Media outlets seem to strive for and get joy from negativity. If there’s a big story such as scandal or something ground breaking the media goes hog wild to be the first to report it. There are cases in which the media fails to recognize the consequences that may follow due to their constant coverage of a story. Sometimes the coverage is overkill and could end up ruining some people’s lives. In one of the newest 30 for 30 films from ESPN, Catching Hell, director Alex Gibney shows the story and the implications of media coverage of a mistake by a diehard Chicago Cubs fan.

The Chicago Cubs are arguably one the most recognizable franchises in baseball along with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The difference is that Boston and New York have won Major League Baseball championships within the last fifty years. The Chicago Cubs’ last World Series title was in 1908, where they were the first team to win back-to-back titles. Cubs fans have not seen another championship since, and have had to watch their sister MLB team the White Sox win the title in 2005, which probably doesn’t sit well with Cubs fans.

The 30 for 30 series has put together a list of documentaries that are phenomenal. I have seen a few of these documentaries and have seen impressed by the way each director hooks in the viewer with an intriguing story. So when I heard about the 30 for 30 series doing a documentary about the Chicago Cubs and the Steve Bartman story I was really excited.

The documentary starts with an introduction of the Bill Buckner debacle in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Red Sox at the time hadn’t won a World Series since 1918, which many thought was because of the “curse of the Bambino”. Buckner was used as a scapegoat for many years after his mistake in the ’86 World Series. The Buckner story is very similar to the one of the Chicago Cubs involving Steve Bartman. A scapegoat is involved in each of the very important plays and their respective cities turn on one of their own. But in the case of the Chicago Cubs, it was a normal die-hard fan, not a player. Chicago Cubs fans around the world were excited in 2003 when they were as close as they had ever been in recent memory. It was the NLCS top of the eighth; Chicago was up 3-0 on the Florida Marlins, everything was looking good for the Cubs to get to the World Series for the first time in 95 years. This is where things changed drastically. A foul ball was hit down the left field line near the stands. As Chicago Cubs outfielder Moises Alou went to make the catch, a Cubs fan (Steve Bartman) interfered with the catch and the ball deflected into the stands and ended the chance of getting the out and the inning continued on. The interference by Bartman starts a chain of events that causes the Cubs to lose the game, the series and gets all of the blame for it. Many members of the media call it “The Steve Bartman Incident”.

Director Alex Gibney goes behind the scenes of FOX Sports, which was covering the game at the time. FOX Sports shows footage of the play and its multiple replays that show Bartman’s face to the world making him a marked man to Chicago Cubs fans. Through this documentary we get to experience what Bartman went through that very evening, which was moving. They explain how they disguised Bartman as a member of the security team and his concerns about what happened. The one segment of the film that really showed the superb editing effects of this film was when they really analyzed the play by removing everybody from the scene except for Bartman and Alou. In addition, they show a reenactment of the play in slow motion with the baseball rotating in the air and Aloe’s glove coming into the frame from the side from the perspective of Bartman’s point of view, which really put you in his shoes.

By the end of the Catching Hell viewers may ask themselves whether this is about Bill Buckner or Steve Bartman. A lot of the documentary talks about Buckner and how his missed groundball relates to the Bartman situation. In my opinion I thought it was overkill. I feel they did this because Bartman refuses to tell his side of the story to the media.

After watching Catching Hell, it will make you think. It makes us feel bad for these men that take the blame for outcomes of sporting events.  In reality it’s only a game.  Sports are supposed to be an escape from our stresses of day to day life. But when does sports and media coverage of important sporting events go too far? In this case of Steve Bartman and Bill Buckner the media went too far to make these guys look bad.  The media coverage of the foul ball of the NLCS game 6 play really got the best of Bartman. His life is changed forever, for a ten second play. He was a fan  doing what any other fan would do in that situation, but we live in a society where we need to blame someone or something for any kind of outcome and in this case Bartman takes the blame in the worst possible way. The documentary is an example of how scapegoating is used in sports and in that aspect people will learn something from this film.