Review – Catching Hell

On more than one occasion I’ve found myself wondering exactly why people in general and sports fans in particular have such a powerful need to fix blame on one particular person. I admit I’ve been known to play the scapegoat game myself, but not to the extent that Red Sox fans blame Bill Buckner for the 1986 World Series loss and Cubs fans heap hate on Steve Bartman for messing up a catch in the 2003 NLCS. This ESPN production covers both incidents – though the emphasis is on 2003 – pointing out that in both cases multiple problems led to the unfortunate losses. And in both cases the losing team had a whole other game to stage a comeback. The documentary goes on long enough that eventually it stops making fresh points, but it still raises some good questions about baseball fans and disappointment. Mildly amusing