Catching Hell: The Steve Bartman Story

[TripletDaddy]

I saw a preview for this documentary a week or so ago and filed it away as something that would be worth watching.

This afternoon, I was at Fanzz checking out gear and ESPN was on the TV. They showed a 10 minute clip from tonight's premiere of the documentary.

It was fantastic. I am really excited to watch it now. Anyone else going to check it out. From the looks, it appears to be worth a DVR, even if you "can't catch it" (swish) live.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/7888784-419/documentary-revisits-bartman-fallout.html

For the sports impaired that do not know Steve Bartman, he is this guy:

[Coach McGuirk]

I saw a preview for this documentary a week or so ago and filed it away as something that would be worth watching.

This afternoon, I was at Fanzz checking out gear and ESPN was on the TV. They showed a 10 minute clip from tonight's premiere of the documentary.

It was fantastic. I am really excited to watch it now. Anyone else going to check it out. From the looks, it appears to be worth a DVR, even if you "can't catch it" (swish) live.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/7888784-419/documentary-revisits-bartman-fallout.html

For the sports impaired that do not know Steve Bartman, he is this guy:

Read this,

ESPN - OTL: Almost Infamous - E-ticket

It is about the guy in the grey. A great read as well and a nice companion to tonights episode, i would suspect.

[TripletDaddy]

Read this,

ESPN - OTL: Almost Infamous - E-ticket

It is about the guy in the grey. A great read as well and a nice companion to tonights episode, i would suspect.

interesting. he is featured prominently in the clip I saw for tonight's premiere. Also featured are the two attorneys that were sitting behind Bartman and eventually grabbed the ball...the female attorney is wearing the red top and cream colored sweater. Also, not sure how, but they managed to track down the guy that came down from 15 rows up, was yelling for Bartman, and was the first to throw his huge cup of beer on him. The testimonials of these fans is fascinating...these people really did want to kill Bartman at the time. He was in legitimate danger that evening.

What I found fascinating was how ESPN broke down the incident with so many different house camera angles. We have all seen the replays over and over. but now you have the people that were sitting there and they are providing narrative, explaining what is being said with each passing frame, explaining why Bartman turns around when he does, explaining word for word what he is saying and you can see their lips moving in the replay that matches the commentary being provided in the documentary. ESPN actually shows a chart of all the seats in the section and then highlights the exact seat the witness was sitting in that night.

Anyhow, the clip I saw was incredibly well done. I am really interesting in watching.

Somehow I feel that this entire documentary is ESPN's way of helping to exonerate the poor guy. From what I understand, he is still pretty much a recluse and avoids all media. Hopefully people can move on a bit after seeing this. He is definitely portrayed as a sympathetic figure in the documentary.

[pellegrino]

still too painful.

[LA Ute]

I'm going to record it and watch later. Thx for the tip.

[Sizzle]

How great is it that I can forget about this show, read this post, and set my DVR from my phone.

[il Padrino Ute]

Read this,

ESPN - OTL: Almost Infamous - E-ticket

It is about the guy in the grey. A great read as well and a nice companion to tonights episode, i would suspect.

It's good to know that the guy places the blame on the correct person - Alex Gonzales. If he hadn't booted a routine ground ball, this never would have been an incident.

[Omaha 680]

I love the ESPN 30 for 30 films. My wife bought me the box sets and after watching them I knew Catching Hell would be a great film. I've been looking forward to it for a while. DVRed it tonight and watched the first half before stopping because it's so fascinating and almost heartbreaking that I want to start over and have my wife watch it. She's not even the biggest sports fan but I know this one will interest her.

The comparisons to Bill Buckner and how the mob mentality caused the fans to pick the wrong scapegoat in both cases were right on so far.

[doctorcoug]

watched the first half before stopping because it's so fascinating and almost heartbreaking that I want to start over and have my wife watch it. She's not even the biggest sports fan but I know this one will interest her..

I paused it and got my wife and we watched it together. Excellent documentary. One of my nurses is a huge Cubs fan, oh the curse of the goat. I'll have to buy her a goat stuffed animal for christmas.

[CJF]

Great show. I really enjoyed it. I hadn't heard Bukner had come back to Boston. As much as I love the Braves I wouldn't mind seeing the Cub fans being able to forget Bartman.

[Top Ute]

Great show. I really enjoyed it. I hadn't heard Bukner had come back to Boston. As much as I love the Braves I wouldn't mind seeing the Cub fans being able to forget Bartman.

From a Cubs fan perspective, Catching Hell is just that ... hell. Watching it left me feeling just as horrible the night of Game 6.

If it makes Cubs fans feel like that, then it makes it a must-watch for any sports fan. I've loved the 30 for 30 series that ESPN has done -- it's the best TV ESPN has done, even better than Sports Century. One of my favorites was "Unrivaled" (Chris Evert and Martina Navritalova), which was great because it represented the best sports can deliver. It was a great feel-good story.

Catching Hell is one of my favorites as well, but for how it represents sports -- or at least fan behavior -- at its absolute worst. I've long since "forgiven" Steve Bartman; I'm not sure how mad I was at him to begin with, because the enormity of that loss was so crushing, it kinda put everything else in the background. But I hope I'm still alive to see Bartman get redemption from the Friendly Confines faithful, much like Buckner did at Fenway. That's the only way this story can ever have a happy ending.

[TripletDaddy]

It has been mentioned twice in this thread but I don't think this is a 30 for 30. Those are over. This is like that Fab Five doc we all watched a few months ago. Stand alone documentary, not branded 30 for 30. Not even directed by anyone that directed a 30 for 30.

[cougjunkie]

I though this was very well done.I think my favorite parts were the video of the guy in the bleachers nowhere near Bartman it was like you knew exactly how everyone in that stadium felt based on one guy.

I also had never heard the story about how they got bartman out that was crazy. Wayne drehs stalking him in the parking lot was also a great segment.

[happyone]

I echo the praises for this show - I thought it was great. I liked how they used the Red Sox saga and comparing it with what the Cubs are going thru.

Great show.

[Mormon Red Death]

It's good to know that the guy places the blame on the correct person - Alex Gonzales. If he hadn't booted a routine ground ball, this never would have been an incident.

Don't forget the dipshit dusty baker. Here's an idea Dusty, your 22 year old pitcher has just seen his shortstop botch and easy double play and his right fielder act like a baby on foul ball he wouldn't have caught anyways. How about you or maybe the pitching coach go out there and calm him down talk to him about what to do? Nope Dusty just sits there chewing on his toothpick like gigantic dipshit he is. Everytime I see him I want to punch Dusty in the throat.