If the Super Bowl is the annual equivalent of a big summer blockbuster, a seven-game series is an 800-page novel, full of plot twists, complicated characters, joy and heartbreak. A single championship game may hinge on a single play (a missed field goal, a helmet catch) but over the course of a seven-game series, every player on both teams has a chance to rise to the moment. . That’s why, as the old phrase goes, the two most important words in sports are “Game 7.”
As we approach the end of October and the final act of baseball’s postseason, it’s a good time to begin considering the historical weight of Games 7. Prime Video takes on that challenge with “Game 7,” a compelling and fun five-episode series starting Tuesday that covers some of the sport’s greatest moments, as told by the players, coaches and fans who lived through them.
The series begins with the 2003 American League Championship Series, featuring a pair of upstart squads, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Yes, you’ve probably already heard too much about these two teams; New York and Boston have spent generations imposing their own mythology on the rest of the sporting nation. But two decades later, some of the details of that memorable series have faded, and the first episode does an excellent job of bringing them back into focus, like Roger Clemens’ defection from Boston to New York, the futility of the Red Sox in the postseason.
The beauty of Games 7 is that it’s like a classic opera, a culmination of all the little details that have been sprinkled throughout the entire series. So in the first episode of “Game 7,” when you see things like, say, Aaron Boone joining the Yankees at the end of the year, or Boston pitcher Pedro Martínez feuding with Yankees manager Don Zimmer at the beginning of the series, or New York and Boston. Fans live and die with every release of every game, you know they’ll pay off… and they do.
Maybe it’s the crisp October air, maybe it’s the common thread of baseball as an American pastime, but the two baseball episodes are the strongest entries in the “Game 7” series. The 2016 World Series (Chicago vs. Cleveland, the Cubs’ last win after a century of futility) is exciting viewing for everyone except Cleveland fans. You can feel the agony and ecstasy of both the franchises and the 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 Tom Morellos of their own.)
The footage is essential and impeccable; That’s why a “Game 7” episode about, say, Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 World Series-winning home run wouldn’t have worked as well. But there’s nothing like hearing Cleveland’s Rajai Davis talk about trying to scale the center field wall to catch a home run from the Cubs’ David Ross, and then watching a younger Davis slip when his foot tries to dig into the wall. Small details like that are what characterize a series, both television and sports.
Two separate episodes feature Mark Messier, which isn’t exactly a surprise given that 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 vitality of the baseball ones. The behind-the-scenes practices, locker room footage, and current musings of some of the players involved so long ago will no doubt entertain fans of the winning teams, but the tension of the game footage is what conveys these types of emotions. . stories.
The basketball entry (the 2006 Western Conference semifinals between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs) is quite vibrant, with Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban and Tony Parker, among others, talking about their memories of a home-and-home series. lap. But compared to so many other Game 7s of the 21st century, it’s not exactly a memorable entry. The 2016 NBA Finals, where LeBron James rallied the Cavaliers 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 led the Lakers over the Celtics), the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals (Michael Jordan’s Bulls over the Pacers), or the 1994 NBA Finals (the Rockets over the Knicks in the OJ Bronco Chase series).
Perhaps access to the topics complicated these particular possibilities; 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 has made it this far, but you would have liked a little more competitiveness at the end.
“Game 7” begins October 22 on Prime Video. Check it out while you wait to see if the World Series makes it to seventh place. We can always hope, right?