Those four words tell you all you need to know. Those four words have been the opening sequence for one the best documentary film series of all time.

ESPN’s 30 for 30 is a documentary film series in which filmmakers take a look back at some of the biggest events in sports over the past 30 years.

I have enjoyed just about every 30 or 30 film, and it’s not going to be easy limiting this list to only ten entries, but enough chit-chat; let’s start the list.

10. Once Brothers

Once Brothers was a documentary made by NBA Entertainment about the sudden end of a friendship between Vlade Divac and the late Drazen Petrovic during the Yugoslavian Civil War.

Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic both grew up in Yugoslavia, which was a communist country controlled by the Soviet Union. Both were teammates on the very talented Yugoslavian National Team. Vlade, who is Serbian, and Drazen, who was Croatian, were best friends. Their friendship was a little uncommon because Serbs and Croats have had a very tense relationship in the past.

Things were going great until after a game when a Croatian fan ran onto the court with a Croatian flag in his hand, and Vlade took the flag away and tried to assist the fan off the court.

The Croatian fan base was not happy about that and began to show their disgust to Vlade, including Draze.n who after the incident stopped talking to Vlade.

The film is also about the events after Drazen’s death and how Vlade regrets that they never made up.

9. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson

Everyone remembers watching Allen Iverson play basketball in the NBA. He was the first pick of Philadelphia 76ers in the 1996 Draft, the NBA’s MVP in 2001, and had one of the sickest crossover dribbles of all-time.

But most people forget that when Iverson was in high school he was a part of one of the biggest racial incidents of the early 1990s. On February 14, 1993 Allen Iverson and several of his African-American friends got into a fight with a group of white teenagers at a bowling alley in Hampton, Virgina.

Allen and three of his friends were arrested, but none of the white students were charged. The town of Hampton was in a uproar because they felt that the black students got singled out for the crime while the white students got away without any charges.

This film does a great job diving into a topic that no one likes to talk about: Race.

Another topic this movie explorers is how we treat athletes when they are convicted of a crime. Allen said he was innocent and was never involved in the fight, which is probably correct. But how should we treat famous athletes when their convicted for a crime?

Should we give them the benefit of the doubt?

Should we treat them like any other person convicted of a crime?

Should we give them a tougher penalty to teach them a lesson and show them that their not above the law?

This movie goes though all those issues and more. “No Crossover” is a great film, and you should check it out.

8. The Two Escobars

This was the story of two famous Escobars from Colombia: Pablo, a rich and powerful drug dealer in Colombia; and soccer star, Andres Escobar. This action-packed film shows Pablo Escobar’s rise to power and his involvement in the rise of Colombian soccer led by star player Andres Escobar.

Andres was on Colombia’s 1994 World Cup soccer team, which some predicted to win the World Cup. Tragedy struck when Andres Escobar scored an ‘own goal’ vs. the U.S, which cost his team the game and a chance to win the Cup.

After that unfortunate event everything went down hill for both Escobars.

7. The Best That Never Was

This film is the story of Marcus Dupree, a legendary high school running back who seemed destined for NFL glory but injuries and bad decisions cost him a chance to be an NFL star.

Any football fan needs to see this movie just to watch Dupree’s game tape. He may had more speed and power then any running back ever. If Marcus got past the linebackers, he was gone, since very few corners and safeties could tackle him or even catch up with him.

It was unfortunate for a great talent to go to waste, but at least a great movie was made so we can remember what a great talent Marcus was.

6. The Pony Excess

The story of the rise of SMU football in the early 80s and then the fall of their program after the NCAA found out that they were illegally paying players to come to their school. After multiple violations the NCAA gave SMU the first ever “Death Penalty” in NCAA football history.

Ironically this movie premiered right after Cam Newton’s Heisman victory. I don’t know to call this a bad omen for Cam or the worst omen ever.

5. Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks

I know MSF writer and Pacer fan Jon Washburn must be screaming on the top of his lungs “5!?!?!?!? that was the second greatest movie ever! ”

I’m guess number one would be “Hoosiers”?

But I really enjoyed this movie, as it was nice seeing a Midwest team sticking it to a major media market. Some of the best parts of the movie are seeing Spike Lee’s reactions after Reggie Miller buries another three, then hearing him talk about it 15 years later. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but Spike Lee makes his involvement in the rivalry a race issue.

What? That’s absurd! Spike Lee has never tried to make a white/black race issue out of anything!

This is a must watch for all Miller fans, including myself, because we get to see all of his great moments vs. the Knicks. You see every big three, every crotch grab, and every choke symbol.

4. The U

The U was the most exciting and fun documentary out of all the 30 for 30 films. We see a lot big touchdowns, big celebrations, and a lot of big stars talking about their time at “the U”.

