Yes we behaved badly. But running this over and over and over and over…what is the point of that? Just a cheap way to get people to laugh along at our mistake for more viewers.. Something ESPN does a lot for sure. I’d have been surprised if they didn’t run film of this incident in a postseason show.

I wasn’t one of those fans and I wouldn’t have done what they did.

Would you sit down for a ESPN doc about Mr. Wickers?

After 7 years, a vast majority of Cubs fans have analyzed the situation, placed blame where it should properly lay, and felt bad for Bartman. He “caught hell” for sure, and I wouldn’t have wanted to be in his shoes for about 6 months after the incident, but that was the better part of a decade ago. We understood the error of our ways pretty quickly, and laid off the hate just as quickly. I’ll wager that Steve Bartman could wear the same outfit he wore that night and sit in the same seat he sat in (“The Bartman Seat”) and someone near him would crack wise that he looked “just like that guy”. If he chose to reveal that he was that guy, the fans around him would want to talk to him, get his side of the story. There would be no lynch mob.

Instead, I get the question all the time from non-Cubs fans: “What about Bartman, eh? Do you hate the guy or what?” And I always have to say that I blame Gonzalez, Prior, and Dusty more than I blame Bartman for that loss. The speech has become automatic for me, as I’m sure it has for most of the readers of this site.

If Bartman himself cannot read sites like this, interact anonymously with other fans, and realize that a lot of the hatred of which he was a victim has vanished to be replaced with a slight sense of shame for having blamed him in the first place, then he’s just wallowing in self-pity. I do not need him to forgive me. I complained just as loudly as Alou did at the time, but I forgot about the dude who missed the foul ball the moment Gozalez booted that easy DP ball. After 3 months of the 2004 season, I’d wager that 90% of Cub fans did the same thing. If they did bash the guy, they felt bad. If they were asked if they were sorry about it, they would say they were. If they had been asked to apologize to Bartman’s face, there would be no hesitation.

If Steve Bartman cannot get that, he is a coward, afraid to confront the past. It was an ugly incident. I feel bad that the guy had to endure it. But if this documentarian or Bartman himself believes that he is still as despised now as he was that day in October, 2003, and that fact makes him a martyr or a hero, then they are sadly out of touch with the general Cubs fandom. Blogs such as this one can be perused (and searched!) to figure out just how ludicrous that thought is.

The reaction to the play was — from Alou, in part.

The other reaction was the NON reaction. Despite Mark Prior’s dominance in 2003, he was a 23-year-old kid in his first full major league season. The manager needed to go out there and at least calm him down. Dusty Baker sat on his butt. He’s as much to blame as anyone.

There’s one more thing a lot of people have missed. If Joe Torre had been Cubs manager then, he’d have had his closer warming up in the 8th inning. Get those last five outs and you have four days off. No doubt, Torre would have brought in Joe Borowski right then and there. So would I.

Dusty Baker is as much to blame as Alex Gonzalez for booting the DP ball.

One more side note — Prior had Pudge Rodriguez 0-2 the next at-bat before serving up a hanger that was lined into left field.

OK that’s all

So I think he uses Buckner in it to try to get some idea what it feels like.

I’ve said it before, Bartman has never owed Chicago this kind of silence and class.

If it were me, I’d move away and then sell autographed pictures of that play for $10 a pop. If I looked that much like Jared from Subway, I’d get a sponsorship from them. I’d go to every dirtbag community theater from Topeka to Wasilia and re-enact the play for $20 and a ham sandwich. I’d try to do Celebrity Boxing with Tonya Harding.

Unlike Buckner or Denkinger, Bartman has never cashed in. Denkinger now does joint appearances with Herzog and signs autographs.

2 CGs in that post-season. Similar to Livan Hernandez in 1997.