HBO No Go---The Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush

[Spirit of '55]

Friends:

I have been trying to catch this HBO documentary this week---it hasn't been on in years, is on at all kinds of odd hours, isn't on "On Demand," doesn't seem to be available for sale...

What's up with this? Does anybody know?

And where CAN I acquire a copy?

[MATHA531]

This so called documentary is less than a year old so you can't say it hasn't been on in years...actually you don't want to watch the second half...it is full of lies and half truths about the O'Malley slimeball and people have cited it for justifying the slimeball's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

[donzblock]

Friends:

I have been trying to catch this HBO documentary this week---it hasn't been on in years, is on at all kinds of odd hours, isn't on "On Demand," doesn't seem to be available for sale...

What's up with this? Does anybody know?

And where CAN I acquire a copy?

I have two copies, but I will save you from yourself by seeing to it that you never acquire either. Sometimes, it is not wise to wish for things you might actually get.

[Spirit of '55]

Dear Donz & Friends:

That bad, eh?

I did catch about ten minutes at the end (the "O'Malley As Visionary" nonsense).
Still, I'd like to see it all.

The whole "It Wasn't O'Malley" argument reminds me of the argument Titanic people have about the Californian. If you aren't familiar, here are the facts in brief:

1. Titanic, permissibly short about 1000 lifeboat seats, hits an iceberg and goes "glug."

2. Nearby, the ship Californian, Stanley Lord commanding, sees white rockets and does nothing.

Pro-Californian people ("Lordites") have two arguments:

A. There was a "mystery ship" between the Titanic and the Californian signaling another "mystery ship" somewhere nearby (the "Ride Captain Ride" theory as I like to call it), or

B. Californian and Titanic were on opposite sides of an immense ice floe, and Californian couldn't have arrived in time to do any good,

to which author Walter Lord (not a "Lordite") responds:

A. It didn't matter whether there were 2 or 10 "mystery ships" or the entire Spanish Armada out there, Captain Lord was legally and morally bound to investigate the white rockets, WHICH HE FAILED TO DO, and

B. The rescue ship Carpathia rushed 58 miles to rescue the Titanic's people UNDER THE SAME SEA CONDITIONS, while Californian and Titanic were anywhere from 5 to 25 miles apart that night (it probably varied based on current and drift factors). CAPTAIN LORD DIDN'T EVEN START HIS ENGINES UNTIL DAYLIGHT.

With O'Money we have a literally Californian parallel:

1. The City Fathers acted abysmally in trying to keep baseball in New York (on the forum, we tend to forget the Giants), and really permitted the accelerating deterioration of the city, and/or,

2. Robert Moses refused to allow O'Money to build a new stadium in Brooklyn.

The Pro-O'Malley forces pitch the ideas that:

A. O'Malley did everything he could to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn, and,

B. He was pressured by municipal disinterest into moving the Dodgers.

to which I say,

A. O'Malley did NOT do "everything he could" to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn, for instance,

a. Selling the team to a Brooklyn concern,

b. Accepting a stadium in Queens (Flushing Meadow sure is a hell of a lot closer than Chavez Ravine!),

c. Recognizing that the Dodgers were a community trust not just a commodity, and stimulating the fanbase (voters), who had become largely apathetic and resigned, into pressuring the City Fathers into doing SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE to save the Dodgers (and Giants),

d. Refurbishing Ebbets Field and buying up some of the surrounding properties to build a parking complex,

e. Add your own ideas, and in essence remember,

B. The bottom line is that the final decision was always his. HIS NAME EXPLAINS EVERY REASON WHY WALLET O'MONEY BECAME A CALIFORNIAN.

May he roast eternally in the newly-constructed EIGHTH CIRCLE OF HELL (It looks like Dodger Stadium)



PS: Why don't those losers out there remember their roots and call the place JACKIE ROBINSON STADIUM??????????

Damn O'Malley's eyes!

[NY16CATCHER]

I have two copies, but I will save you from yourself by seeing to it that you never acquire either. Sometimes, it is not wise to wish for things you might actually get.

History shows that those who resort to censorship to discourage or eliminate discussions on facts and history are those whose viewpoint is either weak or not able to be defended due to its lack of factual basis.

Facts are not facts merely because you say they are. God forbid anyone ever attempt to get a point of view other than you own is apparently your motto. Rather than "protecting the person from themselves", why not let them examine the facts on their own, after all, if it is so clear as to what is fact and what is not, certainly someone of reasonable intelligence will reach a logical conclusion, correct? So if your point of view is clearly logical and the only one that you could arrive at given the facts, they will arrive at yours as well, wouldnt' they?

[donzblock]

History shows that those who resort to censorship to discourage or eliminate discussions on facts and history are those whose viewpoint is either weak or not able to be defended due to its lack of factual basis.

Facts are not facts merely because you say they are. God forbid anyone ever attempt to get a point of view other than you own is apparently your motto. Rather than "protecting the person from themselves", why not let them examine the facts on their own, after all, if it is so clear as to what is fact and what is not, certainly someone of reasonable intelligence will reach a logical conclusion, correct? So if your point of view is clearly logical and the only one that you could arrive at given the facts, they will arrive at yours as well, wouldnt' they?

Apparently, sir, you have missed quite a bit. If you read Spirit of 55's response, you will see that he didn't. You have a long way to go, sir, if you imagine that what I wrote was a call for censorship.

