OT:ESPN 30 for 30 Steve Bartman on tonight

I can't watch it. It is easily the most overrated piece of sports lore out there and the way the Cubs fans blamed HIM given all the other factors is just despicable.

There used to be a fun show on ESPN (hosted by the excellent Brian Kenny) called "Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame..." or something like that. It laid it out perfectly why Bartmann as scapegoat was complete bullshit and the product of baseball's stupid fascination with the myth of curses. Leave it to ESPN to come out with a show that presumably contradicts everything another program on their network stated.

With Buckner or Jim Joyce, you can easily say the affected teams' universes would have been different had those men made a different action in those spots. Bartman is nowhere CLOSE to that. The other variables in the situation are overwhelming.

Very interesting. I liked that they used Bill Buckner as such an analogy and kept coming back to him on interviews. If they couldn't get Bartman, that was probably the next best thing. That said, I didn't find it a truly changing documentary like some of the others have been. The guy next to Bartman is still hedging his statements to this day, "Yeah, I was going for it, ... till I saw Alou's glove", and the whole thing about the interviewer tracking down Bartman never really went anywhere. Without actually getting the interview, that's a dead end.

Now that's rich. And the glee some of them still take in being assholes. This is why sports fans suck.
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<br>Sorry, this is why people suck. 8 runs because of one play. The only person who doesn't look bad in this IS Bartman.

BUT oh well.... Steve Bartman and being taken to every game for the last 13 years at the Big House made me a sports fan. Sure in 2003, I was 8 and I was a Michigan fan but I really didnt get into it that much until I saw this. I remember it so well. I was watching it with my Dad and pleaded him to turn off baseball but he didn't and I sat there and pouted and just watched the TV.... Then when it happened I remember my dad saying that guy's life was changed because of a sport. I felt so bad for him that I said I would root against the Marlins from there on and I went on to root for the Yankees in the World Series and they lost. I was so upset and thought back to the little nerdy guy with the TurtleNeck guy and what my Dad said about how sports changed his life. And from that point on I watched every bit of coverage on the whole story on ESPN. I became the kid that would watch SportsCenter all day. I also became the biggest Yankee Fan and started to actually follow Michigan Football intensly. Without Steve Bartman, the Cubs might be World Champs, I might be a nerdy book reader, and I might not be the Michigan Fanatic I am today. BRING ON THE COOL STORY BRO COMMENTS

There probably is now.  And it'll be there until Bartman decides to forgive the city of Chicago for what they did to his life.  As for the Cubs that night, if you can't hold yourself together when it's 1 out, 2 strikes in the 8th and you're up 3-0, you sure as hell don't deserve to go the Series.

0-16, Mike Utley paralyzed, Eric Andolsek ran over while mowing his lawn, Chuck HUghes dying on the field, Reggie Brown nearly paralyzed versus the Jets, Reggie and Charles Rogers, Matt Millen...need I say more?
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<br>No franchise in America comes close to the LIons for being cursed. No one.

The most disturbing part of that whole series were the clips of fans calling into the sports talk radio station saying they were going to track down Bartman and murder him; and the radio host having to talk them off the ledge.  Chilling.  If karma exists, then Cubs fans should have to endure another 100 years without a World Series appearance for their mistreatment of Steve Bartman.

The most amazing part of his story is the multiple offers and opportunities he's had to profit off his infamy and he's taken none of it.  Steve Bartman is a class, character guy.  Chicago isn't good enough for him.

I watched it last night and it was really sad how people reacted (and still do) towards him.  The guy has to live the rest of his life in hiding for doing the exact same thing that everyone else around him was doing.

Full disclosure - I'm a cubs fan, have been forever, and was a Junior in high school when it happened.

The film was hard to watch. At times it definitely dragged, I thought it was good to parallel Buckner - his error was in game 6 too, but yes they focused too much on Boston. Fuck Boston. They've won. I remember watching game 5 with my dad and saying "It's fine that we lost. We have Prior and Wood going the next two games, we'll be fine. They're two of the best pitchers in baseball."

And it was true. I'm now pretty ashamed to say I (along with half my high school) was Bartman for Halloween that year, but I never felt the rage or vitriol that spewed from the stadium, that was hard to watch. The fans chanting "we'll kill you!" or the people throwing beers, that I didn't remember, and that was terrible. I remember Gonzo's error, and I think that the "Bartman Play" did have a HUGE effect on the game, but because of attitude. The city/team was really tight, and they did tighten up more and blow it after the foul ball. I didn't like the ending of the film, I prefer to think of another what-if scenario. What if Alou had a reaction like Gallaraga did? What if Prior had told Alou "No big deal" turned around and calmly kept pitching like Gallaraga? The players were looking for an out, and they took it. Had Alou not freaked out, or Prior not focused on the "fan interference" and just focused on his next pitch, whole different sports world.

He's the fan walking around behind Bartman and threw beer all over Bartman and the people close by. Then he wanted to fight Bartman. He gets on ESPN last night (getting his 5 minutes of fame) and has a stupid smile while talking about his part in the fiasco. He still didn't feel bad or sorry. He still thinks Bartman was to blame. Yea, iliked to notch slap the guy . Think his name is James Cuthbert.

That if Bartman was 6'4" and big, or even if he looked less like a total geek, the response (at least in the stadium) would have been somewhat different. You couldn't script a scapegoat any better - someone in his own world at the game, listening to his headphones, and looking like a total toolbag.

Of course, if Moises Alou doesn't act like a petulant 6-year-old after the play, it's a total non-issue.