I want to talk this week about the "Bartman Incident" in the 2003 National League Championship Series. If you haven't had a chance to watch the ESPN film "Catching Hell" about the game, here are a couple of resources to help bring you up to speed.
Wikipedia page on the game.
Short clips from the film.
A link to a plethora of You Tube clips about the incident.
What I want to focus on is the role television played in elevating the play into an ugly mob scene at Wrigley Field. If you were able to see the ESPN film you learned a couple of interesting things about the game. There is no big screen in Wrigley for replaying key moments as there is in every other big league ballpark. So fans at the game were not seeing the replays over and over as was the television audience. But outside the ballpark, where fans gather in the streets surrounding Wrigley Field during big games, one man was carrying a television. He held the set on top of his head while the fans in the street watched the same replays as viewers at home. The chants of "Asshole. Asshole. Asshole" directed by all 40,000 plus fans in the stadium at Steve Bartman began outside Wrigley with those fans watching the television out on the street.
Steve Bartman will never live down that moment at Wrigley Field. The replays of that play have seared the image of him deflecting the ball away from Moises Alou into the minds of Cubs fans forever. But what if that play had happened 50 years earlier? There wouldn't have been television cameras in the stadium as the game would have been broadcast only on the radio. The only way that play might have been recorded at all would be if some newspaper photographer had gotten really lucky. If television hadn't been there to record the play, and amplify it, would it even be remembered at all?
So I have two questions I'd like you to answer this week. Did the amplification effect of television make the "Bartman Incident?" And if so, what are the implications for subjects of more importance in society?
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I fully believe that the amplification effect of television made the "Bartman Incident". The media focused on that single foul ball, repeatedly showing the replay of Bartman reaching for it just as Moises Alou was, instead of replaying any of the other elements which contributed to the Cub's loss. The Cubs lost that inning because they surrendered eight runs, not because of one foul ball with fan interference. The media could have chosen to give an equal amount of airplay to all the contributing factors of the loss. Not only that, but it was the media who investigated and publicly revealed Bartman's identity, place of employment, and even his residential address. When Mr. Bartman's personal and private information became public knowledge, he was forced to have police guards at his home and eventually went into hiding. Even now, no one knows where Steve Bartman can be found.
ReplyDeleteReplaying a sports play is one thing, but was there any need to continually focus the cameras on Bartman's seat after the fact? Was there any need for his face to be recorded and remembered, stamped on the mind of every Cub's fan with a TV? Was there any reason that revealing his identity, work and home addresses could possibly have been for the good of the general public's knowledge or enlightenment? In my opinion, no. By doing these things, the media roused the people of Chicago that night, and in the days following, into a despicable mob of human cruelty. By focusing solely on Steve Bartman, they were handing him over as a scapegoat for the Cub's loss. The people of Chicago blindly bought into it. Hook, line, and sinker.
The scary part of this scenario is that it showcases the amount of control the media has over our society, as a whole and (in Steve Bartman's case) individually. The media forever changed the life of Steve Bartman. What about the rest of us? How often are we blindly led into an idea, opinion, or conclusion by the media? If we use this incident as an example, the possible implications for subjects of more importance are astounding. How can we trust that the media we are exposed to daily isn't controlling the very way that our society functions, thinks, and feels? We can't. This is the main reason why I believe media literacy is so important. Our society needs to be able to understand and analyze the messages that we are receiving from the media, otherwise we can be led blindly just as the Cub's fans were that fateful night in 2003.
I believe that the "Bartman Incident" was amplified do to the television, hands down. it had to have been. Like many of the other "huge" sporting events have. Such as Zidane in the 2006 World Cup. It elevated the event 100 times over by replaying it over and over again. In the case of Bartman I believe that the media acted accordingly and got information out about a "big" event yet there is a limit to what they should have done. A face yes; name, work and home address, that's far to far. Now, this is a problem in media. Ratings, the longer people/ more people watch the higher your ratings and that's directly related to your funding. This isn't a very good system because it MAY lead to things like this, taking something small and blowing it out of proportions.
ReplyDeleteThis and other events like this prove that people believe what they are told and are basically sheep. BUT is this medias fault that people blindly follow things like this without any thought behind the matter, partially. But most of the blame lies with the people. Media tells you information, its your job to pull out the bias BS and gather your own opinions. Its pure fallacy to place the blame in one thing yet when something goes wrong people cant blame themselves..
IMHO, the amplification effect of television played a big part in the "Bartman Incident". The media had a chance to perpetuate the myth of the Billy-goat curse, and they took it. In the process they demonized a fan, and absolved the Cubs ballplayers of any wrongdoing. The reality is; they sucked it up big time, and lost that game along with the next one.
