Get ready to be equal parts annoyed and miserable.
Next month, the long-awaited documentary about Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS and the infamous Bartman incident will premier at the Tribeca Film Festival after months of delay.
Originally slated for release on October 26 – in tandem with the World Series and as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series – the film, ‘Catching Hell,’ was postponed so director Alex Gibney could continue to tinker. Apparently, it’s ready.
A news release from the film festival, says that ‘Catching Hell’ “explores the psychology of die-hard sports fans, the frightening phenomenon of scapegoating, and the hysteria that turned mild-mannered Bartman into the most hated man in Chicago.”
And, of course, that’s all true. It was a frightening time to be a Cubs fan, not only because we could collectively taste just how close we were to finally realizing a dream, but because we could perceive our own hatred for a guy who simply reacted to a foul ball at a baseball game. I did hate him.
Days and weeks passed, and, although I’ll never get over the sting of the loss, rational thoughts have overtaken irrational ones, and I know that Bartman is no more the cause of my misery than is Mark Prior, Derrek Lee, Alex Gonzalez, Dusty Baker, the loss the next night in Game 7, or the 102 other years of failure. So I’d like to believe I could watch the film with dispassionate interest.
But I’m sure it will annoy and depress the hell out of me.
The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 20-May 1, but there’s no word yet on just when ‘Catching Hell’ will screen, and when it will be available for the rest of us to see.