By Ryan McGowan
The other day I was having a discussion with my aunt about why I love to watch sports. One of the main reasons that came up was that the outcome of a sporting event (the NBA playoffs notwithstanding) is always unknown, that so many variables contribute to the actual happenings on the field, rendering the spectator clueless as to who the winner will be, who the heroes and goats will be, even how long the game will take. (NBC learned this lesson the hard way with the fateful Jets-Raiders game in 1968, forever remembered as the “Heidi” game.) The sheer unpredictability of sports and the complete ignorance of anyone involved as to the future outcome makes for great viewing.That being said, there is certainly a time and place to watch a sporting event whose outcome you already know. I am a huge fan of ESPN Classic, and will always stop and watch a Celtics-Lakers 1984 Finals game or Super Bowl Memories of the Pats-Rams SB XXXVI in New Orleans if I channel-surf to it. I’ll even stop and watch a random Phillies-Dodgers game from ’79 that was “memorable” for some random reason such as the Dodgers scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth to win. I consider myself an armchair historian; I like to study and analyze the past.
Even so, I may have sunk to a new level of pathos with my recent purchase of the Red Sox 2004 World Series Collector’s Edition box set of twelve DVDs. For anyone who doesn’t know, the box set is a collection of the complete, unedited (except for commercials) broadcasts of the seven ALCS games against the Yankees and the four World Series games against the Cardinals. (I was a little disappointed that they left out the Angels sweep in the Division Series, but I have only so much space on my shelf.) It also includes a twelfth DVD which contains a bunch of bonus material.
I don’t know how many people have bought or will buy this collection; I assume only obsessed die-hards like myself will be willing to spend a decent chunk of money to watch games where they know the ending. It is strangely comforting, though, to watch these games. For millions of Sox fans, the 2004 playoffs (especially the eight-day period between Schilling’s loss in Game 1 and the blowout victory in a surreal Game 7) conjure up memories of long, late nights, sleep-deprived, unproductive days, afternoon naps, and the constant anxiety and stress of an air-traffic controller left alone in the tower by alcoholic coworkers. The nervous tension of Games 4, 5, 6, and even 7 (for no real Sox fan was able to relax until the 27th out) was enough to drive a Mormon to go on a five-week bender. When I sat down to scan through the DVDs, it was a comfortable feeling to finally be able to watch the game and appreciate it for what it was worth, without the gargantuan monkey of anxiety that existed for 86 years B.R.S. (before the Roberts steal, which is how time in Red Sox Nation should be measured from now on) haunting every pitch.
Plus, there were a good number of events of the playoffs that I had never seen, or had not seen live and only watched highlights. I missed the first three innings of LCS Game 5 thanks to my Monday night graduate class (kudos to Professor Twomey of Boston College for letting us go 40 minutes early to accommodate the early game start), and subsequently missed three or so innings later that game when our 8:00 hoops game in Watertown prompted us (and at least three or four other people in the league) to bring a radio and have it tuned to WEEI while we played basketball. I missed the celebrations and locker room interviews after both LCS Game 7 and WS Game 4, as we were busy dancing on Union and Hanover Streets in front of the Bell in Hand. My friend Sully, who watched the DVD of LCS Game 4 with us, had not seen the Roberts steal or the Mueller RBI single on live TV, as he was at the game and saw it in person. I also never saw the 4th through 9th innings of LCS Game 3, having dejectedly left Joey’s in Brighton Center (not to be confused with “Allston”) while the rout was on to go home and watch “Can’t Hardly Wait,” cursing myself for messing up tradition by going to a different bar to watch the game than I had for the first two. However, somehow I don’t see that Game 3 DVD getting a lot of wear and tear. Much like the inclusion of “Rocky V” in the Rocky box set, we can pretend Games 1-3 of the Yankee series never really happened.
I also took a strange comfort in seeing the Fox promos running across the bottom of the screen, and even didn’t mind the presence of Tim McCarver’s commentary, as you can now just laugh off his inane comments (Game 6: “A walk to Matsui is as good as a home run. Walk, home run– same thing”). I still have yet to watch a game in its entirety (I’ll probably save that for the cold winter months, if I need something to cheer me up) but I have watched most of the important innings, and almost all of the extra features.
The bonus disc is actually pretty good. There is a roughly 90-minute World Series video, for which I’ve seen some of the footage on the HBO special “Reverse of the Curse of the Bambino”, but overall it’s very well done and well narrated by Sox diehard and Worcester native Dennis Leary. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the constant mention of the “Curse.” (I can tolerate it, though, seeing as how we have been subjected to minimal Curse references this year.) The timing on the DVD was very good, as you can feel the suspense actually building during the climactic parts, making it almost seem like a surprise when Ortiz drops a game-winning homer into the bullpen or Damon knocks a grand slam off Vazquez. Admittedly, I even teared up in a few places. I admit it– I’m a Red Sox softie. But I guarantee I’m not the only one.
There are some very entertaining parts on the rest of the bonus disc. I was excited that the ring and banner ceremony was on there, but it wasn’t the NESN version, rather a somewhat dulled-down version with one camera and sound that seemed like it was coming from a distant microphone. Thankfully, they did manage to catch the highlight (or lowlight) of the ceremony, the heinous Terry Cashman song (“Raise the flag, the curse is over… so this is for Teddy Ballgame, and this is for Bobby Doerr…”). There’s a section of “celebrity fans” giving their recollections on the Sox win, and another video of Bronson Arroyo recording “Dirty Water” for his “Covering the Bases” CD. (Sadly, no amateur home videos of Arroyo canoodling with some NU freshman on Hemenway Street, however.) I very much enjoyed the video of the ALCS Game 7 postgame celebration, complete with photos of the guys putting the plastic up over the Sox lockers before the last out was recorded. What I REALLY want to get my hands on, though, is a video of the Fenway staff both putting up and taking down the plastic over the Yankees lockers in LCS Game 4. If we can get that and some Arroyo-Northeastern girl footage, it might outsell the box set.
There is also a video of the Sox’ team trip to the White House in March to meet with the President and Vice-President. Not only does Bush get off some shockingly funny lines (“Please be seated… unless you don’t have a chair,” “So like… what took you so long?”, “Someone said it would be a cold day when the Red Sox made it here”) but there is also a sickly awkward moment when the President greets a late-arriving John Kerry with, “Senator, welcome, good to see you. I like to see Senator Kerry, except when we’re fixin’ to debate, if you know what I mean.” You have to love when the leader of the free world uses the word “fixin” in a speech. It must be a Texas thing. Lots of priceless, awkward laughs from the audience, especially from the Democratic activists standing right behind the President, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner. Just good, old-fashioned comedy, and maybe worth the price of the DVDs right there.
Okay, you caught me, it wasn’t worth the price of the DVDs. But I think the true value of this box set won’t be felt until years down the road. Maybe someday in 2024, I can pull out my dusty copy of Game 4 and show my kids the Dave Roberts steal, or Schilling’s bloody sock, or Nixon (the only home-grown starter on the team, also allegedly drunk at the time) swinging at a 3-0 pitch to seal the World Series in Game 4. Maybe in twenty years, it will seem like the DVDs were a bargain. Or maybe it will just be inflation.