ReplyDeleteFifty years ago this would not have reached the level of insanity it did in 2003, although I am sure that a legend would have been created out of it, giving the Cubs something else to blame their sorry play on. The magnification of of minor or irrelevant issues in sports is a big issue. Just this last week a huge issue was made out of the post-game handshake between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers head coaches. It was certainly an interesting development, but hardly worthy of 24 hour coverage and multiple TV angles, dubious commentary and the lack of any real game coverage. I watched that game, but can't remember anything from it, because all the media covered was the hand-shake.
The implications of this is huge. Because of televisions grasp -we are not even talking about the reach of the internet here- they can cover and perpetuate any situation that they choose. And they will always choose drama. This is no different than the project we had earlier in the semester about the media covering the scheduling of the Republican debate versus Obama's speech. They chose to cover something that shouldn't even have been news. Shame on the media for ruining a man's life, when what they should have been spreading was the ineptitude of baseball organization that hasn't won it all since 1908.
I think that without TV, the Bartman Incident would still have existed, but it wouldn't have been nearly so huge or out-of-control. Television definitely amplified the situation into something it didn't need to be. Television coverage allowed the incident to be replayed over and over again, constantly feeding the tempers of the fans. The media also came up with the guy's name, address, and other personal information that never would have been made available without it. Television blew the incident way out of proportion. It was just one guy's mistake. It didn't cause the Cubs to lose everything. The Cubs caused the Cubs to lose everything. The Bartman Incident was just an extra bump in the road and acted as a scapegoat because no one wanted to admit the Cubs lost that game and the next one by their own doing. I think that without TV, only the devoted fans, the people in the stadium that day, and the players would remember it at all.
ReplyDeleteThe incident is very relevant to today. The media unfortunately controls a lot more than we tend to realize. The media makes a big deal out of things that usually shouldn't be, and most of the time doesn't pay enough attention to the things that really matter. We may get out of a political debate and not know much about the candidates other than one kept interrupting the others. Or we may forget to pay attention to who wins the world cup because the focus is so much on the vuvuzelas. The media definitely targets the short, "shocking" stories more than the important issues, which is a sad state of affairs.
TV and technology can take a huge responsibility for theis event with Bartman. Look at the fan outside the stadium with a TV on his head and thousands of fans watching, and the "rebel rousing" began. Without the media, sure, a lot of controversy and bad would abound and everyong taking up sides. Sports fans are notorius for thier exuberance and over re-action. With TV being what I see as the instigator and provocation of the incident, how could it have turned out otherwise?
ReplyDeletePolitics, who has the money, who get the the coverage? Daddy Big Bucks of course. The implications are far reaching. Try remembering the incident in the Vietnam War where Jane Fonda was covered by the media sitting on a war tank with the Viet Cong. How many years later and the picture can still come to mind. Influence is an understatement of major portion when it come to media coverage yesterday and today. We are left to our own intelligence and devices to make sense and truth of it all.
Of course television amplified the Bartman Incident! Instead of being watched and critiqued by just the people at the baseball field in the right position to see what happened, that poor guy was scrutinized by every baseball fan in the country and then some. Instead of the incident starting and ending at Wrigley Field that day, it was broadcast and played over and over and over again. The ripple effect from that was enormous. Television has tremendous power. "Larger than life" means that things caught on video are usually seen as much more of a big deal than they really are. So what are the implications for events of more importance?
ReplyDeleteWell, look at things like new flu viruses. Every few years a new flu virus comes around and every news station on TV is squawking about the end of the world. That may seem like exaggeration, but that's really the news. It works for politics, terrorism, wars, scandals, or any other social issues you can think of. Television amplifies the issues and events it broadcasts, making them "larger than life."
Posted for Margaret:
ReplyDeleteTV and technology can take a huge responsibility for theis event with Bartman. Look at the fan outside the stadium with a TV on his head and thousands of fans watching, and the "rebel rousing" began. Without the media, sure, a lot of controversy and bad would abound and everyong taking up sides. Sports fans are notorius for thier exuberance and over re-action. With TV being what I see as the instigator and provocation of the incident, how could it have turned out otherwise?
Politics, who has the money, who get the the coverage? Daddy Big Bucks of course. The implications are far reaching. Try remembering the incident in the Vietnam War where Jane Fonda was covered by the media sitting on a war tank with the Viet Cong. How many years later and the picture can still come to mind. Influence is an understatement of major portion when it come to media coverage yesterday and today. We are left to our own intelligence and devices to make sense and truth of it all.
I would have most likely reached for that foul ball as well. And yes, the Cubs suck, but we love them anyway.
ReplyDeleteThis is a case where the unique nature of motion media turned a minor incident into a cultural phenomena. Without the repeated replays of the Bartman reach and Alou's reaction, this moment fades into the background.