting to know his friends, Pat Walsh, the t-shirt mastermind whose dream it was to walk-on to the Irish basketball team, and Joe Fredrick, the captain of the Irish basketball team, is where the film is at its best, exploring this small story in connection to the larger, more familiar sports event (the game). But it's not enough to fill the entire film.

I wonder whether this film might not be a little better, a little more taut in its storytelling if it were actually a little bit shorter. At 102 minutes, the film spans too much for its own focus, but at 75 minutes, let's say, it may have been a little more succinct, to the point, and ultimately more engaging overall. By bloating the film with needless back story on the football teams, the connections between the coaches, the past successes and failures, it detracts from the t-shirt story and the drama of Pat Walsh and his circumstances surrounding the t-shirt in question. That is the true drama, and yet Creadon sacrifices it for the requisite game recap. I keep coming back to the fact that this is a film that tries to be two things and as a result fails to be either, and what a shame that is.

At this point, I am not surprised to start seeing some of the 30 for 30 films overlap, as the game is touched on in The U, as I mentioned earlier, and even a game from earlier in Notre Dame's season against Michigan is chronicled in the short film Student/Athlete. Both of those film are more successful and engaging than Catholics vs. Convicts because they deliver on their premise by maintaining a precise focus throughout. Catholics vs. Convicts fails to find its focus, resulting in a rather average, standard, and meandering documentary that, like many other films in this series, depends on the viewer's affinity for the subject and story to draw them in, as opposed to earning the interest by telling a compelling, human story that is undeniably dramatic.

**1/2 - Average

This episode will air Saturday, December 10 on ESPN immediately following the Heisman Trophy presentation
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #435 on: January 17, 2017, 09:33:51 AM »
30 for 30 Shorts
The Throwback (Erin Leyden, 2016)

With the college football season now over (sorry, this debuted in December around the Heisman Trophy presentation, but just getting around to it now), the sports world will begin to turn focus on the upcoming baseball season while the NHL and NBA start their stretch runs to the playoffs. For hardcore college football fans, however, January becomes the run up to National Signing Day and college football recruiting. Anymore in college football, positions are so specialized that a 17 year old kid could be recruited for the same spot he's played his whole life and will continue to play. There are a few exceptions, with the designation of ATH for athletes who could play multiple positions, but even those end up settling on a single position by the time they see the field in college. And then there is Gordie Lockbaum.

Gordie Lockbaum was a once in a lifetime type of player for Holy Cross in the mid 1980s. Over three decades ago is a long time, but even then it was unusual for a player to be as versatile as Lockbaum, who played both offense and defense, often playing well over 100 plays per game. As a running back and defensive back, Lockbaum became a Heisman Trophy finalist two years in a row as a result. It's strange to revisit this, even as we saw Jabrill Peppers play both offense and defense some this year for Michigan, to see someone playing true Iron Man football, both ways for the entirety of the game. Not only have positions become so specialized, but sports in general have become so specialized, even at the high school level. The best athletes concentrate on their best sports instead of playing football, basketball and baseball, for example. Thus Lockbaum being considered a "Throwback".

Erin Leyden's film does nothing more than featuring Lockbaum's story, bringing up a peculiarity in a college football landscape where the thought of another Lockbaum seems like an impossibility. It is no better or worse than most other films in the 30 for 30 Shorts series in its production and presentation. It tells Lockbaum's story and brings little else to the table, which seems to be what the series has often becomes. More artistic and deeper thinking films like I Am Yup'ik are fewer and further between in the series, but that's what makes me coming back to find another gem. In the interim, ESPN's penchant for finding interesting stories and presenting them in a competent manner is impressive enough for a series that now spans over fifty films.

**1/2 - Average
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #436 on: January 17, 2017, 01:21:26 PM »
This Was the XFL (Charlie Ebersol, 2016)

With our new president, Donald J. Trump, having just taken office, it seems timely that a documentary about the failed professional football league, the XFL, should be released as the latest installment in ESPN's 30 for 30 series. The XFL was not the first, and will undoubtedly not be the last, professional football league to attempt to compete with the NFL. When thinking about This Was the XFL, I couldn't help but recall Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?, a film from Volume 1 of 30 for 30, which featured a chronicle of another failed football league, one in which Donald Trump had stake, and as some would argue, had a hand in bringing about its demise. But where WWE CEO and showman Vince McMahon and friend, NBC Sports exec Dick Ebersol differ from Trump and the USFL was their vision for a "different" brand of football, a product that would compete, only indirectly, with the Goliath that the NFL had become. So then why did they too fail?

I am old enough to remember the inaugural, and only, season of the XFL, if only vaguely, and the buzz that initially surrounded the league which promised to be a different, more genuine version of football when compared to the No Fun League (NFL). This Was the XFL follows fairly closely to the formula ESPN has seemingly created for its 30 for 30 series, which is tried and true, but the choice to have Dick Ebersol's son, Charlie, direct the film feels like a selection way too close to the subject matter, which perhaps just a tad bit too much stake in the game. To be sure, Charlie's film presents the XFL as the failure that it was, but it dodges some of the larger questions, in particular the question as to whether or not the American football fans really wanted to buy into something like the XFL.

The opening game of the league drew 50 million viewers on television, a huge rating. But from there the league went downhill. After featuring an exciting game in Week 2, a power failure which left dead air for two entire minutes spelled doom for the league, according to the documentary. Vince McMahon, Dick Ebersol and company are shown still pinning for an alternative to the National Football League, as though the failure of the XFL was due to minor oversights, like the power failure, and would have succeeded otherwise. The league may have done better, may have extended to a second season, but I have a hard time believing there was ever any hope that the XFL could be any more than the Canadian Football League, or the Arena Football League in terms of its niche appeal to a football craved fan base.

