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NEW YORK -- Former New York baseball stars Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden are forever linked in the publics mind, but not necessarily their own.That fitting line concludes ESPNs latest 30 for 30 documentary , Doc & Darryl, which examines their relationship. The film premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT, two nights after the All-Star game.Both men symbolized the New York Mets mid-1980s resurgence, winning back-to-back Rookie of the Year awards. They had freakish talents: Strawberry to hit moon shot home runs and Dr. K Gooden to freeze batters with his fastball and curve. Drug abuse cut short both of their careers, and they eventually served time in the same jail, although not at the same time.Directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio wanted to see what sort of relationship the men had, and the heart of the film is a conversation held before cameras at a Queens, New York, diner, the same one where scenes from the movie Goodfellas were shot.Their body language and lack of eye contact betray a discomfort, reminiscent of get-togethers with friends who hadnt connected in years.The interview revealed that Strawberry had never asked Gooden why he missed the ticker tape parade celebrating the 1986 Mets championship, even though the outfielder had gone to Goodens house to give him a ride and hadnt found him. Similarly, Gooden had never talked to Strawberry about an incident where teammate Ray Knight approached Strawberry about rumors that one of the Mets two black superstars was involved in drugs. Knight confronted Strawberry, who said it wasnt him.Theres a connection and a love between them, Bonfiglio said. They bonded as teammates. But theyre not close. They never had the conversation that they had at the diner.The subject matter -- seemingly endless relapses, lost dreams and betrayals -- isnt particularly easy, either.Apatow, maker of comic films like Knocked Up, and Bonfiglio seem like odd teammates themselves. Apatow had tweeted praise about an ESPN documentary to a contact at the network once, who shot back a response wondering whether hed like to make one himself. He expressed interest in a piece on Gooden and Strawberry, if they could be persuaded to participate.Apatow once followed the Mets, but he found rooting for a team too nerve-racking and gave it up, just before their magical 1986 season.He had met Bonfiglio, a noted documentarian known for films on Metallica and Bo Jackson, when he interviewed Apatow for an episode of Sundances Iconoclasts series. Apatow asked him to collaborate for the ESPN film.While Apatow is known for inducing belly laughs on films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and This is 40, many people overlook his sensitivity, Bonfiglio said.It would be such a different film if I had done it myself, Bonfiglio said. We were in total synch with the vision, but hes so interested in how people behave and how they deal with the challenges of life.Apatow has seen plenty of people in show biz unable to handle sudden success. Its a very common theme, except when you are one of the greatest hitters and pitchers of all time while going through it.If youre in New York, people would get upset if you dont come through for the team, Apatow said. They dont care what your life is like, what your childhood was like and what youre struggling with. They just want results.The film shows how early the seeds of their abuse were planted, which may surprise some fans. Both men dealt with difficult dads. Strawberrys was abusive and alcoholic. Goodens dad was also alcoholic, and he drove his son relentlessly to achieve his own failed dreams. Both future stars drank and drugged in high school. Gooden recalls being rip-roaring drunk the first time he met Strawberry.Doc & Darryl is noteworthy, too, in not being a redemption tale. Both former stars are trying hard to stay clean, Strawberry with the help of religion and a grounded relationship.But too many people have been burned thinking this part of their journey is over.A lot of times when people tell an addiction story it ends with people who are clean and sober, theyre fine, or theyre dead, Bonfiglio said. A lot of times its not the case. A lot of times its a lot more complex than that. We didnt want to make it easy, because it isnt easy.---Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder---Online: http://www.espn.com/30for30/Jose Pirela Jersey . Louis Cardinals. 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Aaron Loup Jersey .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season.ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NBA remains the best among its professional sports peers when it comes diversity hiring.According to the report released Thursday by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the NBA received an A-plus for the second year in a row for racial hiring and dropped to a B in gender hiring practices. The leagues overall grade of A was its eighth in row as the NBA scored higher than other professional sports league in all three categories.Reports are also issued on the NFL, MLB, MLS, WNBA and college sports.The NBA has been the leaders in pretty much both areas since weve been doing the report card and they are still ahead of everybody even in gender, said Richard Lapchick, who authors the Racial and Gender Report Card released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The NFL had a C-plus last year and MLB had a C-plus. MLS is the only one close with a B but they only had 80.1 points as opposed to the 83.7 the NBA has got. College sport was the worst of all with 78.8 points with a C-plus.Even in maintaining the best stands, the NBA did some dips in diversity hiring practices with the biggest coming in gender hiring. The NBA went from a B-plus grade in gender hiring in 2015 to a B this year with drops coming at the team levels and senior leadership positions. In 2015, the NBA scored 88 points but this year only received 83.7 points on the report card.Women comprised 39.6 percent of all professionals in the NBA league offices in this past season, which was slightly down from 40.9 percent in 20015.dddddddddddd But women continued to hold just a small percentage of team vice president positions, comprising just 21.5 percent of the team vice president titles. Still, there were five women who served as team presidents/CEO during the 2015-16 season, which is the highest of any mens professional sport.The fact there was sort of slippage with the NBA, not only was the grade low but there was actually a decline in the grade is definitely an area of concern, Lapchick said of the overall dip in gender hiring. I think its particularly an area of concern at the team level and senior leadership positions.The NBA, which is the first sports league to have two minorities as majority owners, also had small losses in the number of head coaches and general managers of color this year. The number of general managers went from six in 2014-15 to just four this past season. The head coaching ranks were comprised of 30 percent of men of color, as opposed to 33.3 percent at the end of the 2014-15 season.This past season began with nine head coaches of color but while some minority coaches lost their jobs during the season that number remained at nine at the end of the season.The NBA has gotten it for a long time, including the general manager position, although this year they were down at the general manager position, Lapchick said. They have been far and away the leader of all of the sports in those areas. ' ' '