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The Tenth Inning

metirish Sep 28 2010 04:25 PM

Ken Burns goes extra innings for his baseball doc, deals with the sport from 1994 on. 110 minutes of the two hours are devoted to Jeter and his patented throw to first. 8pm first pitch

A Boy Named Seo Sep 28 2010 04:40 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox. It's been 12 or 13 years since I saw the original, but I liked it.

Edgy DC Sep 28 2010 04:46 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Baseball being given that sort of treatment --- featuring some of the heaviest hitters among American historians --- is hard not to like.

metirish Sep 28 2010 04:51 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox. It's been 12 or 13 years since I saw the original, but I liked it. Sorry man, I was trying to be funny and it was an EPIC FAIL... In a teaser I saw on the Tavis Smiley show it showed the Captain going head first in to the stands....OMG

Frayed Knot Sep 28 2010 04:59 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox. The Irishman is pulling your chain a bit, although reportedly the 'tenth inning' is very NE-centric, or at least most of it that's not concentrating on the strike and steroid issues. And as much as the rest of the country will complain about (yet more) east coast bias, it is kind of justifiable. Ripken, the Yanx late-90s run, 9/11, the Boston miracle and its sequel, etc., were the biggest stories and all happened to happen mostly on the east coast. The '50s edition was almost entirely about baseball in NYC too. It's been 12 or 13 years since I saw the original, but I liked it. The orig ran in 1994 running, though not intentionally, during the strike.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 28 2010 07:13 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

MFYs winning the 96 series... Again. F this show.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 28 2010 09:25 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Frayed Knot wrote: A Boy Named Seo wrote: Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox. The Irishman is pulling your chain a bit, although reportedly the 'tenth inning' is very NE-centric, or at least most of it that's not concentrating on the strike and steroid issues. And as much as the rest of the country will complain about (yet more) east coast bias, it is kind of justifiable. Ripken, the Yanx late-90s run, 9/11, the Boston miracle and its sequel, etc., were the biggest stories and all happened to happen mostly on the east coast. There are those big-headed fellas what hit them dingers, no?

G-Fafif Sep 28 2010 10:26 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

This chapter was suspiciously light on covering all those Mets world championships of the '90s.

sharpie Sep 29 2010 07:30 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

There was a shot of the Endy catch. Maybe Part II will make Metly mention.

G-Fafif Sep 29 2010 07:44 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Met glimpses in the Top of the Tenth: • Disgusted fans throwing dollar bills at Bobby Bonilla after the strike. • Rey Ordonez making his trademark one-knee grab and throw in a segment on Latin players (with Howie's old "put a circle around it!" in the background. • One of the talking heads recalling taking the 7 train past Shea (with period footage) during the strike and being mad that it was empty. • End of 2000 World Series as coda to the Joe Torre/1996 bleechfest. Pedro Martinez served as a talking head, though Burns probably picked him for reasons having nothing to do with the Mets.

Lefty Specialist Sep 29 2010 08:20 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

It was well done as always. The willful blindness to the steroid-fueled home run contest in '98 was explored well. And c'mon, you can't do a history of late '90's baseball without devoting plenty of time to the Yankees. There was actually less on them than I expected. And no matter how many times I see it, I can't get enough of that Endy catch.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 29 2010 08:27 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

It was a helluva lot better than those cheap-o docs that came on after the program on Channel 13, if you happened to see them. Supported by a grant from the Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, too.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 29 2010 09:06 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Boston Globe unsentimental curmudgeon/excellent sportswriter Charles Pierce's takeis mixed, but ends on a pretty fantastic line: Pedro Martinez is shaping up to be a terrific talking-head. And what can I tell you, George Will still talks like your grandmother's underwear drawer.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 29 2010 09:21 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

My reaction to yesterday's segment was one of disinterest. It's the first Burns inning where the Mets existed but didn't figure and reminded me of how irrelevant the franchise had become, even accounting for their 2000 WS appearance.

