'Catching Hell' - documentary

Watching the trailer about Jay DeMerit inspired me to highly recommend to anyone the documentary 'Catching Hell' about Steve Bartman and the infamous foul ball incident at Wrigley Field during a Chicago Cubs playoff game in 2003 (5 outs away from the Cubbies playing for their first championship since 1908). Extremely well done (same filmmaker that did that great Enron doc). This film draws parallels to the 1986 Bill Buckner play and the Bartman play, and how fans & media react & remember. Don't have to be a baseball fan at all to enjoy this sociologically fascinating case study.

 

Thought it was decent. I am not a Cubs fan and even I was pissed off at Bartman. I kinda felt sorry him though after watching the documentary.

 

Just watched this tonight. Really great documentary.

I actually remember watching it live on Fox that night and couldnt believe the events that unfolded. I was certain that the Cubs were going to win it.

At the time I understood the Cub fans' frustrations but the documentary really brought up some stuff that I didnt even realize went on. I just feel absolutely awful for the guy.

It's pretty amazing how he's stayed out of the spotlight, especially with all the potential endorsement deals. Can't say I could pass up that sort of money. Probably was the better choice though.

 

I happened to catch most of it last night. Really does show you how the moment can cloud what you see. I remembered it so differently. I remembered the seats being more at ground level; I didnt realize Alou had to jump to catch it. To me it makes a difference cause when your seats are up higher off the field you're less likely to think you can get in the way.

I also remember thinking the guys was a total idiot. I imagined he was some yuppie who got the tickets through work or something and didnt really care about the Cubs, baseball, or anything other than himself. Never would have guessed he was a lifelong Cubs fan and little league coach. It's so hard to believe this could've happened to someone like that. In the end, the fans have no one to blame but themselves; they were toxic.

I've really liked almost all of these 30 for 30 documentaries. I would like to see one made about Glenn Burke. He was an LA Dodger back when I was a big fan. An absolutely amazing athlete that became the first openly gay MLB player. The Dodgers were a great organization back then but not with the way they treated him. I was truly ashamed of them. He was a great player and seemed like a really nice guy. Also he and Dusty Baker invented the "high five".

 

Mo, I've really enjoyed watching these documentaries as well. Though I haven't seen "Catching Hell" yet, my wife enjoyed it and I think was in line with most. She was feeling sorry for the man. I'm hoping to catch it over the weekend between FFC and college football. might be a midnighter.

 

That pretty well sums up what I took away from it. Ironically, he saved Gonzalez from going down as Chicago's version of Buckner. Given the impact of each blunder, that's irrational, but there you go.