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ESPN Daily

The Wild Ride of the ‘86 Mets: Inside “Once Upon a Time in Queens”

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.63.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“Once Upon a Time in Queens,” the newest film from 30 for 30, chronicles the 1986 New York Mets: a team stacked with perhaps more larger-than-life characters than any other in baseball history. From Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden to Lenny Dykstra and Keith Hernandez, it was a team that worked hard and played harder - and a team that mirrored the dangerous and exciting aura of New York in the 1980’s. Director Nick Davis takes us behind-the-scenes of the film, and shares how the ‘86 Mets became the definitive New York baseball team of the era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Little roller up along first.

0:08.3

Behind the bag.

0:09.7

It gets through Buckner.

0:11.4

Here comes night and the Mets win it.

0:16.9

When you think of the 86 Mets,

0:19.6

that is the moment you almost always think of.

0:22.6

Mookiee Wilson's grounder nutmeging Bill Buckner to win game six of the World Series.

0:27.6

But there is so, so, so much more to this team and that season, and their city,

0:35.6

all of which collided in a decade defined by utter excess, the 80s.

0:42.3

Today, the filmmaker behind the latest 30 for 30 once upon a time in Queens takes us back in time and behind the scenes of a team that live just as hard as they played.

0:55.6

I'm Pablo Torre. It's Tuesday, September 14th. This is ESPN Daily.

1:07.8

So Nick Davis, I watched your four-part documentary. Once Upon a Time in Queens. It is debuting over two evenings tonight and tomorrow on ESPN. It's the new 30 for 30. And the thing that I was struck by about your story here about the 1986 Mets is how much of a character. The city of New York is, and I know you're a native

1:28.9

New Yorker. I am a native New Yorker, but I was born in 1985, so I could not get enough of the city

1:37.0

as you captured it. I'm curious why it was so important to you that you did it in that way.

1:43.7

Well, I think the thing that always struck me about this team was that they captured the

1:49.7

spirit of the city, as well as any sports team I can imagine.

1:54.5

It wasn't just that the city fell in love with the team, which happens all over the place,

2:00.0

but the way the team came together and the

2:04.4

rollicking, wild, crazy, dangerous energy on that team mirrored the city in the 80s. And that was

2:12.1

always the goal of the film was to talk about how the team and the city were fused and became one.

2:19.5

You know, you think about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, great team, lots of wonderful personalities,

2:23.8

but you don't associate them with Cincinnati in the mid-70s, the way you do the 1986 Mets

...

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