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Click above to purchase "NBA Upsets & Underdogs" at
amazon.com
NBA Upsets & Underdogs
review by Zach B.
Studio: USA
Running Time: 62 minutes
Retail Price: $19.95
Features: Bill Walton, Dikembe Mutombo and Alan
Houston Segments
Specs: 1.33:1 Full Frame, English 5.1 Dolby Digital,
English Dolby 2.0, Chapter Search
You gotta love true, beat-the-odds stories. Sure, movies
and other forms of media have overplayed it with countless
stories about the little guy succeeding and surprising
everyone, just stories that we have to stand up and cheer
for. They shock, they stun and again, they surprise. I'm a
sucker for stories like those, about struggles and ultimatly
winning in the end. People can bash you and say you'll never
make it, but you keep trying and listen to yourself and you
eventually do. I could preach about this subject forever,
examine it to death, but you probably know the deal, so I'll
stop right there.
Loving these kinds of stories, and liking basketball,
"NBA's Upsets and Underdogs" seemed to be right up my ally.
Hosted by former Portland Trail Blazer Bill Walton, the disc
follows a good set of stories any basketball fan can enjoy.
You don't need to be an expert, you don't even have to be
into basketball at all. Each segment gives you the knowledge
you need about the certain event, and the stuff that did
transpire. Caring about basketball will help, because if you
don't, you'll really have to love underdog stories to like
the stuff here. But if you don't care about basketball, why
are you bothering with this disc anyway? Still, things are
explained nicely and cut well with basketball clips, stills
and interviews.
So what stories do you get here? Well, Bill Walton's own
Trail Blazers are featured in a 1977 segment about them in
the championships. There's also the 1999 New York Knicks
season and how the "kid" Kevin Garnett, a nineteen year old
high school grad made the jump from his hometown of Chicago
to the Minnesoa Timberwolves and who would become a good
player.
So there you have it... there's some compelling stuff on
this disc. So basketball fans, there's a lot of memories and
great inspirational stories about beating the odds. Be sure
to check it out.
"NBA Upsets and Underdogs" is in 1.33:1 full frame, but
there's a good amount of stuff in non-anamorphic widescreen.
Most interviews are in non-anamorphic widescreen, as well as
some basketball clips. As far as the clips, they range from
decent to shoddy. I noticed some shimmering and little parts
that were distracting, but pretty good.
With 5.1, the mix sounds decent. Nothing more, nothing
less. There's some pretty good surround use, but nothing too
impressive. There's the usual music, crowd cheers and what I
call "heartbreaking" music to manipulate the audience a
little. Still, there's some distortion that is bothersome.
Check out chapter 9 to see what I mean. A 2.0 English track
is also included.
For special features, you have three more segments that
focus on NBA players. There's Bill Walton (the host
of the featurette, complete with some great old footage),
Dikembe Mutombo and Alan Houston.
There's some nice segments on the feature, backed with
some more segements for extras and a decent presentation. If
you're a big basketball fan or love inspirational tales,
this one's for you.
 (4/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (3.5/5)
 (3/5)
 (1/5)
(3/5,
NOT an average)
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