The WORST episodes of 30 for 30
Every episode of 30 for 30 ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of 30 for 30!
Inspired by ESPN's anniversary, ESPN Films is launching 30 FOR 30, an unprecedented documentary series featuring 30 of today's finest storytellers telling thirty remarkable stories from the ESPN era. On their own, each of the films will be an intimate look at a specific story, relevant to larger themes from the modern era. Collectively, these films will be a diverse mosaic of what sports has meant to American and World culture in the last thirty years. Each storyteller will bring their passion and personal point of view to their film detailing the issues, trends, athletes, teams, rivalries, games and events that transformed the sports landscape from 1979 to 2009.
#1 - Qualified
Season 3 - Episode 31 - Aired 5/28/2019
For many, the name Janet Guthrie won’t ring a bell. It didn’t for me which added to the mystery of this 30 for 30 installment. This is one of the very few instances where I went in totally fresh, as in I didn’t watch the trailer, the name didn’t ring a bell, and I didn’t see any commercials, posters, or press materials. Given Guthrie’s career was short and ended nearly 40 years ago, I suspect her story will be new to many viewers like it was to me. Qualified chronicles Guthrie’s brief, but distinguished racing career, and centers around her efforts to qualify and finish the Indy 500. The film is greatly aided by — and leans considerably on — utilizing Guthrie to tell her own story, which she does in a very measured and stoic manner. What really makes Qualified pop is the extensive amount of vivid racetrack footage that gives the film a pretty immersive feel. For sports doc aficionados, this closely mirrors the excellence of Senna, which also is jam-packed with footage (which once again makes me wonder how and why such a stirring amount of footage was taken at the time). Both films are like a carton of cookie dough cream, in which you open it up and are delighted to find damn near two thirds of the container is cookie dough.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#2 - The U Part 2
Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 12/13/2014
Produced in 2009 by ESPN for its "30 for 30" series, "The U" was a look at all that was good and bad about the rise of the University of Miami's football program in the 1980s. But that wasn't the end of the story. "The U Part 2" picks up where the original film left off, with the program trying to recover from the devastation left by NCAA sanctions and scandals that had some calling for the school to drop football. The Hurricanes rose from those ashes to win another national championship, only to face new controversies when a booster used a Ponzi scheme to win favor with the program.
#3 - The Luckiest Guy in the World (Part 3)
Season 4 - Episode 32 - Aired 6/13/2023
Bill Walton was at the top of his game for the Blazers and his play would earn him an MVP, even as he went up against legends like Kareem.
#4 - The Infinite Race
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/15/2020
"The Infinite Race" explores the story of the Tarahumara, an indigenous community in Mexico, famed for their legendary running ability, and their preference for running barefoot, who inspired an ultrarunning craze across the world, and what’s happened as their homes and communities were ravaged by drug cartels and violence.
#5 - Marion Jones: Press Pause
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 11/2/2010
Few athletes in Olympic history have reached such heights and depths as Marion Jones. After starring at the University of North Carolina and winning gold at the 1997 and '99 World Track and Field Championships, her rise to the top culminated at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. There she captivated the world with her beauty, style and athletic dominance, sprinting and jumping to three gold medals and two bronze. Eventually, though, her accomplishments and her reputation would be tarnished. For years, Jones denied the increasing speculation that she used performance-enhancing drugs. But in October 2007, she finally admitted what so many had long suspected -- that she had indeed used steroids. Calling herself a liar and a cheat in a federal courtroom, Jones was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to federal investigators and soon saw her Olympic achievements disqualified. Now a free woman, Jones is running in a new direction in life and taking time to reflect. Director John Singleton will focus on the rise, fall and re-birth of Marion Jones.
#6 - The American Gladiators Documentary (Part 1)
Season 4 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/30/2023
A look at the David vs. Goliath game show that captivated audiences from 1989 to 1996. American Gladiators was one of the most popular syndicated programs on TV, as one of the first competition shows to pre-date the reality TV era.
#7 - The Luckiest Guy in the World (Part 1)
Season 4 - Episode 30 - Aired 6/6/2023
A multi-part film chronicling the colorful life of basketball Hall Of Famer and Grateful Dead superfan Bill Walton.
#8 - Breakaway
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/13/2021
The story of Maya Moore, who was one of the best basketball players in the world when she stepped away from the sport for a remarkable reason: to fight for a man she believed was wrongly imprisoned. In 2019, after four WNBA championships, two Olympic gold medals, a WNBA MVP award, three All-Star MVPs, and a scoring title, Moore decided to take a sabbatical from basketball at the age of 29 to devote herself full-time to working for the release of a man named Jonathan Irons, who was wrongly convicted of burglary and assault and sentenced to 50 years in prison. "Breakaway" chronicles a search for justice, and a relationship that changed the lives of two people forever.
Watch Now:Apple TV#9 - The Luckiest Guy in the World (Part 2)
Season 4 - Episode 31 - Aired 6/6/2023
Bill was part of UCLA’s 88-game winning streak but when it ended,it devastated him. Despite injuries early in the NBA, he was a force to be reckoned with.
#10 - Straight Outta L.A.
