Rivalries take sports to levels that make for outstanding theater. Such was the case with the Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which ESPN examined in “Unrivaled” as part of its “E60” documentary series.
The two-hour show, which premiered Sunday and is available on ESPN+, focused on the spark that lit the rivalry — Claude Lemieux’s dirty hit of Kris Draper — and its aftereffects. It also covered the tentacles of the rivalry (octopus pun intended), from the personal to the public.
It was so good, it made me want ones for rivalries with Chicago teams, and that got me thinking: What could those documentaries be?