(l-r : Jon Wayne Gacy Miller, Blogger Bair)
I’ve DVR’d PBS’ “The Tenth Inning”, an addendum to Ken Burns’ “Basbeball”, and as such, I won’t feel qualified to render judgment until I’ve viewed a handful of 2 or 3 minute portions and feel ready to quote them out of context. A far more diligent observer than I, Scratchbomb’s Matthew Callahan has collected the most important points to remember from the acclaimed documentarian’s latest. Here’s a few of the mind-blowers :
Joe Torre is largely responsible for the turnaround in George Steinbrenner’s reputation, which is a good thing for some unspecified reason.
Only the 1996 Yankees actually won the World Series. Every other “championship” team just lost theirs so some anonymous opponent could reap the undeserved reward (see: 2001 Diamondbacks, 2003 Marlins).
Kevin Millar is much more responsible for the 2004 Red Sox’ historic comeback than all the other guys on the team who were actually good at baseball.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Yankees’ postseason exploits lifted the hearts of their fans, who before then had almost no media exposure and very little to cheer for.
Nothing else baseball-related happened in New York, post-9/11 that might have helped people cope. Also, we have always been at war with Eurasia.
The only thing more disturbing than Jon Miller saying “VORP” and “OPS” over and over again with contempt and confusion would be if he said it while wearing clown makeup.