'Long Gone Summer' Review: ESPN's docu on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa fails in swinging for the fences
Let's get this right off the bat. If ESPN's intention was to smack a home run with 'Long Gone Summer', then it struck out effortlessly. For all the big forearms, the sweet sound of the ball connecting the bat, the screams that erupted coupled with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's feats during the 1998 baseball season, this docuseries lacked the punch. Abysmal is a term that is normally not referred to the network, but guess, there's a first time for everything. The biggest question that plagued fans on Twitter: "Why make this?"
'The Last Dance' set the bar. 'Lance' was a thoroughly enjoyable affair. 'Be Water' was insightful. 'Long Gone Summer'... well, people will be glad it's gone. In ESPN and AJ Schnack's defense, this was meant to be the fond recollection of the 1998 baseball season that saw records being shattered — one game at a time. But not before the ugly truth of juicing sprung up. Cubs and Cardinals fans may love this one. Especially the ones who caught the game live.
But much has changed since the time we saw Sosa and McGwire exemplify the meaning of sportsmanship on the field. The feature-length documentary takes fans back on a journey that saw two muscled sluggers swing and whack the ball out of the park and in all of those two hours, there is no mention of Sosa's corked bat, while McGwire admits to the usage of performance-enhancing drugs in the last few minutes of the documentary. It looks like Schnack's concept was simple: Forget the drugs, just remember the season.
Pity that not all share the same flow of thought. And definitely not the ones who have done their fair bit of research before catching the documentary. There's just something very superficial about 'Long Gone Summer'. McGwire is the chosen one. That's established right up front as he swaggers into the '98 season carrying on his shoulder the expectations of people who after watching him blitz 58 home runs the previous year, were doubly sure he'd break Roger Maris' record (61).
Sosa was the quintessential underdog. He was the last guy you expected to take on a challenge. There was Ken Griffey Jr who was touted as the competitor to McGwire, not Sosa. But by the end of the season, "Slammin' Sosa" was a hero. He was McGwire's challenger and even though he lost the joust, he won the hearts of fans. And that's as far as 'Long Gone Summer' goes. A fairytale that masked the actual story that involved corked bats and drugs.
McGwire is the man of the hour. He speaks of his journey, the pressure that was all around him and his simple mantra to success — "See ball, hit ball." Although, there's more to random slugging than just perfect hand-eye coordination and strength. Sosa, at the other end, speaks about how he was content with what he accomplished. Neither men speak of the fact or delve into detail the steroids controversy. And for some gym rats out there who use Creatine, they can take note that the supplement has been in debate since the early '90s.
Had this been the same season that was not tarnished by the scandal, 'Long Gone Summer' would have closed out by bringing a smile on the audience's faces. But the truth is nowhere close to being explored and although we wish we had a pair of tinted glasses, this just doesn't help forget the fact that these were most probably (almost certainly) juice-fuelled achievements.
'Long Gone Summer' is streaming on ESPN+