Apologies for the asterisks in the headlines. We don’t believe that words should be censored here, but the various news sites that pick up our RSS feed tend to disagree. Also, Google and Google News, supposedly we’re told, doesn’t take too kindly to putting the words “pussy” and “bitch” in your headline.
However, these crude words are just part of sports. Trash talking happens in basketball; and it’s brutal, vicious and sometimes very low brow. As Christian Laettner himself said in the new 30 for 30 documentary “I hate Christian Laettner,” sports are not like church where everybody is civil and nice to one another.
Sports are competitive, and tensions run high. And Michigan’s Fab 5 freshmen talked a lot of trash. They didn’t hold back. Laettner talked trash right back to them. If you’ve seen the 30 for 30 on the Fab 5, you know all about how the Wolverines freshmen called Laettner “a bitch” and “a pussy.”
That’s covered. What’s not common knowledge, and what hasn’t been covered as much, is that the Michigan players came to respect and admire Laettner’s game and talents after playing him. Christian Laettner joined director Rory Karpf and ESPN Films VP and executive producer John Dahl to preview “I Hate Christian Laettner” and answer questions from the media this afternoon.
Here’s the link to the vital when and where to watch info) Here’s the link to our review/critique of the film. Remember though that the version we watched is a “rough cut,” as ESPN PR told us, and could end up being somewhat different from the version that will air Sunday night for the general public. Still, this one is could be at the top of the ESPN 30 for 30 all time top ten list. The documentary is about much more than basketball, or even the story of just one basketball player. It truly is a movie about society, where we’ve come since 1991 and how far we still need to go.
Issues related to race, class and even sexual orientation serve as vital plot points. The gay rumors which surrounded Christian Laettner in the early 1990s are covered in full detail here; as well as in the doc.
The full Q&A portion audio is embedded below. The discussion about being called “a pussy” and “a bitch” by the Michigan guys happens at the 5:50 mark. However, you really should listen to the whole thing, because the entire question and answer session is phenomenal.
“I Hate Christian Laettner,” directed by Rory Karpf (“The Book of Manning”) and executive produced and narrated by Rob Lowe, will premiere Sunday, March 15, at 9 p.m. ET after Bracketology on ESPN.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. You can read Banks’ feature stories and op-eds in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and hear his regular guest spots on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)