Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos

"The rise and fall of the N.Y. Cosmos. The soccer team that brought Pele to America; against the backdrop of N.Y. City in the 70's. "

The recently reformed New York Cosmos are thee American soccer franchise. In 1970's New York they were the biggest thing to hit the city since the Afro. A shining star for soccer in the worlds most Cosmopolitan City, they brought the game to a new audience. Unfortunately, the star collapsed almost as quickly as it was born, but it left a lasting mark on the American psyche. This is a really well told story about a piece of N.Y. City history and not just for those who are acquainted with the game. I wish there were more like this. 9/10

I was the radio broadcaster for the Rocheter Lancers of the North American Soccer league from 1975-1980 and I spent quite a bit of time at Giants Stadium seeing Cosmos games,if we weren't playing. The film brought back all kinds of memories. It was great. I never would have recognized Shep Messing who played for Rochester in 1979. Also Chinaglia (sp?) I thought looked like Tony Soprano today. The Lancers used to play the Cosmos twice a year, once in New York (rather New Jersey) and once in Rochester. Plus we played a semi final series against the Cosmos in 1977...losing both games. We didn't beat the Cosmos after 1976. Still despite our lack of success, the Cosmos were a great team to watch. Anyboy who was a US soccer fan in the 1970's should like this movie. I didn't know it existed until I saw it on ESPN2 on 9/20/06.

PS-Downing Stadium on Randall's Island was my least favorite venue to broadcast from...Giants stadium was the best||| Yankee stadium was fun too in 1976.

I really liked it, but it just moves by too fast.There were so many moments and subjects that they should have dwelled on a little longer,that they cut away too fast from.

This may be because the attitude expressed early in the movie,about Americans' attention spans;that ours are so short,they can't focus long enough on the game of soccer(i.e. football)to appreciate it,and I think the filmmakers edited it to fit that,in the assumption that us Yanks wouldn't find it interesting if the film had been done like their football docs.Maybe they're right,maybe most of us wouldn't,but I know I would have,and I wish they had done so.They could have filled it up with so much more detail,more stories,and so on.Good ,but should have been much more.

Hey Kids! Remember the NASL? I TOTALLY do. The Calgary Boomers were my town team, my Dad had season tickets, and I was insanely jealous that I didn't catch one of those nifty looking NASL balls they kicked into the stands :( 'Once In A Lifetime' is a great documentary about the rise and falls of THE premier teams (besides Calgary of course) of the league. I remember bits and pieces, like for example, Pele being in it of course, but that's about it. This film gives a GREAT overview of what went right (eg Money) in the organization and what went wrong (eg Money). It also goes to show you the classic example of throwing so much money at a team to form a dream team and getting nothing (something New York does often).

A GREAT history full of fun facts for the Soccer aficionado. I'm gonna get the DVD for my Dad this Christmas!

What a crazy laugh the New York Cosmos must have been back in the 70s! This is the story of one man and his dream to turn what was not much more than a pub team playing in a delapidated stadium into one of the best. Although the wheels came completely off in the early 80s it must have been huge fun whilst the show was on the road. As a football fan what would I have given to have Pele and Beckenbauer in my team (maybe even the crazy Chinaglia too), football is all about passion and dreams and the management team at the Cosmos delivered the fantasy in spades.

The film runs at a slick pace and there are lots of funny moments, the Mick Jagger bit made me laugh out loud. If you love football go and see it, you won't be disappointed. If you don't you'll still enjoy it as this is as much about all the clashing egos as much as what the team did on the pitch.