E:60 Liberian Amputee Soccer tes feat. Nas

E:60 Liberian Amputee Soccer Tease feat. Nas from E60 on Vimeo.

Tuesday May 4th E:60 presents the story of the Liberian Amputee Soccer Team, featuring narration and music by Nas.

Second Impact

Sports Science and Second Impact from E60 on Vimeo.

Last November, LaSalle University in Philadelphia settled a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit brought by a former football player. His name is Preston Plevretes, and his story highlights in vivid detail the dangers of athletes playing with concussions that have not yet healed.

The 24-year-old suffered a devastating brain injury, called Second Impact Syndrome, more than four years ago. His story highlights the need for athletic programs to treat brain injuries seriously.

To examine exactly what happened when Plevretes was hit by a Duquesne University player back on November 5, 2005, E:60 reporter Tom Farrey traveled to the Sport Science lab in Burbank, CA and met with John Brenkus. Farrey brought that actual helmet Plevretes was wearing in that game. Brenkus and his team analyzed the play that nearly killed the six-foot-two, 230-pound linebacker. They recreated the forces at work by having Jamal Allen, a former San Jose State football player, strike a crash test dummy approximately the same height and weight as Plevretes.

To learn about what Sport Science found, tune in on May 4, 2010, to ESPN’s primetime newsmagazine, E:60, to watch Preston Plevretes’ compelling story of lessons learned.

Art of the Reveal

In the morning producer T. Sean Herbert showed colleagues a rough cut of his feature about Preston Plevretes, a college football player whose career was cut short in 2005 by Second Impact Syndrome – brain damage from a second concussion that occurs before a first one has healed.

The E:60 staff wanted more details on the game, the surgery, context on similar injuries,  and involvement of team trainer and physician.  It wanted more of Plevretes after the injury and fewer ‘specialty’ shots.

Someone suggested a “reveal” – an editing technique in which crucial information is withheld until the middle or end for a surprise.

A reveal was used in the E:60 investigation of retired wide receiver Marvin Harrison, and his alleged role in the shooting death of Dwight Dixon.   E:60 built its piece on a 2009 interview with Dixon, and then revealed that Dixon later was gunned down in North Philadelphia.

Herbert used a reveal in his 2008 feature on MMA fighter Lee Murray, which held back that Murray was the mastermind of a bank heist in England and had fled to Morocco.  In his piece on sprinter Oscar Pistorius the reveal was that Pistorius was a double amputee.

“It’s a tool to keep the viewers interested because the story is being told in an unpredictable fashion,” Herbert said.

In the afternoon Herbert huddled with editor Andre “Dre” Ninchritz over the suggested changes.  Herbert also consulted with reporter Tom Farrey.

They decided to go with a reveal.  Ninchritz began the search for pictures and sound to fill the front of the piece vacated by the information to be withheld until later. 

Herbert’s ‘reveal’ won’t be revealed here – you have to watch May 4.  That’s my reveal.

Posted by Steve Marantz, April 26, 2010

Scratch tracks for Nas.

The MC drops by the edit suite Monday afternoon. After watching the piece, Nas takes 20 minutes for his voice over.  Not giving anything away yet. But trust me, you'll want to hear him.