Is Liverpools beach ball boy the new Steve Bartman?
There are rarely parallels drawn between football and baseball and the Liverpool fan who threw onto the pitch the beach ball that deflected in Darren Bent’s winner on Saturday will hope it stays that way. The story of Steve Bartman demonstrates exactly how difficult life can become for a supporter who inadvertently hinders his own team. Bartman was a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, a franchise famous for not having won the World Series since 1908 (think Liverpool and their title drought). That looked on course to change in 2003 when the Cubs reached the National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins. Victory in the best-of-seven series would have taken them to the World Series. Bartman was there for the sixth game, which they entered with a 3-2 lead. They were 3-0 up in the penultimate inning when Luis Castillo hit a high foul ball that headed towards the crowd. Moises Alou of the Cubs raced over to catch it but fans went for it too – as is tradition – with Bartman getting
