Tag: documentary

Watch: Barry Sanders movie trailer asks the question we all want the answer to

Watch: The Barry Sanders movie trailer lays out the question of why he retired in his prime at age 31

Prime Sports Video released the trailer for the upcoming documentary film about Lions legend Barry Sanders.

“We’ll never see something like Barry Sanders again,” the trailer begins, and then we’re instantly reminded of just how true that statement is.

“Bye Bye Barry” will tell the intriguing story of Sanders’ incredible career as a Detroit Lions running back and icon, in the words of those who played with him and against him, and those who covered him in his prime.

It will also feature Sanders himself discussing what everyone wants to really know: Why did he walk away at 31?

From the press release:

Twenty-four years after the shocking decision to walk away from the sport, NFL Films joined the 55-year-old Sanders and his four sons on a trip back to England to explore his career, revisit his upbringing, and tackle one of the greatest mysteries in sports history: Why did he retire when he did?

The movie debuts on Nov. 21 on Prime Video.

New documentary shows Cowboys’ draft night debate over Mazi Smith, offensive lineman

From @ToddBrock24f7: “NFL Draft: The Pick is In” shows Dallas almost taking Syracuse OL Matthew Bergeron and how a call from the Chiefs nudged the discussion.

A new documentary taking football fans inside draft weekend like never before is set to premiere on Roku on Friday, Aug. 25. NFL Draft: The Pick is In will feature four teams- including the Cowboys- going through the three days of the 2023 draft, with camera crews having had extensive access to both the inner workings of the front offices and the prospects themselves as they wait to hear their names called.

A clip released to social media prior to the documentary’s debut offers a fascinating glimpse into how the Cowboys brass settled on Michigan defensive tackle Mazi Smith with their first-round selection, how they debated internally over taking another offensive lineman, and how a last-minute phone call from the defending Super Bowl champs almost changed everything.

In the short clip, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sets the table by telling the staffers assembled in the team’s draft room that the players ranked 12th and 13th on their board are both still available as they near their time on the clock.

One of those prospects is Syracuse lineman Matthew Bergeron. Smith is the other. Jones opens the discussion by claiming, “Mazi would create a dynamic that we do not have now,” and saying he’s ready to turn in Smith’s card.

But Jones then opens up the floor for comments, asking the coaches and scouts in the room to try to change his mind.

As Dallas imagines an offensive line with their left tackle (Tyler Smith), left guard (Bergeron), and center (Tyler Biadasz) all 25 years old or younger and all being long-term staples for the team, Buffalo trades up to select tight end Dalton Kincaid, who was believed at the time to be a prime Cowboys target.

Will McClay, Cowboys vice president of player personnel casts a vote for Smith, explaining how he “helps us now and in the future.” Jones reiterates what a “hell of a strategic pick” a nose tackle would be. Head coach Mike McCarthy unequivocally states that Smith makes the run defense better immediately.

And then the phone rings, with the Chiefs offering to trade their first-round pick (31st overall) and their third-round pick (95th overall) to take the Cowboys’ spot at 26.

But Jones wonders if trading back five spots means both Smith and Bergeron go elsewhere.

“Without trying to influence anybody here,” he says, “I’m sick as [expletive] if we miss both these guys.”

McCarthy backs him up, reminding the room that fixing the run defense was the prime directive of the entire offseason.

And the decision is made; the Cowboys select Smith with the 26th pick.

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Bergeron eventually goes to Atlanta early in the second round. The Chiefs keep the 31st pick to select Kansas State edge rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah and then deal away that third-round pick the next night, moving up a few slots to take Oklahoma offensive lineman Wanya Morris at 92.

It’s high-stakes drama within a documentary that also promises to feature 2023 rookies Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson, C.J. Stroud, and Devon Witherspoon, among others. First-year Cowboys DeMarvion Overshown and Deuce Vaughn should also get plenty of screen time.

NFL Draft: The Pick is In was produced for Roku by NFL Films and Skydance Sports. Skydance will also be behind the forthcoming docu-series (as yet untitled) chronicling Jones’s life and the rise of the Cowboys under his ownership, charting the journey from a team that was losing over $1 million a month to the most valuable sports franchise on the planet.

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Reggie Miller didn’t actually call Stephen Curry an unreliable leader in new ‘Underrated’ trailer

The Stephen Curry documentary heads to AppleTV+ on July 21

The trailer for a new documentary about the rise of Stephen Curry from an undersized three-point shooter in college to an all-time NBA great arrived on Monday morning and it already looks fantastic.

Produced by Ryan Coogler (who directed Creed and Black Panther), the trailer for Underrated opens with a shot of Reggie Miller looking into the camera and saying “do not rely on him to run your team” in reference to Curry. It seems like a fitting place — and person — to start this journey, since Miller previously owned the league’s career three-point record now held by Curry.

Check it out:

The opening comment from Miller may seem a bit harsh. Except, as many diehard Curry fans already know, those aren’t actually Miller’s thoughts. The former Pacers legend was reading from a now-infamous scouting report of Curry from the 2009 NBA Draft.

In fact, Curry has used that scouting report to cut past promotions.

