"The Comeback" Review

A Blog By Dean

My review on this is a little delayed, partly because I also wanted to watch Four Days in October. It is important to note that this documentary is very different, with a run time of over three hours compared to 53 minutes for the ESPN doc. So, this won’t be a comparison at any point about which is better. They are entirely different and fabulous documentaries.

Here we go.

Dean’s Corner

For those of you who are new here, this is the format I use when doing my Red Sox series reviews. They were one of my favorite parts of this season, and I will continue to do them next year. Some people on our Skippers View staff claim they will also be doing these reviews. I would be willing to bet my life savings, but they don’t, but we will see!

Overall Takeaway

While watching this documentary, I became more romantic about baseball and desperately wanted some of the old parts of the game back. I hope that as time goes on, we can get the feeling of this Red Sox/Yankee rivalry back, but I am scared that the league itself has changed so much that real hatred will not exist between the players. I think you need that so the fans can bring the same energy. I don’t see “killers” on either of these teams outside, maybe Rafael Devers. However, he is a silent killer and would never vocalize anything. Part of what made this documentary fun was seeing all these Red Sox players, both present-day and past interviews, speak their minds on anything and everything.

I haven't really scored any baseball documentaries yet, and while you might think I am a biased Red Sox fan, I wouldn’t give this a ten. I would give it an 8.7, which is still very good. I thought Part II dragged slightly, but outside of that, I was entertained all the way through.

What I Loved

• Wakefield Tribute At The End

  • I will admit that I spent most of the documentary wondering if they would address Tim Wakefield’s passing. When they didn’t mention it in the first two episodes, I began to think that it was produced while he was sick.

  • However, at the end of Part III, they brought it up, and while short, you felt the emotional punch.

• Terry Francona

  • I don’t think this ownership group gets enough blame for losing both Terry Francona and Theo Epstein in the same week back in 2011. I know there were a lot of factors that went into that, and hindsight is 20-20, but holy crap, he was awesome.

  • His interviews were great, but my favorite exchange was when he was asked about the Dave Roberts steal. The producer, who sounded like a nerd, said, “Analytics said you should not have given him the green light there.” Francona calmly replies, “They can shove it up their a**.” Legend

• Team Getting Drunk Before Game 6

  • As I have said in past blogs, I am a teetotaler, so I would never do this to begin with. But the idea of the team ripping shots before Game 6 and seemingly getting a little banged up is just the millionth example of why this team was great.

• Players Union Blocking A-Rod Trade

  • I would have been nine when this happened, and back then, it was difficult for a nine-year-old living in New York to get his Boston baseball news. I relied exclusively on the Sports Center. While I would love to say that I remember the A-Rod/Nomar/Millar drama, I don’t. Seeing it now, I am shocked that the team or league didn’t fine Kevin Millar for commenting on the potential trade. It was a different time.

  • Millar “We’ll Take A-Rod”

    • The fact that he pretends he doesn’t remember it while they showed the clip of him saying it made me giggle.

• Yankee Fans In Pain

  • It is my favorite pastime.

• Seeing Curt Schilling Again

  • My first thought was, “Damn, he looks old,” but it was immediately followed by the joy of seeing him again. He is one of those “killers” I mentioned above. He is an integral part of two World Series teams for Boston and will always hold a place in my heart for that.

  • Schilling has been involved in some controversial situations in the past few years. I am not talking about his politics, and I don’t care about them, although I wish he would keep them to himself. I am a big believer in keeping your actual political opinions out of sports. I have turned people away from The Skippers View and asked people to leave in part due to this. So, I understand Schilling losing his job over his very vocal political beliefs.

  • What I am talking about is the comments he made about Tim Wakefield and his wife. There is no defending them, and to his credit, he has apologized and not gone to any of the 2004 celebration events.

• Theo Epstein

  • I am just so happy that Theo is back with the team in some capacity. I really hope they actually choose to use his brain.

  • His interviews are an example of where this doc shines. They are raw, unfiltered, and unapologetic. He says whatever he wants, and they keep it in.

  • I always thought he was a little schoolboy, so watching him drop a bunch of F-Bombs made me giggle.

• Pedro Being A Serial Killer

  • I don’t think there is any better way to describe his mentality during the 03/04 seasons. I am not saying he would have been a serial killer if he did not play baseball, but I am also not ruling it out.

What I Was "Mid" About

• More Ortiz

  • He had a good amount of screentime, but honestly Kevin Millar was the primary focus and I wish it was more David Ortiz.

• Garciaparra Drama

  • I don’t remember any of this, so seeing it go that way was upsetting. I am putting it in the mid-category category because I still feel like they did him dirty, even in the documentary. Between the Millar stuff and the alluding to his injury being fake, I thought they would be a little more neutral. They weren’t. It is what it is.

What I Didn't Love

• Red Sox Accusing Yankees Of Cheating

  • The documentary is about the most remarkable comeback in sports history. Honestly, accusing them of cheating would lessen the greatness of that comeback. Just keep your mouth shut.

• I Wanted Manny

  • Drinking with a Yankee player at a bar and not coming to a game is legit CRAZY. If that happened today, social media would be exploding. And that is part of the beauty of this time period. Players, and people in general,

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