MLB's The Baseball Network

[TussAgee11]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Nit-picky? Hardly.

Burns is a filmmaker, not a baseball man of any kind. It shows throughout every minute of that bloated 18-hour sanctimonious offering. I'm glad you enjoyed it. As a baseball film archive exploration exercise, it was an accomplishment. As a factual documentary, it was a failure. When I watch a "documentary" I am interested in facts. If you have 18 hours to document something, it is likely that a reasonably complete historical picture can be painted. A great many more facts should be presented and a balanced view of the game as seen through the eyes of its participants was what was in order. Not the personal remembrances of Burns's high-brow friends.

Ken Burns has almost zero respect for true baseball followers. He dismissed us completely when all of the errors and butchery and glossing was originally addressed when this thing came out in the mid-90s. I am not a Civil War expert, so I don't know how inaccurate that was. I am a baseball expert. Ken Burns tried to pass off his self indulgence as a historical baseball documentary. It is not. Because he is not a baseball man.

OK, now we are way OT, but hey, its the off season. The History major in me is about to shine - but on an officiating board. Oh well, gotta gloat somewhere

In history circles, Ken Burns' "The Civil War" was acclaimed for its all encompassing look at many aspects of the war. At the time, it was considered the "final" history, something that never needed fixing because it was perfect.

Since its release, it has become clear that he paid attention too much to the common story of sectionalism (Industrial North vs. Agraian South) instead of the complexities and schisms in each region. Also, Burns has failed to discuss the ways in which African Americans pursued and won their own freedom, and instead focuses narrowly on the North's supposed position of morality and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

All in all, the transcripts revealed throughout the documentary are splendid, and it is a great piece if you want to learn mainly about how the Civil War played out in the political, military, and white society arenas.

I'm done. If you got this far, props. Sorry mods, couldn't let it pass.