G-Fafif Sep 29 2010 02:21 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: It was a helluva lot better than those cheap-o docs that came on after the program on Channel 13, if you happened to see them. Supported by a grant from the Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, too. Indeed. I was happy to see somebody I know on the segment on NY championship teams that debuted last night, and a FAFIF reader dutifully informed us he's on tonight's premiere (he took home movies of the Swoboda catch), but generally speaking they look like they were produced by Fran Healy, and the theme throughout is "baseball is really important to some people." Plus way too much MFYness. Good prep work for October, I suppose.

G-Fafif Sep 29 2010 06:03 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Bottom of Tenth beginning with slow montage of Red Sox and Fenway through history. Who could have seen that coming?

Frayed Knot Sep 29 2010 08:00 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Tuned in to see if Luis Gonzalez's hit fell over the infield again. It did.

G-Fafif Sep 29 2010 11:07 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Post 9/11 segments include nothing on Piazza's home run or anything Mets-related, save for a story from Keith Olbermann running into a cop near Ground Zero who was worrying about whether the Mets could catch the Braves. Ken Burns: myopia gone wild.

Lefty Specialist Sep 30 2010 08:17 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I work in what was a frozen zone for a few days after 9/11, so I had to stay home, and I have to admit one thing I kept thinking about in the back of my mind was, 'boy, this is really going to screw up the Mets'. I always felt a little guilty about that. I feel a little less so today. Thanks, Keith.

Willets Point Sep 30 2010 09:10 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

G-Fafif wrote: Post 9/11 segments include nothing on Piazza's home run or anything Mets-related, save for a story from Keith Olbermann running into a cop near Ground Zero who was worrying about whether the Mets could catch the Braves. Ken Burns: myopia gone wild. Gosh, if I were to make a baseball movie covering 1994-2009, the first game in NYC after 9/11 would be the first Mets-related thing I would think of including. In fact, I could see cutting all other Mets content from that period, but that game was so transcendent and powerful it would have to be in the movie.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 30 2010 09:29 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Willets Point wrote: Post 9/11 segments include nothing on Piazza's home run or anything Mets-related, save for a story from Keith Olbermann running into a cop near Ground Zero who was worrying about whether the Mets could catch the Braves. Ken Burns: myopia gone wild. Gosh, if I were to make a baseball movie covering 1994-2009, the first game in NYC after 9/11 would be the first Mets-related thing I would think of including. In fact, I could see cutting all other Mets content from that period, but that game was so transcendent and powerful it would have to be in the movie. Essentially, they did cut all Mets content from the tenth inning. I was at that post 9/11 Piazza HR game. I hated some aspects of it. The patriotism, to me, was zealot-like. They gave away small American Flags on a stick (about 3 or 4 inches long). I remember wanting to throw mine away about 5 seconds after I got my flag because I didn't feel like holding it all game long and I might've injured myself had I tried to stick the stick and flag in my pocket. I remember looking around to see if the coast was clear before I threw my flag in a stadium garbage can. I also got into a heated argument with one of the concessionaires. I got to the front of the food line after about 15 minutes, when the National Anthem started. Then they stopped serving. I didn't know if this was a regular custom or some new post 9/11 practice. But I argued enough that the server eventually gave in and gave me my damn food. Which, par for Shea Stadium, was probably crappy anyway.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 30 2010 11:21 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I was there too. Hated the line they made us get in, and almost missed the first pitch. Conessions were so jammed and slow you couldn't get something to eat or drink. But when Piazza hit the HR, I jumped up and down, up and down, landed accidentally on a beer bottle in the aisle and fell over three seats in rapt emotional delirium.

