ESPN releases trailer for film on Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells
Excluding “O.J.: Made In America,’’ which ran nearly eight total hours over five days, won an Oscar, and was so thorough and thought-provoking that it raised the bar for what a sports-related documentary could be, I’m not sure what I’d consider the best of ESPN’s 30 for 30 films. “The Two Escobars,’’ perhaps, or maybe “Into the Wind’’ on Canadian icon Terry Fox. Really, I’m not sure I’ve seen one that wasn’t excellent.
But I do know what the most fascinating 30 for 30 trailer is, because I saw it Tuesday night during the premiere of “Nature Boy,’’ the doc on wrestler Ric Flair.
Patriots fans must have been giddy for the 30 for 30 titled “The Two Bills,’’ which looks at the complicated and mutually beneficial history of Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells. Given Belichick’s historic success here as the Patriots-coach-once-removed following Parcells’s jilting of New England for the New York Jets, it’s certain to be a satisfying hour or so of entertainment. (ESPN has not announced the specifics of when it will air, though it will be sometime this winter.)
But the trailer takes the anticipation to another level. Over 75 seconds, it teases their entire complicated story, building from Parcells and Belichick working together with the Giants, to Parcells barking at him through a headset, to Parcells leaving the Patriots and Belichick rejecting the Jets, to various players and coaches who have worked with them through the years discussing their complex dynamic, to an unnamed player saying, “You don’t get them together in the same room.’’
And then you see it: Belichick and Parcells together, in the same room, sitting for a dual interview. Somehow, ESPN got Belichick and Parcells together to discuss their history. I’d love to know the circumstances that got them to agree to this almost as much as I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.
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