Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Game 7’ on Prime Video, A Series Profiling The Most Exciting Winner-Take-All Games In Sports

There’s nary infinitesimal for illustration it successful master sports. After a long, hard-fought best-of-seven series, it each comes down to 1 winner-take-all game. Game 7, a caller six-episode documentary miniseries connected Prime Video, looks astatine nan arena done nan lens of a half-dozen of nan astir memorable Game Sevens successful caller sports history.

GAME 7: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The first section deals pinch nan 2003 American League Championship bid betwixt nan then-long-suffering Boston Red Sox and nan then-dominant New York Yankees, and truthful we’re treated to a montage of aggravated chatter preceding that series’ last game. Yankees fans swagger, assured successful victory, and nan ferocity of nan rivalry is plain to see. As Yankees ace Roger Clemens puts it: “I gotta show you, there’s thing for illustration a Game 7, because there’s nary tomorrow. One squad continues, and 1 goes home.”

The Gist: Each section of Game 7 portrays a azygous different Game 7, pulling from baseball, hoops and hockey. They’re mini-documentaries, mounting up nan discourse of nan crippled and nan bid that led up to it pinch archival footage and commentary. It’s fast-paced and as-it-happens, packaging it arsenic much of a item reel than a sober recounting.

Photo: Amazon Studios

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? It’s difficult to reappraisal immoderate sports documentary without comparing it to a 30 For 30, and Game 7 compares to immoderate of nan faster-paced ones. There aren’t a batch of quiet, introspective moments here, and successful that consciousness it’s astir apt person to immoderate of NFL Films’ item packages. (Ironically, arsenic football’s nan 1 awesome North American master athletics not represented here.)

Our Take: The Super Bowl mightiness clasp America’s heart, but there’s thing that tin comparison to nan strength of a Game 7. Two exhausted teams person traded blows for a week aliases more, and now everything comes down to 1 last game, winner-take-all. It’s thrilling and terrifying and perfectly wonderful–so agelong arsenic your squad isn’t 1 of nan 2 involved.

I’m a Cleveland sports fan, and there’s a fistful of Game 7s that will beryllium everlastingly etched successful my memory, for amended and (mostly) for worse. Game 7 of nan 1997 World Series, erstwhile nan then-Indians came wrong 2 outs of clinching an elusive championship, only to spot previously-dominant person Jose Mesa rustle nan game. Game 7 of nan 2016 World Series, erstwhile nan similarly-suffering Chicago Cubs benefited from a fortunate rainfall hold to flooded their demons and walk their curse disconnected to Cleveland. And, successful brighter terms, Game 7 of nan 2016 NBA Finals, 1 of nan top hoops games ever played, erstwhile nan Cleveland Cavaliers completed a comeback from a three-games-to-one shortage against nan historically-dominant Golden State Warriors.

I sewage sick conscionable reasoning astir those games, and they were a 100 times worse successful nan moment.

Game 7 chooses to exemplify this constituent by showing alternatively than by telling. There aren’t sober commentaries connected what Game Sevens mean, nary Ken Burns-y navel-gazing aliases generalization. There’s conscionable nan games themselves, six successful particular: nan 2003 ALCS betwixt nan Red Sox and Yankees, nan 1987 Stanley Cup Finals betwixt nan Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers, nan 2006 NBA Western Conference Semifinal betwixt nan Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs, nan [eye twitches] aforementioned 2016 World Series, nan 1994 Stanley Cup Finals betwixt New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks, and nan 2024 Stanley Cup Finals betwixt nan Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.

It’s a awesome action of games, and if you’re a non-hockey instrumentality questioning nan truth that a afloat half of them are Stanley Cup Finals games, I quote sportswriter Jon Bois connected nan strength of playoff hockey: “Why watch playoff lucky erstwhile you tin simply snort cocaine and thrust a motorcycle retired of a helicopter?”

The first section is devoted to that 2003 conflict betwixt nan Yankees and Red Sox, a highest successful nan 2 northeastern shot teams’ historical and ferocious rivalry–a infinitesimal erstwhile nan Yankees were nan Evil Empire and nan Sox were still saddled pinch nan Curse of nan Bambino. They’d shingle disconnected that curse nan pursuing twelvemonth pinch 1 of nan awesome comebacks successful sports history, but successful 2003 nan Yankees still had nan swagger connected their side. The section sets up this discourse well, and brings successful immoderate of nan cardinal figures to reminisce complete fast-paced, heavily-soundtracked highlights. There’s ace pitchers Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez, and then-Yankees 3rd baseman (and existent Yankees manager) Aaron Boone, whose (spoiler alert, I guess?) walkoff location tally successful Game 7 would nonstop New York backmost to nan World Series and gain Boone a profane nickname from Red Sox faithful.

That’s a bid that I watched each transportation of astatine nan time, and Game 7 does a tin occupation condensing nan (often interminably-long, convey deity we person a transportation timepiece now) games into an hour-long item reel. It’s a coagulated impervious of concept, and provides capable inheritance that I could spell into nan other, less-familiar Game 7s (I’m not a large lucky watcher) pinch assurance that they captured nan essence.

Photo: Courtesy of Prime

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Boone didn’t commencement Game 7, but he entered nan crippled precocious arsenic a pitch-runner, a fateful lineup displacement that would find him astatine nan sheet pinch a chance to make history. He reflects connected his acquisition coming to nan Yankees that year, and facing nan aggravated spotlight of playing successful New York. “It tin beryllium a challenging spot to play, and those pinstripes do get dense sometimes.” He leads disconnected nan bottommost of nan 11th inning against Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, a pitcher who he’s struggled against successful nan past. It’s his first at-bat of nan game, successful his first twelvemonth playing successful nan postseason. He swings–and deposits 1 into nan left-field stands, sending nan Yankees to nan World Series yet again. “It’s a infinitesimal I told myself to portion this each in,” Boone recalls. “A puerility dream, realized and fulfilled.” Red Sox players bespeak connected nan sting of that moment, still coming aft each these years. “Aaron F**king Boone,” Johnny Damon recalls. “It hurts to this day. We had a bond. We triumph and we suffer together. Yeah, it was a reliable one.”

We spot Boston fans bereft, and nan Yankees exultant. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman smiles, and notes pinch a hint of ironic foreshadowing (considering what happened nan pursuing year): “To travel retired victorious and triumph nan war… there’s nary measurement they’re going to beryllium coming backmost from this.”

Sleeper Star: It’s difficult to telephone 1 of nan top pitchers of each clip a “sleeper”, but Roger Clemens’ beingness carries nan first episode–he’s still sewage nan fiery cognition that made him ascendant connected nan mound, and he intelligibly still relishes sticking it to nan Red Sox much than 20 years aft nan fact. It’s not a one-sided argument, though, arsenic Pedro Martinez delivers nan aforesaid occurrence from nan Boston broadside of nan trenches.

Most Pilot-y Line: “You tin consciousness their emotions, you tin consciousness nan strength they have,” Roger Clemens recalls. “It was fantastic. You’ve seen these guys truthful galore times, and much importantly–they saw maine 4 aliases 5 days ago. And now present we are, Game Seven, pinch everything connected nan line.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. There’s thing for illustration a Game Seven, and Game 7 does a awesome occupation channeling nan power of sports’ astir breathtaking moments into a tidy package.

Scott Hines, patient of nan widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter, is an architect, blogger and proficient net personification based successful Louisville, Kentucky.