G-Fafif Sep 30 2010 01:25 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Regarding the flags, I wasn't handed one on my way in but found one lying under an unoccupied seat, checked with Charlie Daniels (who informed it's a flag, not a rag) and grabbed it. Found myself waving it as part of a Let's Go Mets chant at one point and thought it was a little inappropriate for such a purpose. But I'll never forget that when Piazza rounded the bases, and they skipped the usual musical accompaniment, the sound of those flags rustling as seemingly everybody was waving them in celebration. An incredible crossroads of baseball and America. I can see why Burns overlooked it entirely. Only other Metsian note from Bottom of the Tenth that I detected was an isolated shot of Endy's catch as part of a montage of "baseball is still great" plays. It was actually the last specific play shown before the wrapup, which lingered over Fenway Park while Doris Kearns Goodwin congratulated herself for existing. But no discussion of the catch itself or of many things, Metsian or not, that would have made this installment interesting -- but I did learn the Red Sox won a World Series in 2004.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 30 2010 01:39 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Flag waver! Keith Hernandez appeared (in civvies) as Burns' poster boy for Baseball's 1985 drug trials, held in Pittsburgh.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 30 2010 01:52 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Flag waver! Keith Hernandez appeared (in civvies) as Burns' poster boy for Baseball's 1985 drug trials, held in Pittsburgh. The Mets got screwed in Burns' doc even when they were mentioned. Beginning with Burns' coverage of 20th century baseball, each decade was given two hours worth of attention. But the 9th inning chapter condensed almost 25 years worth of baseball (1970-1994) into the two hour format, thus skimping on coverage of Davey Johnson's Mets and Tom Seaver, who deserved his own segment, much like earlier greats like Koufax and Waddell and Johnson got their own segments. It is fair to mention Seaver in the same breath as those other greats, yes?

TransMonk Sep 30 2010 01:59 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Yeah, not a lot of Mets representation in this 6 hours of pomp. Still, more than the Royals, Pirates, Reds, Brewers and Tigers got. The Nats fans got a great highlight of Bonds hitting #756 of of Mike Basik. I enjoyed the original series, but this installment didn't do much for me. But then again, I don't give a hoot about the Red Sox or the Yankees. Thumbs down, Mr. Burns. Thumbs down. As a side note...I know that Keith David does a lot of voice over work, but I can't listen to his voice without thinking of his role in Requiem For A Dream. "I know it's pretty baby, but I didn't take it out for air." Others might remember him as Mary's stepfather from There's Something About Mary.

Edgy DC Sep 30 2010 02:02 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Did they cover the Montreal pullout well?

TransMonk Sep 30 2010 02:11 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: Did they cover the Montreal pullout well? Not that I recall at all.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 30 2010 02:16 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

TransMonk wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Did they cover the Montreal pullout well? Not that I recall at all. That makes sense. I mean, it's not like contraction and/or team economics were big news at all for a year or ten before/during/after the strike.

Edgy DC Sep 30 2010 02:20 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

That's amazing. Montreal, among other things, was the team most damaged by the strike. Sacre bleu!

G-Fafif Sep 30 2010 02:22 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

1994 Expos were celebrated/mourned, but their franchise's ultimate fate was treated as a footnote.

Frayed Knot Sep 30 2010 03:29 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: That's amazing. Montreal, among other things, was the team most damaged by the strike. Sacre bleu! They did deal with Les Expos' spot in the standings and the talent of their roster at the time of the strike and how it killed their season, but then didn't seem to think that the long-term affects needed saying. On a related note they probably should have dealt with (I saw about 3/4 of it) MLB's inability to deal with the growth in revenue disparity beyond just a throw-away line about the owners being 'unable to keep their own house in order'.

Edgy DC Sep 30 2010 04:20 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

I wonder about how much deference they felt they had to pay Bud Selig, considering the whole shebang is set during his watch.

DocTee Oct 01 2010 07:58 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I've not seen a single minute of this, but my colleague, a ChiSox fan, is livid over the attention the Red Sox have gotten while his team gets short-changed. He's writing a letter to PBS, even.

TransMonk Oct 01 2010 08:13 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Yeah, there was about 90 minutes dedicated to the Red Sox winning in 2004, but about a 10 second clip of the White Sox winning in 2005. Did Burns understand that White Sox fans had to wait 2 years longer than RSN for their team to win a championship?

