Quarterback
In Quarterback, Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota, and reigning Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes give audiences a glimpse into the life of a professional football quarterback. Covering the most recent 2022-2023 season, the three athletes open up about balancing the physical and mental toll of leading a team every week.—Josh Rosenberg
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Full Swing
What if golf (the slowest sport) could be as exciting as Formula 1 (the fastest sport)? That must have been what the Drive to Survive creators thought when they took their talents to the PGA Tour, showing life on the frontlines of the storied sport.—J.R.
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Bill Russell: Legend
Featuring interviews with Larry Bird, Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Isiah Thomas, and Magic Johnson, Bill Russell: Legend explores the life and career of a man who won 11 championships—and was known as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. After passing away in 2022, Legend remembers the Celtics star who had “more rings than fingers.”—J.R.
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Break Point
Following some of tennis’s rising stars, Break Point explores the mental and physical toll of taking on the greatest athletes in the world, mano a mano. Part Two of the series just premiered, featuring tennis pros Nick Kyrgios and Ons Jabeur, just to name a few.—J.R.
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Athlete A
Athlete A follows reporters from The Indianapolis Star as they break one of the biggest sporting world controversies of this century—uncovering the hundreds of reports of sexual assault allegations against USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Led by gymnast Maggie Nichols (who was referred to as “Athlete A” during investigations to protect her identity) the case didn’t see justice until a year after the documentary premiered when Simone Biles and Aly Raisman testified at the Senate Judiciary hearing.—J.R.
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Last Chance U
Nearly every documentary on this list owes some small part of its success to Last Chance U. Back in the prehistoric days of Netflix, director Greg Whiteley took a camera crew to East Mississippi Community College with one goal in mind: To get to know its football players. Like, really know them. The resulting six seasons (including its basketball spinoff series, Last Chance U: Basketball) are a feat of filmmaking—and empathetic storytelling.—Brady Langmann
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Cheer
Cheer didn’t become a national sensation for nothing, people. The docuseries, which follows the uber-decorated Navarro College cheerleading squad, shows the pain, triumphs, and sheer beauty of the sport. Plus, you know, there’s the drama, as we meet sports-movie-worthy figures like Monica Aldama and La’Darius Marshall. What’s the fun without it? —B.L.
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Formula 1: Drive to Survive
Well, speaking of national sensations, how about the series that dug its hooks into an infamously Formula 1-apathetic country? Drive to Survive does what the likes of the NBA and NFL wouldn’t dare, showing us the inner lives of its greatest athletes. Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris—they’re all here. And thanks to them, now we all want to go fast. —B.L.
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Untold
Think of Untold as 30 for 30’s moody little sibling. Just like the long-running ESPN series, Untold favors sports stories that simply need another look: Manti Te’o’s catfishing scandal, the 1983 America’s Cup, and of course, Malice at the Palace. Up next? The one and only Johnny Manziel.—B.L.
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The Last Dance
There’s a reason people say “Michael Jordan” when they’re asked to name the greatest athlete of all time. With two separate championship threepeats to his name, it was almost certain that if Michael was playing, the trophy was his to claim. The Last Dance, which chronicles Jordan’s epic career, also focuses on the people who helped make him such a star—namely, NBA legends Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and coach Phil Jackson. Sure, a documentary series with Michael Jordan as its star doesn’t need me to sell it, but it truly is one of the best autobiographical series of the last decade. —J.R.
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Naomi Osaka
After winning back-to-back Grand Slam tennis titles at the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, Naomi Osaka was on top of the sports world. Not too long after, though, Osaka stepped aside during the pandemic to focus on her mental health, a decision that people both celebrated and jeered. Thanks to inspiration from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, she returned to the US Open in 2020 with hopes of winning it all once again, with camera crews in tow. —J.R.
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The Redeem Team
Following in the footsteps of the Dream Team—the U.S. men’s Olympic Basketball squad that won the 1992 gold medal—the 2008 Redeem Team had a lot to prove. LeBron James, the late Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Coach K, and Carmelo Anthony went to Beijing in hopes of, well, redeeming themselves after failing to win gold four years prior in Athens. The ensuing doc features some of the best inside stories about Bryant since the NBA star’s tragic death nearly three years ago. —J.R.
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Josh Rosenberg
Assistant Editor
Josh Rosenberg is an Assistant Editor at Esquire, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day. His past work can be found at Spin, CBR, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.
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