Have you read Jonathan Swift, sir? Are you going to deny, sir, that a child, well nursed, is at a year old a most delicious food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled?

Your response to what I wrote boggles the mind. Do you have any idea what you are writing? Do you have any idea what you are responding to?

[Spirit of '55]

Dear NY16Catcher and Friends:

I don't consider Donzblock's comments to be "censorship." Opinion is not censorship, and besides, Donz didn't burn the copies or picket HBO to stop the broadcast.

I took a two hour lunch and watched the thing. Yes, it subscribes to the O'Malley As Good Guy theory, but only moderately (in my opinion).

Let's face it: The City did NOTHING to stop the move, Robert Moses did NOTHING to stop the move, and the Brooklyn Dodger fanbase of the time did VERY LITTLE to stop the move. The corker was O'Money getting 325 acres of prime LA downtown real estate for NOTHING. What a bribe! He was go-o-o-o-o-ne once he added up the tote board.

It was all about O'Money, may his remains turn as green as a dollar bill. I despise the guy's memory. I also despise those complacent former LA City Commissioners who engineered the fix.

During the show, one of them, and I can't remember her name, may it be never heard among the living again, crowed, "We weren't just getting a team, we were getting THE DODGERS!"

Yeah, and may the Puente Hills Fault open right under your master bath while you're in there doing what Los Angelenos do best, lady!

(Did I mention I hate LA for many reasons unrelated to this topic? It's a lousy place to live.)

[bluecrew50]

Thank you Mr. Robert Moses and New York city officials for not doing anything to stop the move to beautiful Los Angeles without you the Dodgers would still be at the worlds largest urinal

[donzblock]

Thank you Mr. Robert Moses and New York city officials for not doing anything to stop the move to beautiful Los Angeles without you the Dodgers would still be at the worlds largest urinal

What a beautiful thought. How long did it take you to visualize Brooklyn as "the world's largest urinal"? Or did you mean that Ebbets Field was the "world's largest urinal?"

Aren't you a nice person! And smart, too! What a superb imagination. I bet that what lies between your ears is much more than gray matter. I bet it is yellow matter. Pure gold between your ears, bluecrew50. Wouldn't yellowcrew50 be more appropriate?

Don't be a stranger now. Surely you have more brilliance you would like to share.

[willisraverchk77]

Yeah, and may the Puente Hills Fault open right under your master bath while you're in there doing what Los Angelenos do best, lady!

that's sick. you shouldn't post stuff like that. can i post that i hope a terrorist bombs your house?

[donzblock]

Gosh, Mrs. Willisraverchk77, but don't you have any comments about bluecrew50 calling either Brooklyn or Ebbets Field the "world's largest urinal"? Should he have posted that?

[shlevine42]

What a beautiful thought. How long did it take you to visualize Brooklyn as "the world's largest urinal"? Or did you mean that Ebbets Field was the "world's largest urinal?"

Aren't you a nice person! And smart, too! What a superb imagination. I bet that what lies between your ears is much more than gray matter. I bet it is yellow matter. Pure gold between your ears, bluecrew50. Wouldn't yellowcrew50 be more appropriate?

Don't be a stranger now. Surely you have more brilliance you would like to share.

I share your admiration for bluecrew50, Professor, but let's not overlook the most impressive aspect of his dazzling observation :

He reached this level of verbal brilliance in only his second post -- placing him just behind Bobo Holloman in precocity.

[willisraverchk77]

Gosh, Mrs. Willisraverchk77, but don't you have any comments about bluecrew50 calling either Brooklyn or Ebbets Field the "world's largest urinal"? Should he have posted that?

gee whiz, mr. donald, probably not, but golly, are you comparing wishing a natural disaster on a city to calling a stadium a dump?

golly moses, mr. donald, i'm surprised at you!

[bluecrew50]

Yes it was only my 2nd post, who cares. I'm not brilliant so what, even if I were freakin Einstein it would be over shadowed by your bitterness. All you do is talk bad about the boys in blue. I seriously think you need to come to grips with the fact they're never going back! I know some where deep down inside you have a soft spot for when you see that blue and white suit on t.v. regardless of what the cap says. Haven't we always said to play for the name on front of the shirt. Gee do you really wish a natural disaster on an American city? Or on anybody wow!

[donzblock]

Yes it was only my 2nd post, who cares. I'm not brilliant so what, even if I were freakin Einstein it would be over shadowed by your bitterness. All you do is talk bad about the boys in blue. I seriously think you need to come to grips with the fact they're never going back! I know some where deep down inside you have a soft spot for when you see that blue and white suit on t.v. regardless of what the cap says. Haven't we always said to play for the name on front of the shirt. Gee do you really wish a natural disaster on an American city? Or on anybody wow!

Now let us not let our bitterness overshadow the enormity of what you have accomplished in only your second post. And you are absolutely right about that soft spot when I see blue and white on TV: after all, how could blue and white possibly remind anyone of a urinal?

And since it is bad, bad, bad to wish a natural disaster on any city, you are to be congratulated once again for calling attention to the fact that Brooklyn is a urinal. Your desire to clean up that place is evident. Should we start with a plunger? Or perhaps you could point out where the flusher is. Nobody in Brooklyn has your brains, bluecrew50, so would you be kind enough to give instructions to the natives so that the big clean-up can begin?

Thank you so much, bright fellow.