Saturday, December 15, 2007

The reason for the celebration in Red Sox Nation


The Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series Collector's Edition (8 disc/A&E): Didn't this happen four years ago? The Red Sox had a do-or-die hole to dig themselves out from against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series in 2004.
Fast forward to 2007. The Red Sox are again in trouble,
down three games to one against the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.
But then, it happened. Josh Beckett pitches a gem against C.C. Sabathia in Game 5 to bring the Sox within one game. Then Curt Schilling, though not as dramatic as he was in the 2004 series in the famed bloody sock game, gets the win in Game 6 to tie the series. Then Westbrook pitches a tight six innings in Game 7, then the pen takes over and the Sox explode to win the ALCS and move onto the Big Stage, the World Series.
All that and more is what makes "The Red Sox 2007 World Series Collector's Edition (A&E), a new eight-disc set that makes a nice souvenir for any Red Sox fan and a crying towel for Indians or Colorado Rockies fans.
I say nice because it could have been much nicer. Four years ago, A&E started this series of collector's boxes with a 12 disc set after the 2004 World Series. It contained all seven games of the exciting ALCS between the Sox and the Yankees, all four games of the Sox's sweep of the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals and the World Series disc that was also released separately.
The first set was pretty basic and very complete. The games were presented in their entirety and included everything but the commercials.
The new set makes some trims. The first four games of the ALCS aren't included. Neither is the official World Series disc.
The biggest change, though, is that despite the fact the box labels the games as uncut, they aren't. Trims are noticeable in the video. Fade-ins to commercials, for example, are cut short. No action is missing, though. Completists will be bothered, but the trims seem so nit-picky you wonder why someone bothered to do them.
On the other side, though, the new box adds a nice feature missing in the 2004 set: the radio broadcasts for the Red Sox and Rockies' World Series games are available as alternate audio for the game broadcasts. A nice touch for the hometown fans.
Obviously, this set is targeted at Boston fans.
It's too bad it couldn't include more discs, but the set is nicely priced as it is (around $40 discounted).
And for any Boston fan still needing a refresher of the great 2007 postseason, it's (almost) all here.