October 14, 2008
Yes, It's "The Bartman Incident" Anniversary
It was five years ago tonight that Steve Bartman made his infamous grab for a foul ball in the left field stands at Wrigely. We all remember. And while we here at Chicagoist have gone on record before calling curses a load of bunk, it's still, for better or (mostly) worse, an iconic moment in Chicago baseball history. We'd just like to remind you, though, that even though everyone points to this as a turning point in the series, there's still the issue of Alex Gonzalez muffing a sure double-play ball and the bullpen collapsing later in that game. Oh, and it was also Game Six. Just like the Buckner play during Red Sox-Mets in '86. The Cubs still had a Game Seven to win the series (just like the Sox) but blew a 5-3 lead to lose that game as well. The lesson here? Blame the bullpen. Always blame the bullpen.
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I've ALWAYS blamed Alex Gonzalez for that game. If he'd made that (very simple) double play, it would've ended the inning before it spiralled out of control. poor Bartman just made a more interesting story.
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I'd rather not talk about baseball anymore for a long long time.
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yeah, leave the poor guy alone. if the cubs were such winners, they wouldn't have choked afterwards.
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Much as I loathe sports, I've always felt bad for Steve Bartman.
He did what any fan would do, maybe a little over-eager but still, and he was treated like a child molesting flag-burning Sox fan by the Cub-thugs.
It's the epitome of the pettiness and underlying anger of sports fans. See how they turn on their own.
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It's the epitome of the pettiness and underlying anger of sports fans. See how they turn on their own.
Not so fast with the generalizatinos, albany. I for one thought the entire situation was ridiculous, from Alou's over-the-top reaction right after to the Harry Carey restaurant attention grabbers blowing up the "Bartman Ball" and throwing more fuel on the stupid fire. Not every sports fan believes in black cats, billy goats and guys sitting 15 rows back.
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Cooler heads prevailed with Cubs fans about Bartman and as usual now it's only the media that brings him up and acts like Cubs fans still burn him in effigy every Oct. 15th and stalk him and threaten his life.
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Pain aside, I love that the entire scenario was predicted on a 1987 episode of Married With Children.
http://www.tv.com/married-...-with-children/nightmare-on-als-street/episode/11455/summary.html?user_rating=15&rating_ref_type=103
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@Stealth:
Here's the thing, in my job at the time my boss liked to blare sports radio (The Score, I think?) from his office. I was in college and the pay was pretty good, so I dealt with it.
When the Bartman thing happened I remember hearing one of the hosts appealing for calm after about a dozen callers had called for everything from the man's exile to a lynch mob. Even the most reasonable of them were frothing at the mouth.
Up till then I'd been rather agnostic about sports. But that rage, that irrationality directed at a guy who did something EVERY sport fan would have, man, that turned me from agnostic to Richard Dawkins when it comes to pro sports.
Well, that and all the money, the stadiums and general flummery these companies get up to.
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The Score? really? Sports radio? It's all bitter alarmist jackasses, and those are just the hosts. The callers are even worse. the hosts actually make the callers seem rational in a world of complete irrationality.
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'Tis true for any sports radio, for sure.
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Hearing this one guy (Mike North? They all has the same direction, monosyllabic names) appealing for calm. Like the ship had hit an iceberg or something.
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Judging sports fans based on how callers to a radio show act is like judging Americans based on how Limbaugh fans or Larouchies act.
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@AlbanyParkour..."Up till then I'd been rather agnostic about sports"
Now that you are are not agnostic about sports, are you only going to judge this one sports incident?
You don't have to dig deep to find sports stories that reflect the human spirit, and how alive it is.
You also don't have to dig deep to find sports stories that show-off the worst in people.
It goes both ways, I guess.
But it seems pretty short sighted to b "agnostic about sports" to begin with....and then take "one sports incident" and use that as your litmus test for everything sports.
That is like a kid not liking the first book he/she ever read and then concluding "all books suck".
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North was horrible.
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I think that shunning pro sports because of the delusional mopes that call(ed) Mike North is akin to giving up on music on account of groupies. Read any demographic account of who actually attends sporting events and you'll find a fairly well-educated bunch.
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Every time I watch that play, I always think about the other 2 or 3 guys who reach and lunge for the ball (and miss) before it got to Bartman...those people must thank their lucky stars each night that they have no coordination, and as a result haven't ended up with their own wikipedia page.
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It's just not in my nature to watch pro sports. I don't like country music much either, but unless I'm trapped somewhere and can't get away from it, live and let live.
I'm sure there are great human stories in sports. But so much of the business of sports does not sit well with me. Hearing people going into a rage about millionaires playing a game, it's unsettling.
I felt dreadful for Bartman. The guy was clearly a fan and suddenly he's the Anti-Christ.
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Albanyparkour...you can't have it both ways my friend.
You keep chiming in on a sports story with your "take" and then end your soap box speech with "well, I'm not a sports fan" (uninformed about sports).
It does not surprise me then, that you have the take you do.
It is okay to be uninformed about sports, just don't talk like you are informed...when it comes to sports.
People do not think Bartman is the Anti-Christ.
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NBC Chicago has a good article about this that I found really hilarious.
LOVE BARTMAN!
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There's a fair bit of difference between being "informed" and being a fan.
I know quite a bit about sports as a business, and actually follow it as such. The Cubs sale, the Blackhawks media revival, the Wrigleyville liquor sales debacle, are all fascinating stories concerning professional sports as a societal force, one I believe is generally to our detriment.
No, the comparison is unfair. The Anti-Christ had intent, Bartman was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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I've ALWAYS blamed Alex Gonzalez for that game. If he'd made that (very simple) double play, it would've ended the inning before it spiralled out of control. poor Bartman just made a more interesting story.