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/11/2010
In 1982, Raiders owner Al Davis beat the NFL in court and moved his team from Oakland to Los Angeles. With a squad as colorful as its owner, the Raiders captivated a large number of black and Hispanic fans in L.A. at a time when gang warfare, immigration and the real estate boom were rapidly changing the city. The L.A. Raiders morphed into a worldwide brand as the team’s colors, swagger and anti-establishment ethos became linked with the hip-hop scene that was permeating South Central Los Angeles. Rapper-turned-filmmaker Ice Cube was not only witness to this evolution, he was also a part of it. As a member of the notorious rap group N.W.A, Ice Cube helped make the silver and black culturally significant to a new generation and demographic. Still a die-hard Raiders fan, Cube will explore the unlikely marriage between the NFL’s rebel franchise and America’s glamour city and show how pro football’s outlaw team became the toast of La La Land.
#11 - The Great Heisman Race of 1997
Season 4 - Episode 34 - Aired 12/9/2023
The story of the 1997 Heisman Trophy race and the now-legendary players who vied for the honor of College Football's best player award that season.
#12 - The Good, The Bad, The Hungry
Season 3 - Episode 32 - Aired 7/2/2019
A look at one of the biggest rivalries in sports, that of competitive eaters Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut.
#13 - The Greatest Mixtape Ever
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/31/2022
The documentary examines how 1990s streetball and the And1 Mixtape transformed basketball culture at large. In the late 1990s, a burgeoning young New York City DJ, Set Free, had the idea to set some grainy streetball highlights to a soundtrack of emerging rap music. The results culminated in what came to be known as the And1 Mixtape, a series of VHS tapes that forever transformed the game of basketball.
#14 - One Night in Vegas
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 9/7/2010
On the evening of Sept. 7, 1996, Mike Tyson, the WBC heavyweight champion, attempted to take Bruce Seldon’s WBA title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this point in his career, Tyson’s fights had become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, where the ever present hype of the professional boxing scene would come face to face with the worlds of big business, Hollywood, and hip hop. Sitting ringside was controversial rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur and Tyson were friends, a feeling of kinship linked them as each rose to stardom from poverty only to be thrown in prison. Following Tyson’s victory, Shakur and “Iron Mike” were to celebrate at an after party, but the rap star never arrived. Shakur was brutally gunned down later that night, and the scene in Las Vegas quickly turned from would-be celebratory revelry to ill fated and inopportune tragedy. Director Reggie Bythewood, with the full cooperation of Mike Tyson, will tell not only the story of that infamous night but of the remarkable friendship between Tyson and Tupac.
#16 - The American Gladiators Documentary (Part 2)
Season 4 - Episode 29 - Aired 5/31/2023
#17 - The Tuck Rule
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/6/2022
Tom Brady and Charles Woodson relive the controversial call from the 2001 AFC Championship Game between the Patriots and Raiders
#18 - The Two Bills
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 2/1/2018
Bill Belichick will one day join Bill Parcells in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When the time comes, they'll have far more in common than a place in Canton-or a first name. The Two Bills, directed by Ken Rodgers and produced by NFL Films, traces the four-decade relationship between these two coaching masters. They first met when Belichick was a teenager and his father was coaching for Navy while Parcells was coaching at Army. On the same day in 1979, they became assistants with the New York Giants, and after Parcells took over as head coach, they won two Super Bowls together. Buttressed by what he learned from Parcells, Belichick would go on to win five Super Bowls of his own with the Patriots. Through all the ups and downs of their careers, including some memorable games when they were on opposite sides of the field, they forged a bond that few men of their stature have ever experienced. Two Bills, but one epic story.
#19 - The Minister of Defense
Season 4 - Episode 35 - Aired 12/13/2023
A portrait of legendary NFL defensive lineman, Reggie White, who constantly strived to 'do right' but found that sometimes there is no easy answer as to what 'right' means.
#20 - Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius (Part 2)
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 9/27/2020
#21 - The Luckiest Guy in the World (Part 4)
Season 4 - Episode 33 - Aired 6/13/2023
The decision to leave the Trail Blazers was tough for Bill and a failed stint at the Clippers would lead him to team up with the legendary Larry Bird.
#22 - Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/1/2013
Director Sam George chronicles the remarkable life and times of the late Eddie Aikau, the legendary Hawaiian big wave surfer, pioneering lifeguard and ultimately doomed crew member of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokulea.
#23 - This Is What They Want
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 10/29/2013
"This is What They Want" is an examination of Jimmy Connors' career told through the lens of the 1991 U.S. Open, when Connors so famously played at the age of 39 past five challengers, through an epic contest with Aaron Krickstein, and all the way to the semi-finals before being stopped by Jim Courier. But it's not just an examination of that tournament: it's a look at how Connors and the colleagues/adversaries of his heyday re-invented tennis in the first decade of the Open era to be a high-octane spectator sport for the whole country, colored by intense competitors with strong personalities and towering, well-matched talents. And it's an exploration of the way "character" players like Connors changed the game and carved out legacies through their careers on the court.
#24 - Jeanette Lee Vs.
Season 4 - Episode 26 - Aired 12/13/2022
Jeanette Lee is an Asian-American billiards player who brought strength, sex appeal and skill to pool halls around the world; after her recent cancer diagnosis, Lee looks back on her storied career and opens up about her life.