"What if I told you…" Those five words are enough to get a lot of people's attention as they famously were used in the early promotions for ESPN's series of 30 for 30 sports documentaries that began in 2009. While the sports broadcaster is still adding to the 30 for 30 library, many still hold the early entries as the pinnacle of the series. While all 30 for 30 docs are available on ESPN Plus, Netflix also has a number available for their subscribers. In fact they've just added one on June 17 that may be my all-time favorite sports documentary: June 17, 1994.
If you're not aware of the significance of that day 30 years ago, let me give you a quick rundown of what was one of the most hectic and historic days in sports history. That day saw the commencement of the 1994 World Cup, the first to be hosted by the US; the New York Rangers celebrated their 1994 Stanley Cup win, the team's first in more than 50 years; golf legend Arnold Palmer played his final round at the US Open; baseball phenom Ken Griffey Jr. tied Babe Ruth's record for most home runs in a season before June 30 (30); and game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks was played.
But everything would take a back seat to the series of events that unfolded around OJ Simpson on that day, as he failed to turn himself in to police after being named a suspect in the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and then later became involved in a police chase that took the country by storm and pushed everything that happened in the world of sports to the side.
What makes the documentary, directed by Oscar-nominee Brett Morgen (Moonage Daydream), so spectacular and unique is that it chronicles the day through actual footage, using no voiceover or set interviews. We simply see the day play out in chronological order with the actual footage of all these events, and how bit by bit the OJ story would overtake everything (famously, NBC opted to cut away or use a picture-in-picture feature for the NBA Finals to track the OJ police chase). It's a brilliant choice that not only lets viewers understand how the events of the day unfolded, but also how this day was something of a turning point for the media and the country as a whole.
The documentary does not get into the rest of what happened with the OJ case — his trial and ultimate acquittal on the murder charges — but that story has been told brilliantly in other series, including the Oscar-winning documentary, OJ: Made in America, and the Emmy-winning TV drama American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson. Of course, OJ Simpson passed away earlier this year at the age of 76.
While June 17, 1994 is a personal favorite from the 30 for 30 slate, Netflix has many other docs from the series available to watch right now, including Lance, I Hate Christian Laettner, The Fab Five, Deion's Double Play, Survive and Advance, Nature Boy, Four Falls of Buffalo and more.
See what else is coming to Netflix in June right here.
If you don't have Netflix but want to watch the documentary, ESPN2 is airing it at 8 pm ET/PT on Monday, June 17.
