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This week Jonathan sits down with Seton Hall’s Dr. Branden Buehler to discuss the recent spate of sports documentaries and where these films intersect and engage with nostalgia. We make connections back to my discussion with Travis Vogan and talk through the wider definition of the term “documentary” that many may not be familiar with.
Link to Branden’s new book chapter, “The Documentary as ‘Quality’ Sports Television” that appears in a volume co-edited by Travis Vogan titled Sporting Realities (University of Nebraska, 2020).
The ninth entry under the ESPN Films Presents moniker, this documentary follows the upbringing and addictions of former pro-football quarterback Todd Marinovich. 
Jason Hehir’s telling of the last moments of greatness from Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls (co-produced by ESPN and Netflix) captured the pandemic audience’s comfort-seeking attentions. 
Director Jonathan Hock’s examination of college football player Marcus Dupree was the 29th entry of the original 30 for 30 documentary series. 
Netflix’s Tiger King (March & April 2020) captured the early pandemic audience’s attention 
Beginning in 2019, Brian Volk-Weiss’s documentary series continued Netflix’s focus on pop culture nostalgia from the 1980s. 
Tom Hanks’s The Eighties documentary (2016) continued CNN’s focus on re-presenting recent decades through pop cultural moments. 
Netflix’s 2020 documentary explained The Indianapolis Star’s investigative reporting into Larry Nassar’s sexual assault of USA Gymnastics’s women athletes. 
HBO’s 2021 two-part documentary on the rise, fall, and expectations placed on golfer Tiger Woods balanced nostalgia with cultural analysis. 
Full Color Football Title Card
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