Frayed Knot Oct 01 2010 08:17 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

DocTee wrote: I've not seen a single minute of this, but my colleague, a ChiSox fan, is livid over the attention the Red Sox have gotten while his team gets short-changed. He's writing a letter to PBS, even. But they didn't have a long drought like the Bost ... oh wait, they did! Well, they didn't have as long a drought AND have hordes of east coast intellectuals pulling for them, SO THERE!! In all seriousness it might have been a nice idea to mention that there were eight different champions over a nine season span (including first-timers like the Angels and the long-time suffering ChiSoxers) in the midst of the supposed non-parity era, but I guess that didn't fit so neatly into the narrative.

metirish Oct 01 2010 08:32 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Ok, this wasn't all that good. Two people saved this for me from being a complete shambles, Pedro Martinez and Marcos Breton a journalist from Sacramento Bee I think , gotta say that I don't get the hate for George Will(not on here but elsewhere).

HahnSolo Oct 01 2010 08:46 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Didn' t see the doc, but on the Red Sox/White Sox thing: The Red Sox drought was amplified by: heartbreaking 7-game losses in 4 different World Series; a one-game playoff loss at home; Grady Little and Brett Boone; and the whole Bambino thing. Overhyped? Yes. But there's much more of a story there. This is not even considering the down 3-0 in the ALCS part of the story. The White Sox had feeble postseason performances in 59, 83, and 93, hence no real heartwrenching losses, plus it brought joy to Hawk Harrelson (though the beating Clemens part was nice). So yeah, if it were me doing the documentary, I'd pay more attention to the Red Sox.

Gwreck Oct 01 2010 08:50 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

HahnSolo wrote: The White Sox had feeble postseason performances in 59, 83, and 93 Also 2000, under then-manager Jerry Manuel. Best record in the league and they went down 0-3 in the division series.

TransMonk Oct 01 2010 08:58 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Gwreck wrote: Also 2000, under then-manager Jerry Manuel. Best record in the league and they went down 0-3 in the division series. Severely out-managed by Lou Pinella, IIRC.

Lefty Specialist Oct 01 2010 09:06 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

It was interesting to see 5 seconds of a skinny, pre-assault K-Rod give up a 9th inning bomb in the 2002 World Series. I'd go out on a limb and say the 2004 Red Sox were the story of the decade, though. They may not have deserved half the show, but the Red Sox/Yankee dynamic has pretty much been the biggest thing around.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 01 2010 09:13 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I didn't see part II, but shirley the Sawx in 04 were the story of the decade. That and the whole roidy thing, and the whole new revenue thing.

Edgy DC Oct 01 2010 09:14 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I'll happily say that the comeback from down 3-0 alone was non-Mets baseball at it's finest.

metirish Oct 01 2010 09:14 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

The Red Sox thing didn't bother me, the 2003/04 post seasons were phenomenal to watch and they obviously were a huge part of both.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 01 2010 09:26 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

DocTee wrote: I've not seen a single minute of this, but my colleague, a ChiSox fan, is livid over the attention the Red Sox have gotten while his team gets short-changed. He's writing a letter to PBS, even. Is this the kind of thing that a sane adult gets "livid" over? Maybe peeved. Or miffed. Or irked. Or even annoyed. But livid??

TransMonk Oct 01 2010 09:30 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Very few peeps outside of the 13 colonies give a flying fig about the Sawks vs. the Yankees. For fans in Illinois, the 2005 ChiSox were the story of the decade (along with Bartman). Livid may be a bit much, but I can understand being more than miffed at the understatement.

MFS62 Oct 01 2010 09:32 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy DC wrote: That's amazing. Montreal, among other things, was the team most damaged by the strike. Sacre bleu! They did deal with Les Expos' spot in the standings and the talent of their roster at the time of the strike and how it killed their season, but then didn't seem to think that the long-term affects needed saying. There had been hockey strikes 1992-1994 of various durations. The fans returned. I guess hockey was more intrenched than baseball. And the strike toppled baseball interest over the edge. Later

metirish Oct 01 2010 09:44 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I was going to say that one reason why the 2005 W Sox were not so celebrated in the documentary is that they played in a terrible WS , then I remembered that the 2004 WS was just as bad.

