Once in a Lifetime

The Cosmos, Once in a Lifetime, story airs tonight on ESPN2 starting at 9:00 pm EST.

 

It's an ESPN movie; it'll run 52 more times.

 

Sorry, guys, but I think it was a one-time thing. I don't see any re-airs listed in any guide.

It wasn't all that great, maybe it would have been better without commercials. It was pretty good at showing the rise and fall of the Cosmos and the building block the the team left on soccer in America. But when it ended I felt like the documentary wasn't complete--like they tried to get everything in there but just glossed over the some important history of the club.

 

Okay, I saw on the bigsoccer messageboard that ESPN will be re-airing the Documentary.

CHANNEL:
DATE / TIME: October 18: 8:00PM [ESPN] and
October 22: 2:00PM [ESPNHD]

I think the times listed are CST.

 

I'm hoping it's as good as some of the stuff that HBO has been putting out -- the USWNT 91ers, Billie Jean King, how the Tigers saved Detroit after the riots, the weirdness of Oakland As/Raiders in the late 60s. I couldn't be bothered to watch the ones they did on the Red Sox and Yankees, and I'm not too keen on seeing the one they're doing on the Cubs, but their reportage is pretty good and their shows are entertaining.

 

Dave, it wasn't all that bad, it just wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. If you know a bit about the Cosmos history I don't think you learn anything new. But it was fun to listen to the interviews of former players, coaches, and business people invloved with the Cosmos. And some of the old clips are worth watching alone.

Maybe glossed over isn't the right word, it's more like the viewer was rushed through the history. But I guess that's going to happen in documentary that runs about 90 mins?

 

It was screened in select theaters during the summer and it's coming out on DVD, Oct. 3, 2006. But I recommend viewing it for free on ESPN.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... comingsoon

 

Now I'm really looking forward to seeing it. The NASL certainly helped those of us who were coaching AYSO, but the word was that it was really only something for kids and that there was really nowhere to go. I know that I never thought of Americans playing in England and competing for the European Cup, nor for us doing anything in the World Cup.

Mostly these teams were filled with slowed up Brits and others. The Americans really figured very little -- especially on the Cosmos.

I did see them play against the San Antonio Thunder ... must have been the summer of 76, and it was amazing. I'd seen several matches as one of mayby 3500 people tops, but for that match the "Rock Pile" was packed with foreign students from the English Language School at Lackland AFB. It was like an English match. Pele played 45 minutes, and the Cosmos looked another league up.