Monday, July 30, 2007

It's Time To Ease Up On The Bartman...

I was watching one of the 11 million episodes of Sportscenter that air over the weekend, and they had a Top Plays dedicated to the Simpsons Movie(which is brilliant, by the way. Very funny movie.Go see it. I'll wait..Okay, I'm not really going to wait, but go see it first chance you get) and it was the Top Ten D'oh !! plays ever. I don't remember them all, but Larry Walker giving the fan the ball with only two outs, and the ball bouncing off Canseco's head over the fence were there. I'm here to talk a bit about what they had as Number 1: Bartman.

Now, I was actually living in Chicago at the time, and that collapse in that game was astounding. Simply astounding. But I think that pinning all the blame on that poor guy is ridiculous.
There are a couple of facts that people seem to conveniently overlook.
1.Bartman was one of MANY Cubs fans in that section trying to catch that ball. He was just the one unlucky enough to actually touch it. Watch the tape. it would be one thing if all the other fans sitting there had their hands in their laps, but they are ALL trying to catch the ball. Bartman was just the poor bastard who actually touched it.
2. Prior subsequently WALKED the batter(ball 4 was also a wild pitch, which allowed the runner already on base to go to third). It's not like the guy hit one out.
3. The Cubs had a 3 run lead. This was not the go ahead run or anything. He was a one out base runner.
4. Alex Gonzalez mad a MUCH larger error at shortstop a few batter later. the inning would have been over with one run in, but he booted a double play ball.
5. And last but not least, this was game 6. There was a game 7 that the Cubs also held a lead in and could not hold onto it.
Cubs fans(and most of the sporting world) really need to leave Bartman alone.This was simply a case of the Cubs not being good enough to finish off the Marlins.

2 comments:

Zoooma said...

I can't say I'm a Cubs fan... I bleed Mets blue & orange... but my dad's from Lake Forest, a northside suburb of Chicago, he grew up a Cubs fan and coupled with the fact that the Cubs are on WGN so often, I cheer for 'em in the Central...

Anyway, I was watchin' the game that night on TV and The Curse of the Billy Goat struck in the hugest worsest horriblest way for the Cubs. ESPN did a series "5 Reason You Can't Blame..." and one show was about Steve Bartman. They layed out reasons like you did (hmmm... is that where you got yours? Not that it matters.)

But come on. Prior had a 3-hit shutout going. He was on fiiiiiiiii-ah! No way you can take Bartman's side. No way! I ain't sayin for sure the Cubbies woulda gone on to the WS but that play began the downward spiral meaning yes, it will be 100 years or more since their last WS championship.

Bartman blew it for the Cubs. Clear as day.

P.S. interestingly, you know who hit the Bartman ball? Luis Castillo.

Paticus said...

a.k.a.- I swear that I did not know that ESPN did that series until you mentioned it.As far as my brain knew, I was the first one to ever think such a thing.
And I can ABSOLUTELY take Bartman's side. The Cubs blame EVERYTHING but themselves for their failures. they complain about day games, about night games. About fans touching foul balls. I'm surprised that they didn't find some way to balme Gonzalez booting that double play ball on the White Sox. They simply could not put away a team they should have beaten. Very simple. I mean it's not like last year, when the Yankees(out of pure jealousy) clearly used some sort of black magic to keep Beltran from swinging at(and hitting out of the ballpark) strike 3 against the Cards. it's not like that at all, becauise the Yankees are evil- we all know that. :)