There is no denying Curry was drastically underrated right up until the moment he became an undeniable sensation. Few players made a quicker impact on not just the NBA, but the way basketball is taught and developed to younger players.

Underrated premieres on Apple TV+ on July 21. It will also play in select theaters.

Jerry Jones, Cowboys to get Hollywood treatment in new docuseries

From @ToddBrock24f7: Skydance Media- the company behind several blockbuster films- will back the new series, now in development, in partnership with NFL Films.

Jerry Jones is coming- again- to a screen near you.

Love him, hate him, love to hate him, or hate to love him, the 80-year-old Cowboys owner still makes for a can’t-look-away story just by being himself. And now a new project will tell his life story in a whole new way.

A docuseries about Jones and the Cowboys is now in development from Skydance Sports and NFL Films, according to a report from Variety.

The project will feature content from NFL Films, some which has never before been aired, and promises to highlight many Cowboys notables, like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Jimmy Johnson, and Barry Switzer.

“We are incredibly excited to create a thrilling ride through one of the most memorable and high-powered turnarounds in football history,” said Ross Ketover, senior executive at NFL Films. “Launching this first series with Skydance Sports marks a momentous occasion for our partnership as we build the premiere sports studio of the future. NFL Films coined the term ‘America’s Team,’ so having this first project be about the biggest brand in all of sports is perfectly fitting.”

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The series- which has no title, release date, or platform as of yet- will be the first project from a venture between Skydance Sports and the National Football League that was first announced in November. Skydance Sports is the sports content division of Skydance Media, the production company behind several titles in the Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, Terminator, Transformers, and Jack Ryan movie franchises, as well as 2022’s megablockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. Most recently, Skydance Sports is responsible for Air, the scripted feature- from director Ben Affleck and starring Affleck, Matt Damon, and Viola Davis- based on the birth of Nike’s historic partnership with Michael Jordan.

This new project will be a docuseries chronicling Jones’s life and especially the rise of the Cowboys under his watch, going from a team that was losing over $1 million a month to the most valuable sports franchise on the planet.

Jones’s daughter and Cowboys chief brand officer Charlotte Jones will serve as one of multiple executive producers of the series.

“It’s a true honor to be the first to partner with Skydance Sports and NFL Films on this very special and deeply personal project,” she said. “Sharing my father’s journey and his passion for the game, while presenting it in partnership with this talented and accomplished group will take sports fans, fans of business, families, and everyone watching on an adventure like none other.”

As a famous Cowboy once said, get your popcorn ready.

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Spend 10 Minutes and Watch “A Season Interrupted”

They made it to New Mexico but were unable to compete.  If you like human-interest stories or just appreciate the hard work collegiate athletes put into their crafts, you’ll enjoy the nine minutes it takes to watch the short documentary put together on exactly this but Notre Dame’s video team.

Chances are unless you’re a huge track and field fan you don’t know the names Dylan Jacobs, Edward Cheatham, Sam Voelz, Yared Nuguse, Jake Renfree, Rachel Tanczos or Abbey Kapitan. To fill you in, they’re all Notre Dame student-athletes who qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in track and field this spring.

None of the three are going to compete in the Olympics or have careers in track and field professionally after college. For them, nationals are as big as it gets. Just a few weeks back they were set to compete at nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as COVID-19 was in the process of becoming the story of 2020 in the United States.

They made it to New Mexico but were unable to compete.  If you like human-interest stories or just appreciate the hard work collegiate athletes put into their crafts, you’ll enjoy the nine minutes it takes to watch the short documentary put together on exactly this by Notre Dame’s video team.

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Clearly, there are more pressing issues out there than if an athlete got to compete in a game, meet or match, but it doesn’t mean you can’t help feeling bad for all of the athletes and students in general nationwide who don’t get to have their normal competitions, proms, last few weeks of college or high school or any of it.

Again, great job by the advanced media team at Notre Dame as they’ve been cranking out some outstanding content lately.

WATCH: Former Saints LB Manti Te’o receives warm welcome at Notre Dame

Former Saints linebacker Manti Te’o is at peace with himself and his NFL career. On Saturday, he returned to Notre Dame and received a hero’s welcome:

This is cool to see. Manti Te’o played his last down of football in the Superdome, finding a successful second life with the New Orleans Saints, but on Saturday he returned where he rose to prominence as a college star at Notre Dame. And he was welcomed back to campus by a throng of cheering fans.

Good for him. Te’o’s career experienced highs and lows, with the linebacker earning consensus All-American honors and becoming the face of Notre Dame football before his team suffered a crushing defeat to Alabama in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game. He was the victim of an online catfishing scheme that did a lot to tarnish his reputation, and which became the subject of a recent Netflix documentary to accurately tell the story.

After being selected in the second round of the 2013 draft by the then-San Diego Chargers, Te’o struggled to stay on the field with injuries and ended up leaving in free agency, following his old coach Mike Nolan to New Orleans. Te’o played a full 16-game season for the first time in his career in 2017, logging 10 starts, but was supplanted in the starting lineup by Demario Davis the following offseason.