This Was the XFL fails to dig into the inherent issues with the league, sugar-coating many of the leagues issues, flagging them as unfortunate snafus which, if avoided, would have penned a completely different story for the league. Ebersol infuses some fun into this documentary, as should be expected. There are moments of memory which recall some of the more unique and impressive aspects of the league, like the scramble to start the game, the skycam invention which is now used extensively in both the NFL and college football. There is plenty about the XFL to like, but I still come back to the main flaw of the film: Ebersol and McMahon's inability to see that the league was flawed in its conception and was doomed for failure. Especially now in the day and age when player safety is of the utmost importance, the XFL's archaic principles of hard hitting appear even more so. Recall the player who was injured and missed the entire season in the opening "scramble" of the season. Recall Jeff Brohm (current Purdue coach) playing QB with a concussion. None of these things are appealing to me, or I imagine many others.

McMahon is crying out as if to say, "Make football great again!", but unfortunately, many already agree that football is great. If this film contributes anything to the discussion of the 30 for 30 series, it's that niche subjects like this deserve more air time. Oftentimes they provide the most interesting, entertaining and eye-opening perspective on sports. But this film also cements how fairly generic these films have become as they have grown in number, following a rather bland, but tried and true, route to making a decent film which has no ambition to be anything more than another in a series of similar films. If it contributes anything to the discussion of professional football, it may be that technology and promotion have come a long way, and the NFL owes some of that to the XFL directly. But it also goes to show that the NFL has a long way to go to no longer be considered the No Fun League.

**1/2 - Average

This episode will air Thursday, February 2 on ESPN.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2017, 03:11:14 PM by Corndog »
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #437 on: January 30, 2017, 03:10:42 PM »
I was bored, so I made a list of Essentials from this marathon, for those interested.
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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #438 on: February 05, 2017, 12:58:05 AM »
I will be, one day when I have time and access! :)

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Re: ESPN Films Presents: 30 for 30
« Reply #439 on: March 31, 2017, 11:45:08 AM »
One and Not Done (Jonathan Hock, 2017)

John Calipari has been a controversial figure in sports for the better part of 20 years now. The head basketball coach at the most prestigious basketball school in the country, Kentucky, Calipari has seen great success throughout his career, coupled with questionable tactics which have resulted in NCAA violations at each of his last two head coaching stops, Massachusetts and Memphis. He is a quintessential love/hate sports figure. At this point, Kentucky fans are likely the only ones to love him for what he has done. With the latest installment in the ESPN 30 for 30 series, director Jonathan Hock recounts Calipari's career in such a way as to reconsider his place on the hate list. We may still dislike him, or be jealous of him, or disagree with his methods, but there is no denying he is a winner, and a heck of a basketball coach.

Personally, I hated John Calipari before this film, but Hock does such a wonderful job or not only humanizing the coach, but shifting perspective on him. It'd be easy to chalk up his success to cheating, but what has he really cheated? It'd be easy to chalk up his success to a ludicrous "one and done" rule, but isn't he just smarter for utilizing the rule as it is? These are all things I was able to reconsider while watching Hock's latest 30 for 30 installment. I think first and foremost, as with almost any sports related hatred or even general discussion, much of my dislike for Coach Cal stems from his success. He turned around an awful Massachusetts program, took Memphis to the top of the sport (sans a few free throws), and now reigns over Kentucky basketball. Let's take a step back though.

What I appreciated about this documentary, and Hock's approach, is we get to see who Calipari is and where he came from. By following his rise from the very beginning, we see just how good of a coach he is, just how much he cares for his players, and just how much hard work he has put in to get to where he is. The NCAA sanctions will forever follow him, but in reality they are little infractions which carry no proof of his knowledge or wrong doing. Marcus Camby signed an agent while still an amateur. Derrick Rose played with an SAT score that was under dispute. In both cases, Calipari, at least his side of the story, suggests he had no knowledge, or in the case of Rose, was told the score was fine and Rose was eligible to play. The cloud of doubt will always follow him.

His most recent controversy is, in essence, a controversy surrounding all of college sports, not just Calipari. The NBA is at fault here by installing a rule which states that players must be 19 or one year removed from high school in order to play in the professional league. What this has created is an influx of talented teens coming to college programs to play out their requisite one year before bolting to the NBA. Calipari has capitalized on this rule, recruiting numerous such "one and done" players to Kentucky and essentially rebuilding every year with a team of incredible freshmen. These players will be attending college for a year whether they go to Kentucky or not. You can argue Calipari is "selling his soul" so to speak by making Kentucky an NBA factory as opposed to an institution of higher education, but we're likely kidding ourselves if we, as college sports fans, really think there is something morally wrong with this approach.

To Calipari's credit, he is mentoring these young men and assuring they get exactly what they deserve for their talent and hard work: a paycheck. If a young man can, on the open market, make millions of dollars, shouldn't we embrace that as opposed to riding our high horse and thinking it better they attain their degree right now? Calipari is a players coach, he has their best interests in mind. Sometimes that will clash with both NCAA and fan perspectives, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it in my eyes. He goes against the flow, but I applaud him for his steadfastness and ability to both coach and mentor, while also getting the most out of, and for, his players. He cares, whether we think he does or not. He's a phenomenal coach, whether we appreciate that fact or not. John Calipari is controversial, there is no escaping that. I still don't like the guy in all honesty, but after seeing Jonathan Hock's film, I can say I at least respect him on some level for his contributions to the game of basketball.

*** - Very Good
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

 

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