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Champions Again: The Story of the 2007 Boston Red Sox: DVD Review

One of the greatest things about your sports team winning it all is the eventual championship DVD that is due to follow. Lucky for us Red Sox fans, we have two options to choose from when we're lucky enough to see the Sox win it all. One put together by MLB, and the other put together by the Red Sox cable network, NESN.

I reviewed the MLB DVD back in early December, and for better or worse I wasn't too impressed with the final product. The MLB DVD focuses about 90% of its effort on just the World Series and only briefly touches on how the Sox got there, and the story lines that led up to the series. This is where the NESN DVD truly steps up to the plate. It's not until you're about an hour into the DVD that you even begin to approach the World Series, and they start right from Spring Training and go on through to Johnny Pap's final strikeout.

NESN obviously understands the Red Sox and their fans much better then the MLB producers, and this shows throughout the production of the DVD. Since NESN covers the comings and goings of the Boston Red Sox on a year round basis they know the story lines along with the highs and lows as good as anyone. From the bidding for Dice-K to the Mothers Day Miracle, it's all in here, and all of that was glaringly absent from the MLB edition. The NESN version needs no gimmicks or celebrity voice overs, and just seems to keep it pretty real.

Basically if you're a Red Sox fan you owe it to yourself to purchase one of these DVD's, and if you really only want one, I'd say it's a no brainer to go with the NESN version. Both are fun and approach the season and/or playoffs from different angles, but the NESN one most definitely connects with the fan on a more true level.

The only negative thing I'd have to say about the DVD is the bonus feature moose hunting trip they added to the DVD. Basically it's 10 minutes of shaky camera work Jonathan Papelbon recorded while on a moose hunting trip in Maine and takes Paps to a whole new level of Red Sox Hickness that Timlin would be proud of. Pretty funny stuff at times, but also a little embarrassing as a non-hunting liberal Red Sox fan!

Either way, these DVD's are great to review, and I hope to be doing this a few more times in the years to come!

Overall: 9 / 10

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2007 MLB World Series DVD: Review

I don't know why, but the cover choice just doesn't sit right with me here either... (MLB.com)

The 2007 MLB World Series DVD was something that I was anticipating for quite a bit, and was (obviously) really looking forward to re-living the great run that was the Red Sox 2007 season. As I started watching the DVD I have to be honest, I was feeling a little disappointed. I thought it was cool that Matt Damon was doing the voice over and all, and it was produced very well, however it just seemed to be obvious that it wasn't produced by someone who truly understands the pulse of what everyone now calls Red Sox Nation.

The 2007 MLB World Series DVD is exactly what it says it is, a World Series DVD, and I guess that's the one thing that I had the biggest problem with. The Red Sox regular season was barely touched upon throughout it, and to be honest, the same could be said about the ALDS and ALCS. They breezed through both of those series in mere minutes which was obviously disappointing. Then MLB did something that I found a little perplexing, as they focused on the Rockies for a decent portion of the DVD.

Now I'm all for being "fair" and representing both sides of the story, but come on, how many Rockie fans do you think were lining up to buy this DVD? I mean do you own a copy of the 1987 NBA Finals or the 1986 World Series DVD? I doubt it, and if you do, you most likely have a sadistic soul. So I really don't know what MLB was thinking with that, if they did it more for posterity sake, then I understand sort of, but for $19.99 I'd expect a little bit more.

Once they started focusing on the actual World Series games this became a lot more enjoyable to watch. And you'd have to be crazy as a Red Sox fan to not like watching the Red Sox win the World Series. The problem for me was that i felt like I picked up a book that started on the last chapter, which as we know, isn't a fair representation of what a baseball team is. Again, it's called The 2007 MLB World Series DVD, so you get what you're paying for, but if I was only going to buy one DVD it'd be the NESN one which is for sure due to come out. From watching this DVD you'd get the impression that players like Coco Crisp, Tim Wakefield, Julian Tavarez, Alex Cora, and more had nothing to do with this team winning it all, which just kinda rubbed me the wrong way.

Again though, when it came to production, and when it just focused on baseball, it was hard not to like this, I mean it's the Sox winning the fricken World Series, but it didn't quench my thirst, and I sure hope the NESN DVD does a better job of that.

Overall: 6.5 / 10

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