A giant set of DVDs take you back to the World Series, the way people saw it at the time. (A&E Home Video)

by Linda Holmes

The same sense of perspective that can give a historical account depth and context can sometimes deprive it of honesty. Example #1: Bill Buckner.

Anyone making a documentary today about the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox would, very likely, place great emphasis on the Game 6 moment when the ball went through the legs of first-baseman Bill Buckner, which allowed the winning run to score, sending the series to a seventh game, which the Mets won, denying the Red Sox the title that they had previously been within one out -- one strike -- of taking. (This would, of course, have been both a blessing and a -- sorry -- curse, because as Boston fans would learn in 2004, it's fun to win, but it means you have to stop complaining and remove your hands from your garments, which is an adjustment if you have them perforated for easier rending.)

But Buckner's not guilty; not really, and a smashing new DVD set provides killer evidence.

A feast for your baseball-loving soul, after the jump.

Continue reading "A Mammoth DVD Set Brings You Decades Of Baseball, Minus The Distortion" >

ESPN's series 30 For 30 is a fascinating look at sports stories. The most recent installment, "Muhammad And Larry," looks at the 1980 fight between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes. (ESPN Films)

by Linda Holmes

I think of sports as having a lot in common with comics. Both have fans who behave in ways that turn off more casual consumers. Both invite overinvestment. And both suffer from a high percentage of people who unfortunately miss out because they have long ago flipped the "I Don't Care" switch. As in, "I don't care what you say about comics: I don't care about comics." "I don't care what you say about football: I don't care about football."

This is what makes it such a pleasure to heartily recommend ESPN's gripping, well-made series of documentary sports films, 30 For 30, which the network is producing in honor of its 30th anniversary. Whether you care about sports or not, they are excellent, insightful television.

Each of the 30 films in the series, which will run through 2010, studies a particular event or story in sports. Not necessarily the most famous things that have ever happened in sports, but instead the most interesting. Last night's offering, Muhammad And Larry, covered the 1980 fight in which Muhammad Ali, at 38 years old, was pummeled by a 30-year-old Larry Holmes. While I'm not an "I don't care about sports" person, it is hard to get me interested in boxing, but this film is fantastic, because it does what all four episodes I've seen so far have done: it approaches stories about sports as stories about people.

Seriously, this is a fantastic series. More about why you should really, really see it, after the jump.

Continue reading "Why Even People Who Hate Sports Should Be Watching ESPN's '30 For 30'" >

Brett Favre has now unretired for the second time after retiring for the second time. He's harder to get rid of than many other things you would think would be hard to get rid of. (Scott A. Schneider / Getty Images)

by Linda Holmes

Yes, Brett Favre unretired. Again. Just like he did last year. We can think of nothing to say anymore except that Brett Favre is harder to get rid of than almost anything. He is harder to get rid of, even, than these 25 things.

1. Your garden's extra zucchini
2. Bedbugs wearing chain mail
3. Medically significant dandruff
4. Old couch stuffed with burning tires
5. Weird feeling that you left the iron on at home
6. Athlete's foot (exception: Brett Favre's foot)
7. Contents of huge cabinet marked "DOT-MATRIX PRINTERS (BROKEN)"
8. Movie rights to Roget's Thesaurus
9. Any tavern's friendliest drunk
10. Mustard stain on favorite shirt
11. Streaks of jelly in jar of peanut butter
12. Streaks of peanut butter in jar of jelly
13. Microsoft Word's helpful "Clippy"
14. Dark curse placed by toothless goblin during carnival mishap
15. Six-foot sphere of wadded trash bags thrown into landfill
16. Troupe of professional gadflies
17. Mall kiosk lotion demonstrator
18. Ads where guy sings about credit reporting
19. All those pennies
20. General sense that salmon was once cooked in this pan
21. Box of VHS tapes of Mr. Belvedere
22. Inherited record-breaking fruitcake collection
23. Yellowjacket nest guarded by family of armed raccoons
24. $50 gift card from Expired Food Depot
25. All lingering affection for Brett Favre

[Note: Of course famous athletes are pop culture, silly.]

The National Spelling Bee: Here, Emily Fletcher sweats her way through her turn. Alex Wong/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

Tonight, ABC will broadcast the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., giving a bunch of school-age kids a slice of Thursday-night prime time of the type usually reserved for people like Tina Fey.

Spelling bees have made enormous gains in pop-culture significance in the last, say, ten years. Or maybe it's 12 years, because the first big spelling-bee splash of my lifetime came in 1997, when the utterly unique Rebecca Sealfont spelled "euonym" to win the Bee. Everybody was talking about Rebecca, and this was before the Internet was what it is today, and before there was YouTube to show her to you.

Since then, we've had the wonderful documentary Spellbound, the hokey but endearing Akeelah And The Bee, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway, and much, much more.

And now, we've reached the point where ESPN will be showing the national semifinals at 10:00 a.m., followed by the prime-time telecast hosted by my hands-down favorite TV host, Tom Bergeron (who usually handles things over at Dancing With The Stars).

And there are good reasons to tune in.

"Very, very bright and unusual," after the jump...

Continue reading "The Oddly Addictive Spectacle Of The National Spelling Bee" >

Harry Kalas: Here, he's soaked with beer after the Phillies' 2007 Eastern Division Championship. They gave him plenty of seasons to be sad about, too. Tom Mihalek/Associated Press

 

by Linda Holmes

I listened to Harry Kalas a lot.