The U is about the rise of Miami football, and when football started to get it’s flash appeal that we now see every Saturday or Sunday.

This doc has the best opening credits and song of all the movies, mostly thanks to Uncle Luke’s song The U. I loved it so much I spent the rest of that week holding my handing in the “U” symbol and screaming “Its all about the U!!” ”Its all about the U!!”

This was a great movie, and it was the first 30 for 30 that got me hooked to the rest of the series.

3. Into The Wind

Directed by NBA All-Star Steve Nash and Ezra Holland, “Into The Wind” is the story of Terry Fox. Terry was a Canadian cancer survivor who wanted to run across Canada with only one leg to raise cancer awareness.

At first I didn’t really want to see this movie, as it seemed like a very sad, depressing story, and I have never heard of Terry Fox before. But my friend said it was great and convinced me to see it.

I am happy I did because it was tremendous. Another thing I love about the 30 for 30 series is we learn about these wonderful people that we may have never heard of them before.

Terry Fox has been a major name in cancer research in Canada like how Susan G Komen is in America.

2. Run Ricky Run

This movie completely changed my opinion on Ricky Williams. I always thought Ricky was a lazy pot head that didn’t really care about football.

But after watching this movie, he is now one of my favorite players. Ricky has a great philosophy on life (besides the pot part). He doesn’t worry about money, or fame; none of that stuff matters to him. He is more worried about being a good person and being happy.

We also found out that Ricky was abused as a child, which may have affected his personality.

It’s hard how to put into words what this movie is about, you just have to watch it for yourself.

1. June 17th, 1994

Hands down the best movie of the series, “June 17th, 1994″ is the date of one of the most insane days of not just sports history. but American history.

June 17th, 1994 was the date of O.J Simpson’s famous white Bronco chase, Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Arnold Palmer’s last round at the U.S Open, the start of the World Cup in Chicago, and the New York Rangers celebrating their Stanley Cup win on Broadway.

One interesting thing about this documentary compared to the other movies is that there are no interviews. This whole movie is made from news clips and sports clips.

That’s fitting because we were glued to the TV for the O.J Bronco chase and those other events. It was gives you the feeling you were actually there on June 17th, 1994, watching it live.

This is the best 30 for 30 because it’s done in a very creative style, and the O.J Simpson chase is the most interesting story.

If you think any movies missed the cut leave a comment below. You can also buy the Limited Edition 30 for 30 Gift Set at ESPN Shop and many other 30 for 30 films there.

“From my perspective, he saved a lot of our lives. Plain and simple.”

These were the final words of Without Bias, ESPN’s latest documentary in its superb 30 for 30 series. It is impossible to know for how many people specifically that lines applies, but to put it in the hundreds of thousands probably would not be an overstatement.

The hour long film, which premiered tonight and was directed by Kirk Fraser, chronicles the life and death of Len Bias, who passed away 23 years ago when I was only four years old, but whose legacy lives on in perpetuity…today and beyond.

There were some aspects of the story that I did not know before watching it tonight, most notably that Bias had done cocaine before the night he died and that his brother Jay died four years later. Despite these surprises, the familiar feeling and lessons of the Bias story remained true and as strong as ever:

1. You never know which seconds will be your last.
2. Never underestimate the cruel power of drugs.

Obviously I was too young to have any personal memories of Bias’ death. But as a die-hard college basketball fan growing up, even from the time I was 7 or 8, it wasn’t long before I became indoctrinated to the sad legend of Len Bias.

I heard about his freakish athleticism, how he was as good — if not better — than Michael Jordan in college, and how sure of a thing he had been to become a superstar and carry the torch of Celtics greatness.

And I also heard, repeatedly and more often as I got older, how Bias had been foolish enough to do cocaine time — ONE TIME! — and had paid the ultimate price for it.

First hand accounts of Bias’ social habits presented in the documentary, especially those from Brian Tribble, with whom Bias was indulging in cocaine on the night of his death, seem to dispel the notion that Bias’ June 19th, 1986 dalliance with cocaine was his first.

Here is a clip from the film itself, which details the final hours of Bias’ life.

While Bias did not seem to have any sort of addiction or problem that negatively impeded other aspects of his life, Tribble makes it clear that he and Bias had used cocaine clandestinely on multiple occasions before that night.

I had heard and read that this might be the case before seeing Without Bias, but I guess I never believed it. Part of the reason for my reluctance to accept this notion, I presume, is that every time I’ve ever been presented with the opportunity to use cocaine in my life — opportunities which have luckily been few and far between — I’ve always thought about Len Bias.

If he could use it one time and die, what makes me think that I’d be any different?

There are multitudes of reasons why I’ve never indulged personally, but that is no doubt one of the main ones.

