On Sunday, ESPN will be airing a three-hour docuseries called GOATs, featuring interviews with (as the title would indicate) some of the greatest athletes of all-time.
Notably, the athletes involved were all photographed by legendary sports photographer Walter Iooss, and it seems like the photographs of Iooss will be a big part of the storytelling of this series.
Here’s a blurb about the series and those participating in interviews, including the late Kobe Bryant.
Throughout his career spanning five and a half decades, Iooss has captured the greatest moments in baseball, football, basketball, golf, tennis, the Olympics and boxing and has collaborated on photo books with Michael Jordan, Ken Griffey, Jr., Arnold Palmer, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, among others. The series features exclusive interviews with some of the world’s greatest athletes, including Kobe Bryant, Joe Montana, Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, Joe Namath, Chris Evert, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jack Nicklaus, Caroline Wozniacki, and Kelly Slater, up close and extremely personal.
Kevin Kaufman, director and executive producer of GOATs: The Greatest of All Time, said: “It’s an honor to celebrate, over three hours, the career of my longtime friend which will never be rivaled because a journey like his – with access to the greatest athletes in the world over 60 years – is inconceivable. It will never happen again, period. The love and admiration these athletes felt for Walter allowed me to start the conversation with their guards down. So these GOATs revealed themselves like never before.”
And here’s a brief trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB3WFadeP8M
Kaufman, the executive producer and director of GOATS, doesn’t have much experience with sports features. He’s directed episodes of several reality shows, including The Real Housewives of Orange County, I Married A Mobster, and The Perfect Murder. He also worked as an executive producer on the docuseries Gotti: Godfather and Son, which aired on A&E.
I have no idea how much new ground will be covered in this series, but I do appreciate Iooss’ photography, so it’ll be good to see that get spotlighted in a world where everyone with a smartphone (myself included) has access to a high quality camera.
The three one-hour chapters of GOATS will air on Sunday, March 7th, starting at 8 PM with The Beginnings. That’s followed up with Access, and the series is concluded with The Greatest.
