finally got to see the hbo mantle!

kuhlmann

If you havent had a chance to see it? do so! 1 hour of my life well spent! as good as the movie 61!

Griffins

saw it tonite, well worth it.
Better than '61 in a way, because it was all real.

DirtyHarry

It was a tough watch for me. I grew up in NY - the Bronx - and Mantle was my childhood idol....even more than that if you can understand. 61* was a good depiction of what was going on with Mantle without over-doing it. Each and every documentary I see involving Mantle focuses more and more on the dark side. Yes, he is a somewhat tragic figure driven by his own personal shortcomings - specifically the booze. Booze was "in" during the era. He indulged, had issues, over-did it like many others and paid for it.

I much prefer to admire and remember Mantle for his outstanding athelticism, his uncanny abilities, his unreal speed and power, his down-to-earth attitude and his accomplishments despite injuries that a player of today would just stay home and collect their paycheck with. Not to say it was not accurate, but I have many other tapes in my baseball video library that include Mante that I much prefer to watch. Regards.

Stone193

Hi Chris
I've seen it a few times and could watch it again!

I'm not making excuses for Mantle or anything but I kind of saw that fatalistic attitude in my own father whom I had to rationalize at some point in my life. His father died when he was 11.

Mantle really thought he was gonna die young of Hodgkins Lymphoma (a disease that has a great cure rate today). Too many males died young in his family.

His dad died when he was young - it's hard to handle that - I think the death of his father and his experience led him to start running and never stopped - that, of course means running from commitment - like marriage - and family - responsibility - and he never truly grew up.

He atoned for that in the end in his address to people - "not to look up to him..."

I agree, a richer view of the Mick.

mike

iamthegreatcornholio

I won't get HBO 'till the sopranos comes back so I'll download it later, thanks for the comments on it.

DirtyHarry

My man Stone...I am a revered fan of your opinion, but this is the dark side, fatalistic stuff about Mantle that I think is over-done. He doesn't need us to provide him with excuses. I ignore it. Yes, his family had a history of Hodgkins. My family has a history of cancer. All alcholholics have to justify why they continue to drink it down. He was highly functional, and just chose to do so. This was part of his after-the-fact excuse. I don't really think that he was playing baseball for the Yanks, with a mindset that he was going to die and ergo drank his beans off. Therefore, despite any suggested potential mindset on his part, I choose to see him as only an astounding baseball player that few will ever come close to. Regards.

Stone193

<< <i>I'm not making excuses for Mantle or anything >>


Harry
That's why I opened with this preface....hope I'm not sounding like a bleeding heart or anything.

I feel the way you do - I "watch" athletes play and expect little other in return. I could give a rats ass what they do on their own time....

Having said that....I can try to walk in the guy's shoes for one moment in time...I'm not asking you to buy into my belief...but attitudes are learned - probably unconsciously - this guy was running and I don't mean on the base path. Drinking just fit into the equation.

I'm neither apologizing nor antagonizing the image people have of the Mick.

mike

1420sports

saw it last night as well ... made me look for some Mantles on eBay!

I won't get HBO 'till the sopranos comes back so I'll download it later, thanks for the comments on it.

missing out on much more, especially "Entourage" - Johnny Drama is da man!

kuhlmann

saw it last night as well ... made me look for some Mantles on eBay!

LOL i woke up this morning and i had 15 mantles on my watch list! thank god i didnt bid on any or id be broke.

Axtell

I haven't seen the film, but I think glossing over his dark side would be a disservice to both Mantle and his wishes ('don't be like me'). I think providing the insight into what destroyed him would be a valuable learning tool for those who feel they are invulnerable. Watching arguably the greatest hitter of his generation fall to substance abuse would be an eye-opener to anyone, let alone someone on that path to abuse.

Unlike this garbage on network television that is only out to exploit, typically your HBO shows are much more about enlightenment than 'hey look what he did!' type of attitude.

DirtyHarry

Axtell and Stone - I agree with you. His issues have been so publicized that there is no way to "glaze over" them on any kind of Mantle documentary. All I'm saying is that....as time goes by....seems like the focus is more and more on "his issues" and less on his accomplishments. The "issue" stuff is sensationalist...and the reason why an HBO creates that kind of show. I wish there was a little better balance, ala *61....which reveals it but does not dwell on it. Regards.