'Catching hell' ESPN 30 for 30

There would have been no momentum if Alex Gonzalez handles a routine play.

 

Exactly ... What a team of mental midgets they are if they allow a missed foul ball catch to cause them to give up 8 runs with 1 out and no one on. Definitely sounds like the Cubs though.

Fans in that stadium deserve what they got.

 

Cubs' Suck.

Tis' all.

 

What kind of attitude is that to have?? How about you don't let one action affect the entire game, and you focus on getting the remaining outs that will take you to the World Series? They let that entire incident get completely out of hand, and in the process, ruined a man's life forever. It's sad, disgraceful, and is one of the biggest reasons why I hope the Cubs never win a World Series. Cubs fans have to be some of the biggest sad sacks around, and it's pathetic.

 

Thing is, you go to any ballpark in any city and you will find fans that reach for balls whether foul or fair, in play or out of play. Steve Bartman was not the only one leaning over. It could have been anyone of them or us if we had been there.

In fact, last time I went to Minute Maid (2010) a fan was escorted away from his seat because he leaned over to catch a fair ball hit along the 3rd baseline - one of those hits that hits the field of play then bounces out. Microanalyzation is rather ridiculous, prior to Steve Bartman most baseball fans would not have thought about the conscequences of reaching for a foul ball. Though we saw the effects of a fan reaching for a fair ball in the infamous Baltimore-New York game.

 

Reach for a foul ball? A**hole
Reach for a fair ball? Hero

 

Yeah I watched it too. Dragged on for quite awhile once it got to the ball catch scene but then it picked up again. I knew the guy basically lived as a hermit already but I completely forgot he didn't catch the ball AND the guy who picked it up made $100,000 off of it. Unreal. I do feel bad for the guy, just seemed like a die hard fan that made a boneheaded mistake.

 

Bartman could have made more than 100K if he decided to grant interviews etc.

If I were him I would have moved down to Miami where I could be a hero, and renounce my Cubs fandom, while also making some $$$ off of this publicity.

I'd embrace my status as being public enemy #1.

 

Yeah that's the one thing that puzzled me. He didn't want anything to do with it, but could have made even more money by just telling his side of the story. I would've at least left Chicago.

 

Did the other cubs fans who also tried to get the ball get heckled as well?

 

Not from the looks of it, I rememberr watching it live and Bartman was singled out because he touched it first.

 

Somewhat. He's Pat Looney. He is is a firefighter, pub owner, and was featured in the film. Had he been in Steve Bartman's seat, this story and outrage would have a completely different tone.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=110927/PatLooney

 

I was always kind of a cubs fan until that era. Between Bartman and the d-bag behavior of their players of that era, I've grown to to hate that team. Even given years to cool, a lot of Cubs fans don't fell bad about what they did to that guy.

It was simply a foul ball, his bad decision didn't even allow a baserunner or prevent the final out. After his play, they still had a 3 run lead, with one out and nobody on in the eight inning. And a whole game 7 to fall back on. Don't give me that momentum nonsense.

Prior fell apart because he threw too many pitches, just like baker always allowed him to do. 8 runs, seriously

Dusty Baker is the primary reason they lost. Him and a permanent loser mentality around that entire organization.

I hate the Cubs

 

Alou overreacted and the crowd fed off of him IMO, as far as their anger was concerned. If he blows it off and continues to play then no big deal. The Cubs were mental midgets if they let that keep them from going to the world series. Imagine if the 94/95 Rockets were that way? How many times were they in positions where they could have folded? Lucky for us they weren't mental midgets and it's why they have rings and the Cubs don't.

 

When watching it live, THAT was when I felt the game slipping into the Twilight Zone, not after Bartman's interference. It became weird.

 

I honestly believe that in hindsight Alou knows he had no chance to catch the ball. He disputes that he ever said he wouldn't have caught it, but I don't think that's true. He probably said something about it off the cuff to a reporter not really thinking and the guy ran with it.

 

I was hopping the documentary would culminate with an interview with Bartman. I think it is kind of cool that he has become a myth; people thinking he left and became a bull-fighter or batman is hilarious.


So I guess 30 for 30 has evolved into "ESPN films presents"

 

Bartman didnt help his case by looking like a total idiot, while the cameras were on him.

Overall , the movie/show was average. Dragged on quite a bit and Bill Buckner material was not needed.

Overplayed on its importance to sports as whole.

 

i thought they said in the 30 for 30 that he did get paid like 10k from a local news station for an interview but they only showed his shadow and never showed his face.

but ya, dude has declined everything else. anyone think it was kind of ridiculous with the espn guy being told to find bartman and get an interview staked out his house and followed him to work. then sat in the parking garage for like 9 hours and then approached bartman as he was leaving work? wtf dude, if the guy was still working at his job, couldnt have been hard to look him up, no?

also, they mentioned something about him not using credit cards because his names on them, was that confirmed or just a rumor like, "oh i bet he cant even use a credit card"?

 

not sure he looked like an idiot. he looked shocked/dejected to me. which would be expected, dude was/is a huge cubs fan, on top of it, you heard all the people yelling at him, even death threats. how is he supposed to act? turn around and smile/laugh at the crowd and shrug his shoulders?