Growing up outside Philadelphia, I was a Phillies fan, and my father taught my sister and me to play softball in part by instructing us to hit the ball like Greg Luzinski.* I didn't think anyone played third base anywhere except for Mike Schmidt, and my first lesson in How Relief Pitchers Behave involved Tug McGraw smacking his glove against his thigh. Which usually meant "I am done with this inning," and also, "...uh, fortunately."

And it wasn't until I was older that I realized that everybody didn't call home runs by saying, "OUTta here, HOME run!" Because that was how Harry Kalas did it.

I wouldn't begin to guess how many Phillies games I watched that were called by Kalas, Richie Ashburn, and Andy Musser, but it was enough that it was actually difficult to get used to other announcers when I started watching other teams. They all sounded stupid to me. They didn't sound like baseball; they didn't sound like home.

This how sportscasters are; you get used to their tics and quirks. And if they're good enough and you know them long enough, you don't even think of them as being studied like the "back back back back back" guy, or the "GOOOOOOAL!" guy; you just think of them as calling games the way they actually happen.

Who wouldn't say "outta here"?

Even in recent years, upon wandering back to Philadelphia, I would catch games on TV and think, "Wow, Harry Kalas is still at it." And if the published reports are correct, he still was, until he collapsed in the booth. And I'm a little sadder, and there's a little less of the baseball of my childhood around. And that's too bad, because it means I'll never hear a game called quite right again.

*And, I should mention, by enthusiastically yelling, "Hit the ball, Drag Harry!" Which I always assumed was my father's use of the rather baffling nickname "Drag Harry," about which I never inquired. I did not learn until many years later, long after my softball years, that this chant was derived from a version of this joke. (This is unrelated to Harry Kalas, of course; it is simply...a very strange story about folklore.)

by Linda Holmes

The live chat is finished, but you can play it back — and watch the best and the worst of this year's Super Bowl ads — in the widget below. And the conversation continues with your observations, questions and rants in the comments.

Once again, we are thrilled to announce a live chat in this space that we think is going to be a lot of fun.

Today at 11:00 a.m. ET, we will take apart the towering Super Bowl media hullabaloo, including the ads and the halftime show, with special guest Bob Garfield, Ad Age columnist and co-host of the Peabody-Award-winning On The Media.

Whether your Sunday included lots of beer, lots of sharp-eyed game analysis, or just a lot of head-shaking at why you're the only one who doesn't get into the spirit, join us for a good talk about what is — for good or for ill — always one of the biggest media weekends of the year.

The Super Bowl: It's already over! Look! It's happening right now! Electronic Arts

 

by Glenn McDonald

Another great example of better living through technology: As they do every year, videogame industry titan EA Sports today announced the winner of the Super Bowl as predicted by their flagship football simulation game, Madden NFL 09.

Using each team's projected roster, and up-to-date player statistics, EA pitted the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Arizona Cardinals in a Super Bowl simulation game. Pittsburgh fans will be happy to hear that the Steelers pulled out the victory by a final score of 28-24, giving the team an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl title, and their second championship in four years.

The stats breakdown, and what this means for a regular person, after the jump...

Continue reading "Super Bowl Winner Revealed!" >

Cole Hamels Takes A Bite Out Of The Series: "I hold my cheesesteak in this hand, and then I pitch like this." Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

 

by Todd Kliman

Mayoral wagers are as time-honored a sports tradition as talking trash, celebrating at City Hall, and stealing signs.

This year's World Series, which began last night, pits the Philadelphia Phillies against the Tampa Bay Rays -- a team with a long history of futility (the Phils have one title to show for their 125 years of existence) versus a team with a short history of futility (the ten-year-old Rays posted nine consecutive losing seasons).

On Tuesday, on the eve of the Series, the mayors of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Tampa -- respectively, Rick Baker, Frank Hibbard and Pam Iorio -- engaged their Philly counterpart, mayor Michael Nutter, in the familiar foodie challenge.

More details and what they might mean, after the jump...

Continue reading "When Mayors Bet On Baseball, Does The Food Tell The Tale?" >

Baseball ratings: The Phillies' Pat Burrell is hitting a home run; how about the telecast? Jed Jacobsohn, Getty Images

 

by Sarah D. Bunting

Ah, October: the chill in the air, the pumpkin on the front porch, the mandatory annual proliferation of doom-saying "Why-isn't-anyone-watching-postseason-baseball" articles.

Variety tagged in on Wednesday, with a piece on the paltry 4.2 million total viewers TBS drew during divisional play.

Among the theories for that weak showing: The series didn't go on long enough; the New York teams didn't make the playoffs, which cost TBS a critical large-market audience; the Cubs' prompt and depressing ouster, blah blah blah, why can't we make people watch?

Every year, it's the same thing, and nobody ever comes up with any answers, because nobody is asking the right questions. Could any or all of the factors above have affected the ratings? Sure. A game that doesn't get played won't get watched, so duh, a short series drops viewer totals. The New York thing is probably overstated; almost everyone here is from somewhere else, and there's no shortage of Red Sox fans around the city, or of baseball fans who watch the postseason regardless of who's in it. And if the Cubs' offense wasn't going to show up, why should the audience?

What's really driving low ratings, after the jump...

Continue reading "Postseason Baseball And The End Of The Three-Channel World" >