30 for 30 - "Once Brothers" (Divac & Petrovic) 10/12 @ 8pm EST on ESPN

Over the last 5 years, I've been to 6 funerals including 2 close uncles, my secretary who offed herself...    so I can actually stomach seeing them carry Drazen's casket.  What broke me down though is seeing his mom's reaction .  That's gotta be the worst feeling in the world to bury your own son 
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Two things stood out for me:

1. Kukoc's interview from '92, when he went back to Split.  His "friends" who were on the front lines of the war told Kukoc to end his friendship with Divac, "...or else you'll have a problem with us". 

2. When Divac was strolling through Zagreb.  That one dude who asked "Vlade Divac?? Chetnik! (loosely translated: Serbian nationalist).  The war wounds and hate still run deep there.

Peace
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I really wanted to catch this one, maybe once I get back home.

This was the one I was looking forward to most this season.
 
The most compelling footage were the few minutes where Vlade was walking through Zagreb. No wonder it was his first time there. Knowing how genuine he was in his desire to have a unified Yugoslavia it was sad to see all the hate stars he got thrown his way. I always liked Vlade but had never delved too deep into this political mess. It was eye-opening, and IMO, the best 30 for 30. It would have been cool to get some insight from later generation peoples like Peja Stojakovic, Beno Udrih and Nenad Krstic. 
 
great doc. emotional. very interesting and sad. Life is funny sometimes...

edit:

It's good for these stories to be told, because the story wasn't really about Drazen dying, it was about a seemingly unbreakable friendship that ended because of war, and anytime the horrors of war can be directly exposed to people in a way that could potentially positively influence them in the future, it's beneficial. But I, personally, found no good in seeing this, and that's only me. When I think about war, disease, hunger, and death in itself, in my head I envision the worst possible. Having these types of events directly exposed to me don't change my perspective or make me do any more or less, they just make me feel like a darker person.

i disagree. His single death was the "peak" of the story. You have 2 sides divided by things outside of their control, an "innocent" incident from vlade's POV with the flag, which in turn ruined their friendship, and Vlade not being able to explain himself...you can go 20 years in hopes of reconciling with a friend, but when death comes, the burden (that vlade spoke on with Petrovic's mother) lives on.

Ive had a friend pass away who i had a "grudge" with and he passed away. in my 24years, that is my only regret i have. Ive learned to live with it and accept it (like vlade) but its a burden that is hard to measure, but i believe them showin the footage help "quantify " that. Vlade wanted to be there to share/mourn with people who just years prior were his best friends, but was unable to due to the "flag incident" and War.

SAD
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Just like most of you are saying i too thought this was the best 30 for 30 i've seen so far (havent seen them all though). I caught this the other day on a complete fluke as i was sick and just stuck in front of the TV. I guess I had forgot that Petrovic was on his way up at the time of his death. For some reason thinking back on it I felt as Drazen was on the way down at the time of the car accident but after watching this doc. that clearly was not the case. I also dont think i was ever completely aware of how strained the relationships were between Vlade and the rest of the guys. I do remember the flag incident, and I obviously remember the decade long war but I guess I just didn't realize at the time how much of that carried on to their careers over here in the NBA. Back in those days I was back living in Portland and I remember Vlade & Petro being close back then. I just dont think I ever knew how deep the story went.


That funeral scene was tough, Drazen's poor Mom breaking down was like a scene from a movie, hell then entire scene was. That was their country's Michael Jordan dying in his prime. Absolutely Unreal.


Another thing I never knew about was Drazen declining to fly with his team and drive home instead. I knew he died in an Auto accident but the drama of the whole incident, I was just never aware apparently.


I do think I always had the impression of Vlade being a pretty sincere dude, but after watching this, knowing all I know now I really just wanna shake that guys hand and give him a hug. That man has been carrying a lot on his shoulders for a very long time and though you could say he brought it on himself with that whole flag incident I just cant help but to feel genuinely bad for the guy. Kukoc definitely gave the impression in the documentary that he still had ill feelings towards Vlade while Dino clearly doesn't, and appeared to never have.


All in all just a great documentary, everyone involved should feel proud of themselves and I would encourage everyone to watch it.

RIP Petro
 
excellent doc ... got real sad when he dropped the pic of them at the grave ... just a really bad situation all around ... Makes me almost regret getting into fights with loved ones ... there are some i don't even talk to anymore and don't plan on it. Part of me says life is too short and we should bury the hatchet ... but part of me remembers the pain caused and i understand why we drifted apart ...

Being stubborn is a terrible thing ... unfortunately certain circumstances dictate it ...

Drazen was a beast and i was a huge fan as a kid ... jordan looked like he wanted no parts of this dude on defense
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... too bad he didn't get to play much for the blazers ... dude was already 28 by the time he made his mark on the league ...

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to vlade ... propaganda is a terrible thing
 
I'm croatian and it really pained me to watch this.  Thankfully most of us will never have to feel how a civil war can affect friendships like that.  Petrovic was my favorite NBA player at the time and I do remember breaking down and crying when I heard the news of his death.  I've always had respect for all of those guys like Divac, Kukoc, and Radja.  I was in high school at the time, and little did any of us know that these were the guys that were breaking down the barriers of having these European guys come and play in the NBA.
 
Another thing that stood out is that Petrovic essentially was a white Michael Jordan, in the sense that he was as competitive and could back it up. He was so fearless, as evident by that clip of him telling Jordan to step up and guard him. I mean, who ever did that to Jordan? And then he'd light up the scoreboard. Perhaps it was the weight of the war that made him play angry and fearless.
 
Originally Posted by jthagreat

Kukoc definitely gave the impression in the documentary that he still had ill feelings towards Vlade
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yea i peeped that too.
Ehhh kind of.... but I did notice his midwestern accent he has picked up
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This was amazing BTW.

sorry for the bump, I couldn't sleep last night and ended up watching it this morning
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Originally Posted by dmbrhs

Another thing that stood out is that Petrovic essentially was a white Michael Jordan, in the sense that he was as competitive and could back it up. He was so fearless, as evident by that clip of him telling Jordan to step up and guard him. I mean, who ever did that to Jordan? And then he'd light up the scoreboard. Perhaps it was the weight of the war that made him play angry and fearless.
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I just think it was his drive ... they said he was the first one in the gym ... that hunger ... he knew he could play in portland ... he was on the treadmill before the 2nd practice when ainge was his roomate ... dude was just determined to flat out beast ... he knew he was a beast and he wasn't afraid of anyone ... alot of people couldn't go at jordan even if they wanted to. they didn't have the game to back it up. Drazen had the game and had serious range on that jumper ... jordan wanted no parts of him ...
 
Great story. My co-worker is from Croatia, and he always tells me how Petrovic was an all-time great if he played and didn't die. I mean he doesn't remind me of a typical superstar as I watch him play. He wasn't the super-fluid player we like to watch. But his fearlessness, drive, and competitiveness was what makes watching his highlights great.
 
Sorry to top this, but I was on Youtube and had never seen this. This play is from Petro's 44-point game against the Rockets. He had Hakeem completely lost.
 
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