Bad luck tends to follow the Chicago Cubs like it's the team's mascot, but even longtime fans had a hard time swallowing what happened on October 4, 2003. The Cubs made it to the National League playoffs, and were leading the Florida Marlins 3 to 0 in the sixth game of the series. The Marlins were up three games, but a win for the Cubs would have tied the series and put them one game away from a pennant victory for the first time in 48 years. However, while left fielder Moises Alou was jumping to catch a foul ball in the eighth inning, a fan in the stands, Steve Bartman, tried to catch it without seeing Alou, and accidentally knocked the ball from his glove. The play threw the game into the Marlins favor, and they gained a second wind, scoring eight runs and walking away with the pennant. Bartman immediately became the most hated man in Chicago and was belittled for costing the Cubs the World Series, even though a close look at the game reveals he was hardly the villain of the piece. Filmmaker Alex Gibney examines the facts and the legend behind Steve Bartman's infamous catch, as well as the nature of sports fans who demand a scapegoat, in the documentary Catching Hell, which also explores a similarly embarrassing moment in the history of Gibney's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Produced for the ESPN cable network, Catching Hell received its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.