Edgy DC Oct 01 2010 09:46 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

The fan abandoment was overstated. And McGwire and Sosa "saving" baseball was grossly overstated, if not wholly manufactured. The NHL Players Association is notoriously strike averse. The strike of 1992 lasted only 10 days. The 1994-1995 season was intterupted by an owners' lockout, and it was a lockout again that cancelled the 2004-2005 season.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 01 2010 09:50 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: The fan abandoment was overstated. And McGwire and Sosa "saving" baseball was grossly overstated, if not wholly manufactured. Tell it, brother. Amen.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 01 2010 10:10 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

metirish wrote: Ok, this wasn't all that good. Two people saved this for me from being a complete shambles, Pedro Martinez and Marcos Breton a journalist from Sacramento Bee... Breton's a hell of a beat and features writer, too. Pedro needs to be in a booth. Badly. Like, if Keith and/or Ron ever seriously hint at going another direction, SNY should be on him like a hungry baby on a teat.

Willets Point Oct 01 2010 10:14 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

I haven't seen The Tenth Inning, but if I were making a baseball history documentary about 1994-2009, this is what I would include: *1994 strike and aftermath *Cal Ripken's continuous game streak *Brave's success over 15 season period (yuck...but it has to be there) * Baseball's growing international appeal, especially arrival of Asian stars like Hideo Nomo, Chan Ho Park, and Ichiro (WPS should be mentioned too, especially with Japan winning) * McGwire/Sosa homerun race and the excitement that it brought, but also a critical eye to the questionable nature of their success * Yankee success of the late 90's & early oughts (yeah I know, yuck again, but they can also show the role PED's played) *Sept. 11th & baseball's response (the Mets/Braves game being prominent here as well as Mets wearing NYPD/FDNY hats in games) * Revelations of widespread steroids/PED's used by prominent players and teams * Expansion teams come of age with first World Series championships (Marlins, Diamondbacks, Angels) and first pennants (Astros, Rockies) * Red Sox and White Sox end long championship droughts * Expos managed by MLB and moved to Washington * Focus on top players of era: Ken Griffey, Cal Ripken, Chipper Jones, Ichiro, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Johan Santana * Outside of MLB, the growing popularity of Little League World Series as source of inspiration and scandal That would be the basic requirements as far as I'm concerned. Did I leave anything out? Like I said before I'd love more Met content, but I can see the Mets being left out except for Sept. 11th.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 01 2010 10:20 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Willets Point wrote: That would be the basic requirements as far as I'm concerned. Did I leave anything out? Sabermetrics penetrates the mainstream. The stadium revolution. Wild Cards/Expanded playoffs/Interleague play

Willets Point Oct 01 2010 10:22 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Oh yeah, I forgot I was going to list Bud Selig's innovations too. I like you're other two suggestions as well.

Edgy DC Oct 01 2010 10:25 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

You know, a big thing in the nineties that's pretty taken for granted now is the return of the independent minor leagues.

Willets Point Oct 01 2010 10:32 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: You know, a big thing in the nineties that's pretty taken for granted now is the return of the independent minor leagues. Good point. The St. Paul Saints were outdrawing the Twins for a while after the strike.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 01 2010 10:37 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

More missing Mets from the 10th Inning: During the Joe Torre segment, the producers used video from every major league team Torre was ever asscociated with (Braves -- as player and manager; Cards -- as player and manager; Yankees (obviously) as manager) except the Mets.

metirish Oct 01 2010 11:04 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Most if not all the things Willets would cover were covered to some degree.

TransMonk Oct 01 2010 11:56 AM Re: The Tenth Inning

Frank Thomas Albert Pujols Jeff Bagwell Mike Piazza Edgar Martinez Great sluggers of the era with little to no coverage in this documentary. Did they get swept under the carpet because of the steroid suspicion of the era? Also, who is this Barnacle guy and what does he have to do with baseball...other than being an idiot Red Sox fan?

