ACS: Adam and Alex Gibney

Documentarian/Writer/Director Alex Gibney, known for projects like Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Darkside, sits with Adam to discuss his upcoming episode of the ESPN series 30 for 30. The episode will be titled 'Catching Hell,' and focuses on the fury of sports fans in two infamous moments. During the World Series, Cubs fan Steve Bartman caught a foul ball just as left fielder Moises Alou was reaching to grab it. Moments later the whole stadium started calling him an asshole, and eventually he had to be escorted out of the stadium. When Bill Buckner let a ball run under his glove and between his legs in the 1986 World Series, the fans were equally distraught. Adam says 'This is your celebrity, you're the Octomom of professional baseball.' Alex jokes that after losing the 86 series, he needed psychiatric help. Adam wonders, 'What is it about baseball that fosters that [type of reaction]? Football fans aren't that way [...] they don't have the memory and lament.' Alex surmises that perhaps it's because baseball is a 'game of the imagination'. Adam says he was a big Rams fan growing up, but 'so what if they lost to the Pats in the Superbowl? Why should I let that ruin my weekend?' Alex's current documentary deals with the Jack Abramoff scandal, who Alex describes as a 'super lobbyist'. He explains that as long as Congressmen are dialing for dollars and hosting fund raisers, they are vulnerable to the people who have money. The film shows some of the outrageous stunts Abramoff used to move money around. By the end, 'you should be pissed off because you realize that our country is being taken away from us.' Adam wants to know why Obama hasn't called bullshit on this. He figured you wouldn't hear either of the Bush's saying anything about it, 'but I thought Obama was one of us.' Alex points out that Obama took a small amount of money but Adam says anyone that gives you money is going to eventually want something, and we gotta have limits on the spending. Adam wants a system where there is no political advertising. If you want to learn about the candidates, go to the library. That way only the initiated will vote. Alex says there are 20 countries that already do this in Europe, and Adam says we should go around and steal other countries' best ideas. Like the waterless toilets in Japanese subways, 'why don't we do that!?' Bringing the discussion back to Abramoff, Alex says that he made $30 million just from one Indian casino client alone. Adam and Alex agree that vices like gambling should be legalized and taxed instead of spending money to put them out of business. Adam says the lottery is the 'most retarded form of gambling on the planet,' and thinks it's insane that it's legal to play but you can't bet on a football game. Regarding the current financial crisis, Adam asks 'Can we really blame financial companies for trying to make money any way they can?' Alex says, 'If you have a system where the government is being bought off, then you have a serious problem because they're not paying attention.' Adam suggests 'instead of focusing our ire on those people, how bout we use this opportunity to say 'what happened here?'' To learn more, be sure to check out Alex's documentary, Casino Jack and the United States of Money. Now playing in a theater near you.