Last week, ESPN announced it would be releasing a new documentary in its 30 for 30 series centered around the five students who were murdered in Gainesville in 1990. The documentary would explore the parallel timeline of fear and chaos in Gainesville as Steve Spurrier prepared for his first year as head coach of the Gators.
And while ESPN has plenty of problems as a whole, the documentary released last night was a reminder that ESPN is still capable of strong and compelling storytelling when they allow themselves to.
14 Days in Gainesville recaps the chaos for Steve Spurrier’s debut
The documentary does a commendable job of capturing the dual storylines. We are introduced to Spurrier as he took over the head coaching job in Gainesville after a successful run with Duke. Among the players from that team included in the documentary are Brad Culpepper, Jerry Odom, and Shane Matthews. For Matthews in particular, it explores his rise through the depth chart en route to being named the starting QB ahead of the 1990 season.
Chris Doering also had a prominent role in the documentary, which is a bit odd considering he wasn’t on the 1990 team (he joined in 1991), but he is a Gainesville native, and he does help bridge the gap to the parallel storyline.
As the story was told, Florida was going through their fall camp to prepare for their season opener against Oklahoma State when, on August 24, Sonja Larson and Christina Powell were found murdered in their apartment. The story rocked Gainesville, but it was the murder of Christa Hoyt the following day that really put everyone on high alert.
The documentary explores the fear that gripped not just Gainesville as a whole, but even the fear the players themselves started to have. That fear turned into widespread panic when Manuel Taboada and Tracy Paules were found murdered on August 27. Students started leaving campus en masse, and Spurrier was tasked with trying to keep his own team focused while the community around him descended into chaos.
For the most part, 14 Days in Gainesville does a solid job of capturing that fear and concern from both sides, and even if you weren’t in Gainesville at the time of these murders, you start to feel a genuine connection with everyone involved.
The only spot the documentary probably could have done a better job was with the actual game itself against Oklahoma State. Spurrier won his debut 50-7, and the documentary tries to paint the game as a moment of catharsis for Gainesville. We aren’t here to say whether or not it was, but they paint a picture of The Swamp “going crazy,” then pipe in canned crowd noises that don’t really create that feeling.
Honestly, the most powerful part of 14 Days in Gainesville came at the end when the execution of Danny Rolling came up. The sister of one of the victims retells the story of watching his execution, and you could tell that while there was still pain and suffering from 1990, the 2006 execution of Rolling was a moment of catharsis for the families of the victims.
14 Days in Gainesville ends with a reminder of the mural painted on 34th Street that is in honor of the victims and is the one piece of the 34th Street Wall that is not to be painted over.
All in all, this is a worthwhile effort to retell the story of 1990, and for anyone interested in the somber backdrop that led up to Suprrier’s debut, we would recommend checking it out.
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