The latest "30 for 30" documentary rolled out today on ESPN+, and director/producer Kirby Bradley's 88-minute film shows Pro Football HOFer Junior Seau’s "slow-motion slide from charismatic" player into someone with "erratic and unpredictable behavior, and someone prone to angry outbursts, gambling and drinking," according to Diane Bell of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Bette Hoffman, who for years served as Seau Foundation Dir, and Seau's ex-wife, Gina, agreed to "meet with Bradley about three years ago when he approached them about the project." They agreed to "work with him, as did all four Seau children." Several other current or former San Diegans also "share their insights" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/18). THE ATHLETIC's Sam Fortier writes Bradley wanted to "understand how a player who symbolized toughness in the way that he did could befall this fate." Bradley is "careful to point out CTE alone didn’t kill Seau." It made his life "difficult and other stressors contributed to his suicide." The Seau family had "heard dozens of other offers for similar projects, but Bradley’s passion and promise to provide an unbiased eye made him their choice" (THEATHLETIC.com, 9/20).
A CAUTIOUS TALE: YAHOO SPORTS' Jay Busbee wrote the documentary is a tale of a life "cut short, but it’s also the story of how a league and a nation of football fans realized, with growing horror, the terrible price that repeated concussions exact on football players." It is a "powerful look at a player described as a 'force of nature,' and the very fact that CTE, in part, claimed him has helped put a spotlight on the dangers of concussions" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/19). In N.Y., Margaret Lyons wrote it is a "shame" the film is only available on ESPN+, which today announced it has surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark, because it "deserves a wider audience." This documentary is "haunting and poignant, as Seau’s children candidly recount their father’s rapid and devastating mental and emotional deterioration" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/18).
