Barry Levinson's film on Colts band set for ESPN
"The Band That Wouldn't Die," Barry Levinson's documentary on the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, will premiere Oct. 13 on ESPN, the sports cable channel announced Thursday.
It will be the second documentary shown in a "30 on 30" film series designed by ESPN to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Other filmmakers presenting sports-themed dpocumentaries in the series include Peter Berg, Albert Maysles and Mike Tollin.
Kirk Fraser's "Without Bias," a documentary about Len Bias, the late University of Maryland basketball star, will also be part of the series, with a premiere date of Nov. 3.
Berg's film, "King's Ransom," which explores the landmark trade of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky from Canada's Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, kicks off the series this fall on Oct. 6.
(Barry Levinson by DOUG KAPUSTIN / BALTIMORE SUN STAFF DIGITAL IMAGE# _DSK0154)
Here's the ESPN description of Levinson's film:
In late March of 1984, a moving company secretly packed up the Baltimore Colts’ belongings and its fleet of vans snuck off in the darkness of the early morning. A city of deeply devoted fans was left in shock and disbelief. What caused owner Robert Irsay to turn his back on a town that was as closely linked to its team as any in the NFL?
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson, himself a long-standing Baltimore Colts fanatic, will probe that question in light of the changing relationship of sports to community. Through the eyes of members of the Colts Marching Band, Levinson will illustrate how a fan base copes with losing the team that it loves.
Comments
If only Irsay would have left the Colts name in Balamer, nobody would have cared where he snuck off to. It still hurts to this day. Watching that other city win the super bowl was like watching your mother in law going over a cliff in your new Mercedes. I wonder where Irsay is today? His son has found religion, but it's too late for the old man.
Posted by: allanbstark | August 27, 2009 10:42 PM
He is a important part of series...
Posted by: hampshire | August 28, 2009 1:15 AM
I do hope that this documentary will be shown on broadcast TV for poor folks like me who cannot afford cable.
Posted by: Mary | August 28, 2009 8:02 AM
May Irsay burn in hell ! "And, by the way Bob, they don't allow air-conditioning."
Posted by: fsuwalterb | August 28, 2009 10:10 AM
I will never forgive the Irsays for taking the Colts to Indianapolis... That being said, I cannot blame the Irsays for taking the team itself. As one commenter put it, if they had left the name, the records, the history, none of this would matter.
As for the team though, the State of Maryland backed the Irsays into a corner. It was one thing to play hardball by not giving them the new stadium they wanted, but it was a whole other ball of wax to threaten to pass legislation that would allow the State to Eminent Domain the team away. If you're a business owner and the State comes to you and says, if you don't agree to our terms we're gonna take your business away from you. How would you react? You'd take your business elsewhere.
The Colts though, they didn't belong to the Irsays, they belonged to the city of Baltimore. Let old Bobby have his players and his equipment, he could have at least left us our heart.
Posted by: Jon | August 28, 2009 11:35 AM
Z:
Can't wait to see this. My dad and an uncle were in the band in the 50's. In fact, my dad was drum major in 1959. For those who didn't know, the 1984 departure of the Colts was not the first time the band stayed together after the team left. It happened in the 40's as well (the green and silver Colts) before the Dallas Texans returned to Balitmore as the Colts.
Posted by: Bill | August 28, 2009 1:49 PM
What is almost as bad as the Irsay's stealing the Colts heratige from Baltimore is the fact that the "Baltimore Football Fight Song" has been stolen from the fans of Baltimore--and not by the Irsays. it has apparently been hidden away by the current ledership of the Baltimore Marching Ravens.
It is beyond time we the Baltimore Football Fans take back that which is rightfully ours.
The "Marching Ravens" leadership had no issues with playing our song for a Canadian Football team, but for some reason, they think the song written for a team that predates the NFL in Baltimore and was written for that team's fans, should be erased from history. So much so that on a day last year when we celebrated the 50th Anneversay of The Greatest Game Ever Played and welcomed the heroes of The 1958 Baltimore Colts, nary a note of the "Greatest Football Fight Song" ever written was heard.
It should be noted here that in 1983, the NFL and The Indianapolis Colts took out team name, our colors, our titles and our records. What they did not--and could not--take with them was the team fight song, because niether the NFL nor The Indianapolis Colts owned the copywight. But copywrights do not last forever.
At some point here in the not to to distant future, The Baltimore Colts Fight Song will become public domain. When that happens, an old wrinkled Irsay minor may ver well take great joy in playing that song!
MR JOHN ZIEMANN, AND MR. STEVE BISCOTTI--GIVE US BACK OUR SONG!!
Posted by: Bring Back the Song | August 31, 2009 11:42 AM
But it was all ok with Baltimore and the band when Baltimore stole the Browns from Cleveland.
Posted by: Chrissy | October 17, 2009 4:36 PM
Last I checked Chrissy, the Browns play in Cleveland, same uniforms, colors, and their original franchise records and heritage all intact. Same goes for the Cleveland Browns exhibit at the NFL Hall of Fame.
Cleveland got the Browns back, and they got them back because Art Modell GAVE them back to to the city. The Baltimore Colts are lost forever!
Posted by: Bring Back the Song | October 20, 2009 4:42 PM
Bring Back the Song. I never realized the history of the Browns, but I have liked that team for a while. I used to have a shirt, but got heat for wearing it. Then I saw a lady in the elevator here on the way to the doctor's office and she had on Browns and her kids had on Browns and we had a nice conversation about the recent quarter back trade. I am sticking with the Browns. I think they will make a come back....What happended to the Colts?
Posted by: Sherry T. | October 20, 2009 5:32 PM