Ken Burns' 'The Tenth Inning' And The Colorado Rockies

The first nine innings of Ken Burns' Baseball originally aired in September 1994, right after the baseball players' strike started. Sixteen years later, Burns revisited that documentary and decided to send it into extra innings.

This past week PBS aired The Tenth Inning, a two-part, four-hour addition to the series. I have yet to see the top half of the inning (my digital guide said the repeat was last night, but well, no), but after seeing the bottom of the 10th I was left disappointed.

It's basically one giant lovefest for the Red Sox and the Yankees. There's also that segment on the steroids era, which I actually liked. But there's a problem with discussing contemporary history: we don't have enough perspective on it to say anything meaningful (I'm a historian, mind you).

That, and maybe it's because I didn't see enough Rockies in there. I can recall only two clips of the Rockies. The first was of Garrett Atkins hitting into a ground out against the Pirates. The other was when Boston recorded the final out of the 2007 World Series.

I guess years from now when someone decides to do more extra innings on baseball, the sleeping dragon of the Rockies that finally woke up will be a dominant theme.