The Band That Wouldn't Die

To all Baltimore Colts fans:

Mark it on your calendars or DVR it. Tuesday, October 13, 8:00PM on ESPN.

ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series is about the story behind the big story, not just big headlines rehashed from the last 30 years. Instead, ESPN asked big name film directors to make these documentaries because they interested the firm directors personally. To boot, ESPN gave them almost full control of the creative reins. So this isn't just ESPN doing it's usual thing... it's Barry Levinson (Rain Man) and Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) and others like him making a documentary. Real film directors making a documentary? This can only be good....

Here's a link to the an article from the originator of the series, talking about how the project started and how it evolved into what we're seeing on TV. A quick excerpt:

These wouldn’t be typical documentaries with highlights and talking heads and a chronological theme. These would be stories with a beginning, middle and end. That’s what we wanted.

In many cases, the filmmakers did the brainstorming while we did a lot of nodding.... Our friends at NBA Entertainment wanted to make a film about how Yugoslavia’s basketball team was ripped apart by the Bosnian War—not just because it was a terrific story, but because they were sitting on a treasure chest of footage that nobody had ever seen. ... These ideas would put the onus on the viewers, make them think, make them use their brains, make them wonder what might happen next. Everyone already knows what happened with the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. But how many people know what happened the night Mike Tyson knocked out Bruce Seldon in Las Vegas? That’s what we wanted.

Tonight, Steve and I watched the first episode of ESPN's 30 for 30 series which was about the Wayne Gretzky trade from the Oilers to the Kings. It wasn't about the trade itself but it was about the story behind the trade... what led up to the trade, what happened after the trade.... It was EXCELLENT. We were absolutely rivited.

So why am I blogging about this? Because Barry Levinson was asked by ESPN if he would be interested in filming a documentary, and *he* said he wanted to document the Baltimore Colts Band!

And if the Wayne Gretsky documentary we saw tonight is any indication, as Baltimore Colts fans, this will be a fantastic tribute to the band that musically protested to the NFL that Baltimore did not have a team until it finally got one.

ESPN's feature page on The Band That Wouldn't Die has Barry Levinson commentary and a trailer. I'm already hooked...

And in case you didn't see it in the Baltimore Sun this morning, here's a link to the article that advertises that the documentary was shown at M&T Bank Stadium tonight. There's also a little Q&A with Barry Levinson at the end.

It's nice to see Baltimore on TV in a *GOOD* way, even if it's Barry Levinson's quirky way.