The Tenth Inning

The charm of the original series (for me anyway), like the Brooklyn Bridge and Civil War series, was that it brought events in the history of baseball, usually covered only in dusty books or faded pictures, onto the screen in something like live-action.

But as the series progressed more and more toward the present day, of course there was increased overlap with film footage and TV game broadcasts most fans had already seen.

This became especially glaring in the new chapters. Most -- in fact all -- of this stuff has already been covered quite extensively by the cable networks (especially HBO's great documentaries).

Do we really need more regurgitation of the grit and courage of the fucking Yankees and fucking Red Sox?

We get about an hour of treacly claptrap about how the gritty gutty Red Sox broke their 80-year streak, bringing joy to their long-suffering fans, and the White Sox doing the exact same thing a year later is dismissed in 15 seconds.

ESPN and FOX Sports suck off the Yankees and Red Sox 364 days and 20 hours of every year. I don't need to buy a DVD to fill in the other four hours.

 

You have to remember that Ken Burns is a Red Sox fan.

 

I never would have guessed.

 

Burns needs to find a new female face of baseball instead of Doris Kearns Goodwin. After her plagiarism scandal hard to take her seriously.

 

IJAG would, but there are too many judicial restrainment orders against her...
Maybe Alyssa Milano?

 

Debbie Clemens

 

Boo-hoo. What type of ratings did that Astros-White Sox World Series do, again? When either of those teams produce baseball as epic as the Yanks and Sox did in 2003-04, they'll merit an hour in a documentary. Until then we'll just listen to small market teams' crybaby fans whine.

 

I heartily endorse this post.

I'm so fucking sick of the MLB=Yankees, Red Sox and 28 supporting characters narrative. That thing ignored Toronto's two rings, the Marlins in 97, the White Sox in 05, the Cardinals in 06, the Phillies in 08, it only addressed the Angels winning in 02 as it related to Bonds' disappointment, yet it went into excruciatingly melodramatic longwinded detail on all that involved the Yankees/Sox. Apparently Ken thinks those were the only series that historically matter.

 

1. Ken Burns is the WORST kind of bigdome Red Sox poseur-fan. His speech at the memorial service was one of the most painful experiences imaginable. Earl Wilson won the hearts of the sellout crowd by coming to the microphone next and admitting he'd dozed off.
2. I don't need to see a documentary on baseball from 1990-2008. I was THERE. I saw most of the memorable events, counting television, and covered many of 'em. I gave this show a shot, but wandered off to other parts of the cable universe.

 

Chicago is not a small market. (Incidentally I am not particuarly a White Sox fan.)

And the world does not revolve around the respective rectums of the Yankees and Red Sox.

The games played by the Yankees and Red Sox mainly become 'epic' because of the nonstop power-fellatio applied by fucking ESPN and MOTHER FUCKING FOX.

 

Roberts' steal was pretty damn epic, though.

 

Between her and Mike Barnicle, one might presume that all Red Sox fans are plagiarists. We're not. Thank you for your time.