He hung around with the Saints as an experienced backup for a few years and signed with the Chicago Bears in 2020 as a reserve, though he didn’t get into a game until, ironically, they visited New Orleans in the playoffs. Te’o was instrumental for the Saints in some big moments — the first that comes to mind is him and Vonn Bell stopping Washington running back Samaje Perine together on a crucial 3rd-and-1 late in their thrilling 2017 comeback win, setting up the game-tying score by New Orleans on a subsequent possession to help send the game to overtime.

Now he’s at peace and retired from pro ball, enjoying life as one of Notre Dame’s all-time fan favorites. Te’o was on hand Saturday to see the Fighting Irish go into halftime down 10-7 against California, only to rally in the second half and win the day 24-17. It was the first win of Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s tenure, and it’s fitting that Te’o had a front-row seat to witness it.

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Manti Te’o responds to reaction to documentary

Hear from Manti himself about the reactions he’s received

It seems everyone and their mother has taken in the [autotag]Manti Te’o[/autotag] recently released on Netflix documentary, “Untold: The Girlfriend that didn’t Exist.”  Now Te’o issued a statement of sorts regarding all of the positive feedback he’s received since the documentary went public.

Te’o took to his personal Instagram account to thank all of the well-wishers and those who offered apologies for things they may have said previously. Here is what Te’o said in full earlier this week.

“I just want to come on here real quick, just to give a heartfelt thank you to everybody that has come through and has shown so much love to me and my family, for your messages, for your comments,” Te’o said in the video. “I’m trying to go through all of them, and it’s been so amazing to me to hear the battles that we’re all facing, the challenges that we’re facing in our lives at this time, and how the documentary has given some of us hope, the extra push just to keep going.”

Te’o seems happy on social media these days as he’s married to a beautiful wife and has a gorgeous young daughter.

To quote Red about his friend Andy in Shawshank Redemption:  “Andy Dufresne (Manti Te’o in this case) – who crawled through a river of —- and came out clean on the other side!”

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Documentary in the works on Reggie Bush, USC Trojans recruiting scandal

Documentary in the works on Reggie Bush, USC Trojans recruiting scandal

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The newly rung-in name, image, and likeness era has opened all sorts of avenues for college athletes, ranging from sponsorships to fundraising opportunities and the freedom to sing and play the guitar for a few hours. And for former players like USC Trojans icon Reggie Bush, it’s an opportunity to clear the air.

Bush was forcibly divorced from the University of Southern California not long after the New Orleans Saints picked him second overall in the 2006 NFL draft, making him the very first selection of the Sean Payton era. An NCAA investigation found that Bush’s family accepted improper recruiting benefits — leading to the forfeiture of his Heisman Trophy and ostracization from the college football world.

Things are changing, though. Bush was eventually allowed to return to USC’s campus. There’s a public outcry to return the trophy he won and recognize his accomplishments with the Trojans. And now a documentary is in the works to share his perspective on those events.

Directed by Kirk Fraser (“ESPN’s 30 for 30: Without Bias”) in partnership with Bush and Believe Entertainment Group, the upcoming film is a deep dive into Bush’s tumultuous experience as a college athlete and sports pariah. The production company won an Academy Award in 2018 for “Dear Basketball,” written and narrated by the late Kobe Bryant on the eve of his retirement from the NBA.

They’re taking a similarly thoughtful approach to telling Bush’s story. He’s credited as an executive producer, with conversations on the project going on for nearly a year already.

“After all these years I’m finally ready to tell my story, I hope this can help drive change with the next generation of student athletes,” Bush said in a press release. “We’re making some progress, but there’s still a long way to go.”

It’ll be fascinating to have this depth of access to such a complicated situation and individual, especially if any episodes from Bush’s time in New Orleans come to light — like Sean Payton dropping an F-bomb on Bush’s marketing agent when they tried to talk him out of not drafting the star prospect. Stay tuned for updates on a release date.

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Report: ‘America’s Game’ for Chiefs to debut ahead of season opener

The Chiefs will have their Super Bowl-winning season chronicled on “America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions”.

Kansas City Chiefs fans will see their Super Bowl-winning season chronicled in the annual documentary “America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions.”

There was some concern from fans that the COVID-19 pandemic wouldn’t allow for the production of the annual series documenting the reigning Super Bowl champions and their path to glory. According to a report Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor, there will be an “America’s Game” for the Chiefs. He also says there will be a separate documentary series chronicling the coaching staff in Kansas City, similar to the “Do Your Job” documentary from the New England Patriots.

According to Paylor’s report, both documentaries will premiere on NFL Network on September 9. That’s the day prior to the NFL season opener between the Chiefs and Texans at Arrowhead Stadium.

“America’s Game” typically features unseen NFL Films footage from the season and interview sessions with a few key players from the Super Bowl victory. I’d imagine that Super Bowl MVP and the face of the NFL, Patrick Mahomes is on the shortlist to be interviewed for the documentary. Other good options would include Tyrann Mathieu, Damien Williams, Travis Kelce, Frank Clark and so on.

We’ll find out more about the production and which Chiefs players are involved as we get closer to the premiere in September.

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