Frayed Knot Oct 01 2010 12:32 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

I think part of what makes ChiSox fans (or at least some of them) easily steamed is that they see themselves as suffering a kind of double bias: a) they're not part of the east coast and therefore ignored by 'Big Media' b) even in their own part of the world they're overshadowed in the minds of 'Big Media' by the Cubs And while their WS win over Houston might have been 4-0 they were all, IIRC, 1-run games and it wasn't a bad series at all. Mike Barnicle is a longtime Boston Globe writer - politics mostly - and is certainly a member of the east coast media's inner circle.

TransMonk Oct 01 2010 12:39 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Frayed Knot wrote: And while their WS win over Houston might have been 4-0 they were all, IIRC, 1-run games and it wasn't a bad series at all. 4 complete game wins in a row during the ALCS is nothing to sneeze at either. Pitching DOMINANCE.

Willets Point Oct 01 2010 01:13 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Frayed Knot wrote: Mike Barnicle is a longtime Boston Globe writer - politics mostly - and is certainly a member of the east coast media's inner circle. Barnicle actually left the Globe in 1998 after a plagiarism scandal and is writing for the Herald now. From what I understand from people who've lived in Boston longer than I, Barnicle once was a good columnist who wrote from the perspective of the "little guy" but became more of a lazy hack as he grew older.

SteveJRogers Oct 01 2010 02:42 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Frayed Knot wrote: b) even in their own part of the world they're overshadowed in the minds of 'Big Media' by the Cubs And it would appear, to them, that the majority of Cub fans, or at least those showing up every day at Wrigley are of the casual or tourist variety and the media's constant calling of Cub fans as long suffering die hards rings hollow.

Edgy DC Oct 01 2010 02:46 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Hey, Steve's back! Steve, looks like I owe you some money, honey.

SteveJRogers Oct 01 2010 07:34 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: Hey, Steve's back! Steve, looks like I owe you some money, honey. I'd be wondering if Project Children gives box sets with donations, that is a lot for a single album!

Edgy DC Oct 01 2010 07:42 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Bottom of the tenth for the Metskis here.

Willets Point Oct 01 2010 07:43 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: Bottom of the tenth for the Metskis here. I don' t think this will make it into a Ken Burns movie either.

G-Fafif Oct 01 2010 10:11 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

metirish wrote: I was going to say that one reason why the 2005 W Sox were not so celebrated in the documentary is that they played in a terrible WS , then I remembered that the 2004 WS was just as bad. Have to disagree. '05 WS was tense as could be -- four great games. But it was a sweep, which will put a different spin on things. Game Two: Astros tie in top of ninth, White Sox win in bottom; Game Three: Fourteen-inning affair won by little-used Geoff Blum. Game Four: A 1-0 nailbiter. Throw in the 88 year void, the breaking of the Black Sox curse, a powder keg of a manager (who happens to be Latin, per another Burns theme) and the presence of Roger Clemens and it could have been a great story. Not that the Red Sox weren't essential to telling the story, but Burns overdetailed those two series and indulged his fetish with too much rehash footage of Sawx history. He also over did the 1996 Yankees, I thought.

Edgy DC Oct 01 2010 10:14 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Also the near constant presence of Barbara Bush in the front row.

G-Fafif Oct 01 2010 10:55 PM Re: The Tenth Inning

Edgy DC wrote: Also the near constant presence of Barbara Bush in the front row. Not two months after she suggested the Astros' former home was an upgrade over people's homes in New Orleans. I want to remake Burns's film. We all (more or less) want to remake Burns's film. It's a tribute of sorts to his compelling storytelling ability that so many people want their team and moments given proper Burns treatment. It's not like there haven't been portrayals of 9/11 that didn't give Piazza and the Mets their due, but there is a sense that this is the documentary of record. It feels wrong that it (for us) is left out; I'd mention the Grand Slam Single probably deserved at least interlude treatment. I've seen MFY fans complain the '98 team didn't get enough screen time. I've seen fans of every team ask, in essence, where's ours? Burns has a point of view, as do all documentarians. I grudgingly have to say it's his film, though we all feel we have a stake in it. (Which isn't to say that some of it doesn't kind of suck.)