June 17th, 1994

June 17th, 1994 is a documentary film by Brett Morgen released as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. The documentary details the events of June 17, 1994, in which several noteworthy sporting events occurred during the police chase of O. J. Simpson.^[1] Morgen says the diversity of the events provide an opportunity "to look at the soul of America."^[2]

The documentary features no narration and also no interviews and consists simply of music set to clips from news sources during the day.^[3] There are raw clips of sportscasters like Chris Berman and Bob Costas talking to their producers about how to deal with the OJ story within the context of the events they were covering.^[4]

Robert Lloyd wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "Morgen juxtaposes the events of that day in a kind of associative round robin, finding points of contrast and commonality, of similar action and visual consonance, on which to turn his film. But he offers no other, more remote perspective; this is not a summing up of events, but rather a meditation, of an elemental sort, not just on sports but on the way of the world."^[5]

Events occurring in the day

The events detailed in the documentary that occurred during the chase of Simpson are as follows.

• Arnold Palmer playing his final round at the U.S. Open.
• The commencement of the FIFA World Cup.
• The New York Rangers celebrating their win at the Stanley Cup Finals with a ticker-tape parade on Broadway.
• Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks.
• Ken Griffey Jr. tying Babe Ruth's record of the most home runs (30) before June 30th.

References