I’m not a Cubs fan.
I could care even less about the Marlins.
I really have nothing against the teams. Baseball just bores me.
But I can understand that some people truly enjoy the sport and the teams. If I am allowed to drive around Baton Rouge wearing purple and gold, Cubs and Marlins fans are allowed to show their support of the teams as well.
Cub fans went a little too far, however, when they threaten a fellow fan and blamed him for the teams failure.
The Washington Post reports that Cubs fans at Tuesday night’s Game six of the National League Championship Series turned on one of their own after he hopped out of his seat to snatch a fly ball before left fielder Moises Alou could get his mitt to it. Fans made 26-year-old Steve Bartman “the target of beer cans, epithets and threats of bodily harm.”
Even more ridiculous than making one of their own a scapegoat for the team’s failed entry to the World Series, though, is the made-for-TV movie one studio is planning about the incident.
According to CNN Money.com, Revolution Studios already has accepted pitch ideas for a made-for-TV movie. It most likely will star Kevin James, star of CBS’s “King of Queens” and tell the story of “a fan who screws up an easy out, and then has to deal with the ramifications.”
The unfortunate mishap may be a big deal to Cubs fans across the nation. My roommate likes to equate Bartman and the Cubs’ latest defeat with proof of some sort of baseball curse on the team. I like to call it only a game.
Despite one’s passion about the team or the sport, this incident is no where near important enough for even 30 minutes of late-night air time.
Spending time and money to recreate an event like this benefits no one. It will teach no moral lesson, add nothing to general knowledge and I think few people really will care about what Bartman did the day before or after he snatched the ball. I can foresee very little creativity or controversy surrounding this production. Yes, it may have been traumatic for Cubs fans. But it is over. Most have moved on.
The only outcome I can foresee for this poor excuse for a movie is further embarrassment for the guy who claims he was just too involved in the moment to see Alou approaching.
Bartman had his 15 minutes of fame and really doesn’t deserve (and probably doesn’t want) any more. Producing a movie about this week’s event would be like dramatizing a few of the following ideas.
“Roy’s Attacker: The early years” – Imagine a jerking tale of life and childhood of 7-year-old Montecore, the tiger that attacked Roy Horn. From birth to expulsion, this made-for-TV movie could give the world an inside look at what made the wild animal act out on his natural instincts.
Next maybe “Lance Bass: I could have been rockin’ in space” – I’ve always wanted a dramatized behind the scenes look at why the *NSYNC singer couldn’t actually make it to an orbiting space post on a Russian spaceship.
Given my background, I might actually want to see a controversial series titled “You misquoted me: The Jayson Blair story.” Rumor has it that when Blair read a magazine piece about him, he realized the reporter misquoted him. But then again, why should I waste my time on someone who was too lazy to travel to the city he was writing about.
Finally, “Dick Cheney: Outside the White House” – True, Vice President Cheney is a public official and carries a nice title, but does anyone really think he leads an interesting life? The editors of a Washington D.C. intern I know sent him out to take pictures of Cheney at a cake-cutting ceremony. This made-for-TV movie would just put me to sleep.
Overall, news of Revolution Studio’s movie “Fan Interference” makes me want to cry. Those who thought Thursday’s Revelry story about the loss of Saturday morning cartoons was upsetting may want to reconsider.