I have no way of knowing if that line of thinking ever specifically saved my life, but it certainly allows me to understand, if not relate, to the final words of the documentary, as presented in the first line of this post.

Michael Wilbon is featured in the documentary and he recants what ESPN college basketball analyst, and Bias’ former ACC rival, Jay Bilas said about the death of the Len Bias: for an entire generation of people, they mark time in relation to where they were and what they were doing when Len Bias died.

I don’t fall into that category, and there is a generation older than me that undoubtedly feels a much stronger connection to the life and death of Len Bias than I ever will. And if Without Bias does anything exceptionally well — and in all honesty, it does a lot exceptionally well from a storytelling standpoint — it expresses the multiple layers of significance that Len Bias’ death had immediately, and that it still has today.

• The Maryland basketball program, most notably its legendary coach Lefty Driesell, unraveled in the aftermath of Bias’ death.
• There was a drawn out investigation and trial, with Brian Tribble ultimately being acquitted on drug charges.
• The Boston Celtics won an NBA championship that year, and then fell into a 21-year abyss without another one.
• Congress seemed to treat Bias’ death as a tipping point and instituted mandatory minimum sentencing laws (i.e. five years for five grams) that many saw as targeting inner city black men specifically, and that helped contribute to the overcrowding of prisons that is still felt today.
• Thousands upon thousands, if not millions upon millions, of people — and not just sports fans or residents of Maryland — were profoundly affected by the death of a seemingly invincible 22-year old.

Whether Bias had done coke 100 times or never before the night he died, his death would still have been one of the seminal moments of the 1980s, and one of the most significantly tragic events in the history of sports.

Would it have kept so many young people, including me, away from using cocaine? Who knows. Probably, though perhaps not quite as much.

But does that matter? Not really.

Sadly, the tragedy for the Bias family did not stop with Len. His brother Jay, also an accomplished basketball player, died four years later in a senseless shooting outside of a mall.

And this brings me to the heart and soul of Without Bias: Len’s mom and dad.

His mother has a God-fearing strength and iron will that is manifested by her incredible courage, grace, and resolve to turn her sons’ deaths into something positive. I am paraphrasing, but towards the end of the movie she claims that each of her sons’ deaths are “a seed out of which life can grow” and she has since crusaded to teach kids the lessons that can be learned from Len and Jay.

Their father’s unconditional love and support, and his heartbreak, are palpable. Each word that he speaks about both Len and Jay drips with pride and affection, and it is hard not get choked up towards the end of the film when he mistakenly invokes Len’s name while discussing Jay’s death.

Without Bias begins with a terrific celebration of Len Bias the basketball player, an excellent retrospective for those of us who were too young to appreciate his on-court greatness. It ends with a feeling of despair and depression as it becomes obvious that no level of detail nor context can help make Bias’ unnecessary death any more understandable.

The film also implies certain questions, at least it did for me. Would Len Bias have lived up to his promise in the NBA? Would he have fizzled and disappointed like so many his wayward classmates in the star-crossed NBA draft of 1986 (Roy Tarpley, Chris Washburn, William Bedford)?

Who knows.

What we do know is that Len Bias’ playing career certainly would have been over by 2009, but yet he is still relevant today. His relevance unfortunately is a function of tragic circumstances that never should have befallen such a seemingly well-meaning and hard-working kid in his early 20s, but he remains important just the same.

Many basketball players have been high draft picks and won titles or made it to the Hall of Fame. Very few, if any, have inspired their contemporaries to say “he saved a lot of our lives.”

Len Bias’ short but stellar basketball career was filled with superlatives. Sadly, tragically, the most significant superlative that endures about Bias has nothing to do with his talent and ability on the court. It has to do with the long-lasting effect of one fateful decision that he made off it.

Finding meaning in death, perhaps even stretching to do so, is as human as breathing. As Without Bias makes perfectly clear, people are still trying to find meaning in Len Bias’ death some 23 years later.

That he most likely saved lives, and many of them, is perhaps the most positive of the meanings that have been posthumously attached to life of Len Bias.

Unfortunately for Bias, and for his family, his friends, his fans, his contemporaries, and for those of us who never got to see him play, he wasn’t able to save his own.

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A quick side note about ESPN’s 30 for 30 series: it is excellent. I have now seen Without Bias, the Muhammad Ali movie, and parts of the one about the Baltimore Colts’ band, and every second has been both compelling and educational. I am going to have to go back and watch what I’ve missed and be sure not to miss any more.

I’ve given ESPN lots of crap — it’s what we do as bloggers — but so far they have been absolutely pitch perfect with this project. Kudos WWL. My praise could not be more effusive.

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* – Len Bias SI cover credit: The Halo Bender