If the Super Bowl is the annual equivalent of a massive summer blockbuster, a seven-game series is an 800-page novel, full of plot twists, complicated characters, elation and heartbreak. A one-off championship game may consist of one action – a missed field goal, a helmet catch – but over the course of a seven-game series, every player on both teams gets a chance to seize the moment. That’s why, as the old rule goes, the two best words in sports are “Game 7.”
As we approach the end of October and enter the final act of the baseball postseason, this is a good time to reflect on the historic weight of Game 7s. Prime Video takes on that challenge with “Game 7,” a compelling, enjoyable five-episode documentary that begins Tuesday and covers some of sports’ greatest moments as told by the players, coaches and fans who experienced them.
The series begins with the 2003 American League Championship Series, featuring a pair of scrappy upstart teams, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Yes, you’ve probably heard way too much about both teams; New York and Boston have imposed their own mythology on the rest of the sports country for generations. But after twenty years, some details of that memorable series have faded, and the first episode does a great job of bringing them back into focus, such as Roger Clemens’ defection from Boston to New York, the futility of the Red Devils. Sox in the postseason.
The great thing about Game 7s is that they resemble classic opera, a culmination of all the little details that were peppered throughout the series. So in the first episode of “Game 7,” if you see elements like, say, Aaron Boone joining the Yankees late in the year, or Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez wrestling with Yankees coach Don Zimmer earlier in the series, or New York and Boston Both fans who live and die with every pitch of every game, you know they’ll pay off… and they do.
Maybe it’s the crisp October air, maybe it’s the long-running thread of baseball as America’s pastime, but the two baseball episodes are the strongest entries in the “Game 7” series. The 2016 World Series – Chicago vs. Cleveland, the Cubs’ latest win after a century of futility – is exciting to watch for everyone but Cleveland fans. You can feel the pain and ecstasy of both franchises and fanbases. (An energetic Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine guitarist and long-suffering Cubs fan, is an unexpected highlight; the other entries could have used their own Tom Morellos.)
The archival footage is essential and impeccable; therefore, a “Game 7” episode about, say, Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 World Series-winning home run wouldn’t have worked very well. But there’s nothing like hearing Cleveland’s Rajai Davis try to climb the wall in center field to get a home run from the Cubs’ David Ross — and then seeing a younger Davis slip as his foot tries to dig into the wall. get stuck. These kinds of small details are characteristic of a series, both on TV and in sports.
Two separate episodes feature Mark Messier, which isn’t exactly a surprise since Messier is an executive producer on the series. But the hockey episodes – the 1987 Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton vs. Philadelphia, and the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, Rangers vs. Canucks – lack the energy and vibrancy of the baseball episodes. Behind-the-scenes exercises, locker room footage and modern-day meditations from some of the players involved so long ago will no doubt be entertaining for fans of the winning teams, but the thrill of in-game footage is what makes this kind of footage entails. stories.
The basketball entry – the 2006 Western Conference semifinals featuring the Dallas Mavericks against the San Antonio Spurs – is lively enough, with the likes of Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban and Tony Parker continuing their memories of a back-and-forth series . But compared to so many other Game 7s from the 21st century, it’s not exactly a memorable entry. The 2016 NBA Finals, where LeBron James brought the Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit to win the title, is a glaring absence, but other possibilities could have included the 2010 NBA Finals (Kobe Bryant leading the Lakers over the Celtics), the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals (Michael Jordan’s Bulls over the Pacers), or the 1994 NBA Finals (Rockets over the Knicks in the OJ Bronco Chase series).
Perhaps access to topics has complicated these specific opportunities; Jordan and James aren’t exactly lining up to appear in documentaries. Still, for some of the “Game 7” entries, it’s like a Game 7 blowout. You’re glad the series made it this far, but you would have liked a little more competitiveness at the end.
“Game 7” debuts on Prime Video on October 22. Check it out while you wait to see if the World Series turns seven. We can always hope, right?
