On Wednesday, July 1, I had the opportunity to attend the screening of the new HBO Sports documentary “Ted Williams” at Fenway Park. HBO rented the EMC Club at Fenway and invited a large number of guests including those connected with the Red Sox either through the team or the Red Sox Foundation, several people who had participated in the documentary and various other guests including your humble blogger. This post is a recap of the event itself. I will review the actual documentary at a later date, most likely on the weekend before it airs which will be July 15, the night after the MLB All-Star Game.
The view of the field from the EMC Club is just tremendous as you can see from this shot. This was taken from my iPhone. Imagine if I had taken it with my digital camera, but even so, it’s a beautiful view.
As I was waiting to enter the EMC Club, I noticed a Who’s Who of Boston sports media including former Globe writers Leigh Montville who was prominently featured in the documentary, Jackie McMullen and plagiarist Ron Borges. Also in attendance was current Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy who was also interviewed for the documentary.
And I also saw the great Johnny Pesky, Mr. Red Sox at the EMC Club, but more on him later.
The entire club was set up for the screening, several tables were in the middle of the enclosed area with HDTV monitors placed all over for convenient viewing.
Also, there were several chairs lined up in a row in another section of the EMC Club.
Before the documentary started, there was a chance to mingle with the crowd and schmooze. It was here I had the opportunity to meet Ray Stallone, the head of public relations for HBO Sports to thank him for inviting me to the advanced screening.
It was here that I discovered that Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel is a loyal reader of Fang’s Bites. Ray said that Bryant is wondering where my real time critiques of Real Sports have been and I promised that they would return so if you’re reading this Bryant, I pledge that I will do the next edition just for you. But it was very nice to meet Ray and I thanked him for sending HBO Sports press releases which are very much appreciated.
I also asked Ray if HBO would put more of Real Sports on YouTube. Ray said that is not what HBO is about and he has a point. Reading between the lines, HBO does not want to cannibalize its offerings by putting them on YouTube. It’s a pay service and you have to watch in order to see Real Sports. I get that.
After an hour for dinner, drinks and mingling, the documentary began. HBO allowed people to go to the EMC Club’s outdoor seats to watch the program on the center field scoreboard if they so chose. I was happy at my table as I found a monitor nearby to watch.
The documentary lasted for about 75 minutes. For Red Sox fans, the story of Ted Williams is very familiar; his humble beginnings in San Diego, his quick rise to the Red Sox, his battles with the Boston media, his military service, his home run in his last at-bat, the end of his career, his induction into two Halls of Fame, his death and the battles over his body to him being frozen in biostatis by his son, John Henry. All of this was broached in the documentary.
After the documentary finished, Johnny Pesky got in front of the room to talk and you can barely see him in the middle of my picture, but he spoke about his love for Ted Williams. At age 89, he can still command a room. We all listened intently as he gave us a story of how Ted used to describe him. And he received nice applause when he finished.
I also met HBO Sports co-Executive Produer Ross Greenburg. He asked me if the Boston audience would like the documentary and I told him based on the applause when the screening was over, he had a home run on his hands. Before I had a chance to ask him about other HBO Sports programming, noted plagiarist Ron Borges who has been a consultant to the network on its great boxing series, Legendary Nights, talked to Greenburg for quite some time.
While this was ongoing, I saw Pesky sitting in a chair holding court so I took the opportunity to snap this pic of him. I shook hands with him, but there was nothing I could muster other than, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Pesky.” He’s Mr. Red Sox! And if ever get to be 89, I would want to look as good as he.
Overall, it was a good night and thanks to HBO Sports for inviting me to see the screening at Fenway Park.
A quick word about the “Ted Williams” program. It’s done very well and in the same style as previous documentaries in the “Sports of the 20th Century” series. I was quite impressed how the film did not pull any punches and did not whitewash his marriage problems or his relationship with his three children.
“Ted Williams” premieres July 15 on HBO at 9:30 p.m. and will run throughout the month into August on HBO and HBO2. It will also be available on HBO On Demand starting July 20.
I’ll have an extensive review of the documentary the weekend of July 11-12.
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