And I've always blamed Dusty Baker. A good manager would have gotten Matt Clement up in the bullpen, called the whole team to the mound and calmed them down, reminding them that the score is still 3-0.
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Albany...
If you are in tune to the "business of sports", and it does not sit well with you, fair enough.
With that, too bad you missed out on all of the love Bartman got from the fans. You missed out on that because you are not a "fan", you just "observe the business side of sports".
So, really, your "Bartman take" has so many holes in it you would think you would want to know the whole truth...so I guess you have to be "fan" to know the truth, something you don't want to be.
But, hey, you follow the "business side" of sports.
Why would you comment on an issue where you fully admit you do not know the whole story?
Next thing you'll tell me is that Dentists should have their own schools!!!
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Don't forget that earlier this year Moises Alou said he never would have caught the ball anyway and he was just caught up in the moment. If you want to blame someone, blame the Marlins, they were a damn good team that year.
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Albany...
Yeah I felt he same way the immediate days after. Not so much that people were calling for Bartman's blood (of which there were a few idiots), but the fact that his name was coming up at all, that his name was being spoken around the country in a matter of hours as a pariah of all the things that are cursed about the cubs. and I kept thinking about all of the other hands that were stretched out for that ball at that moment (look at the tape) and that if it hit any of those other hands, would the outcome have been the same.
If I didn't think there some idiots still out there who are ready to do him harm, I'd tell Bartman to come out of relative seclusion and make some money off of this thing.
Oh, and basing your opinion on sports by listenting to Mike North is like basing your opinion on breakfast cereals by eating Boo Berry.
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@irishman1
Stop with the "quotations" they are "unnecessary" and make you sound "silly"
I missed out on all the love? You mean at the game when he was pelted with insults, garbage and threats and had to be hustled out of the stadium? Like when the police had to sit watch outside his home? Or when his name and personal information was put out on the Internet just hours after the incident?
Feel the love.
Stop trying to make an argument based on some unknown truth I appear to be missing.
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Albany, Albany, Albany...
The quotes are for effect. Too bad it bothers you. People have been using quotes for a long time in life.
You are missing out, my friend. You don't have all of the truths. You don't have the full story.
The more haterade you drink, the further away from the truth you get.
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"But what is truth? Is truth our changing law? People have truths, are mine the same as yours?"
Name that quote.
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The Truth is that all of the things you listed did happen to Bartman.
But a lot more has happned to him since then.
You don't know about those other issues you are leaving out, because you just know the "business of sports".
Dang-gum quotes again!!
(Sorry, "dang-gum" is a sports "fan" word, you might not get it being ony intersted in the "business side of sports").
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Aren't you coy. After 5 or so posts of hinting at the truth will all be revealed?
I know you think yourself very clever for putting "business of sports" in quotes and for pointing out that I pointed out your over-use of quotes. You're clever, congratulations and welcome to the internet. Do you have any substance to share or just more winking attempts at wit?
I'm on pins and needles.
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Of all of the standard "zings" on message baords, my favorite has to be the "first time on the internet" or "welcome to the internet" zing. Good Stuff.
Just so we are clear, I am saying a "sports fan" (dang-gum-it!) knows the whole story of Steve Bartman. The bad AND the good.
You aren't telling the whole story. You tell only the negative side of the story, and then judge all sports based on that one sided take. You fully admit that you are not a true "sports fan", you only follow the "business side of sports". (dang-gum-it again!).
When I call you out on that you try to get me with the standard internet Zings.
"Game - Set- Match"
You do know what that sports phrase means, right?
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Indeed. It's your concession.
You've tantalized that there is love for Bartman, that I am not telling "the whole story" and yet you offer no specifics, no details.
And now you're wandering into incoherence with your attempt to sound colloquial and be self-referential.
I prefer checkmate.
Oh, I'm sorry "Checkmate" (Ziggity Zam...oh please)
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The issue is not what I know, the issue is what you don't know.
By asking, "Do you have any substance to share" and you pointing out that I am not offering specifics, only shows you don't know the whole story, my friend.
If you knew the whole story, you would understand the points I am making.
Ignorance is bliss, isn't it.
:-)
Being a "business side of sports" person, what is your take on the different levels of standards regarding rookie salaries and rookie contracts with the three major sports?
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Ok, apologies to all for this endless drift.
Irishman, you can claim secret knowledge of this silly little event, knowledge that only the "true fans" know.
Now I understand, this is religion. If I don't have "true faith" I can't see the golden tablets or know the love of christ or be welcomed into the tentacles of Ba'al.
Now I see why it's all so irrational. Reason dare not tread amongst the faithful.
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Ahhh...we mock what we don't understand, don't we Albany.
I could sit here and write what all other fans know about the Bartman situation...but would that change your narrow-minded-ness when it comes to sports?
I...think...not.
Bottom line...Fan Nation has forgiven Bartman. What happened to him was horrible, but he can show his face anywhere in Cubstown and he is all good.
Is your favorite flavor Cherry Haterade?
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RE: .Fan Nation has forgiven Bartman.
Are you the official spokesperson, or are you speaking without authorization?
Sorry, but I love it when one person presumes to speak for a whole group. Yeah, you are both blowhards--so I am, of course--but Christ, put up or shut up.
What's with that freaking word "haterade," by the way? Sounds like something a stupid sixth-grader would say to impress an ugly girl. We are adults here, I think; let's not debase the wonderful English language.
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Perfectly summarized.
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Matilda...so, were you impressed?
:-)
Albany...fair enough. Good spirit.