Bernie And Ernie Closes Out ESPN’s Fall “Season” Of 30 For 30

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN and ESPN Films wind down the Fall 2013 edition of 30 for 30 next Tuesday, November 5^th.  The Worldwide leader in sports finishes off this season of its Peabody Award-winning series by taking viewers into the world of college basketball in Bernie and Ernie.

Bernie and Ernie takes viewers into the relationship between former college basketball stars Bernard King and Ernie Grunfield.  The pair rose to fame as the center of the University of Tennessee’s men’s college basketball team in the mid-1970s.  Between them, the pair scored on average fifty points per game.  Their rise to fame eventually led to a cover story for Sports Illustrated.  While things were coming up roses for the pair in the public eye, things were much different for the two men behind closed doors.  There was a distance between the players during their years together on the team.  That was because of their different upbringings.  King lived hard growing up.  Despite being devout Christians, King’s parents offered little to no emotional support to him as he nurtured his talent.  And during his college years, he had to endure acts of racial bigotry.

Ernie Grunfeld had a different upbringing than his team mate.  As a child, the young Romanian immigrant spoke no English at all.  But by his teen years, he was being recruited by some two hundred colleges.  He had no clue about everything that King was enduring while the pair were attending the university of Tennessee.  This is what would eventually lead to a distance between the players.  However, years after they left the Volunteers, the pair would end up reuniting after King was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year.  Bernie and Ernie examines that friendship from the pair’s years in college up to this year.  It is narrated by Public Enemy front man Chuck D and directed by Jason Hehir (The Fab Five).  Bernie and Ernie premieres Tuesday, November 5^th at 8pm ET on ESPN.

Bernie and Ernie will be available for download via iTunes and Amazon Instant Video the day after its broadcast.  A six-disc collectible gift set featuring the first fifteen films from 30 for 30 Volume II on November 26^th, 2013.  More information on this and all things 30 for 30 is available online at http://www.facebook.com/espn30for30, http://twitter.com/30for30, and http://espn.go.com/30for30.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Let Them Wear Towels Premieres Next Tuesday In Nine For IX Series

Courtesy: ESPN/espnW

Next Tuesday, July 16^th, ESPN will premiere the next film in its new Nine For IX series. Let Them Wear Towels is the latest in the film series.  It will air at 8pm.  The new film focuses on the challenges faced by female sports reporters as they struggled to make their own place in the largely male dominated world that is the professional sports locker room.  The film was co-directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern.  The core of the story centers on examples such as that of then twenty-five year old Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olsen’s sexual harassment case involving players with the New England Patriots and that of Sports Illustrated reporter Melissa Ludtke being barred from the New York Yankees’ clubhouse.

Olsen’s case rose as a result of Olsen being sexually harassed by members of the team, who exposed their genitals to her and made crass comments to her.  The 1990 case resulted in an investigation by the NFL.  It resulted in the finding that Olsen had in fact been “degraded and humiliated” by the players in question.  Despite her win in the case, fans of the Pats continued to chide her so harshly in public that she ended up moving all the way around the world to Australia for a period of time to restart her broadcasting career.

Melissa  Ludtke, who at the time worked for Sports Illustrated, faced her own turmoil as a female sports reporter.  She had been barred from entering the New York Yankees’ locker room over a decade ago..  Ludtke challenged the action by the Yankees organization and won.

Sundberg and Stern incorporate interviews with Ludtke, Olsen and many others within the sports universe in their examination of why the subject of female reports in the professional sports locker room remains such a hot button issue today.  The pair examines the history of women in the largely male dominated sports world as well in order to find out why this remains such an important topic even now in the twenty-first century.    This film, and all of the films in the Nine for IX series can be downloaded the day after their broadcast via iTunes and Amazon.  This October, there will be a special collectible gift set that includes all of the films in the Nine for IX series.  It will be available October 15^th, 2013.

The complete Nine For IX schedule is listed below.

July 16: Let Them Wear Towels

 

July 23: No Limits

 

July 30: Swoopes

 

August 6: The Diplomat

 

August 13: Runner

 

August 20: The ‘99ers

 

August 27: Branded

 

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.