It was a little under twenty years ago when this controversial series was pulled from ESPN, which feels like a far-removed age now. For all of its' faults, there was still something more endearing and defiantly individualistic about 1979's North Dallas Forty (the previous standard bearer movie about a fictional gridiron team) than the fast-life, cutthroat world of ESPN's Playmakers. A big problem is, because of the ensemble cast, there were too many problems to shoehorn into each episode - the fact that it is so deftly managed at times (especially during "real time countdown" episodes like "Halftime") is an achievement unto itself. Also, there is the matter of bad timing - if this was released in 2013 instead of 2003 chances for multiple seasons on streaming services would be a shoo-in.