On St. Patrick's Day at 5 PM, SportsNet New York will be airing a fine documentary about Irish baseball called "The Emerald Diamond." I saw the film at a screening in Manhattan last year and it is a terrific film about how America's game has grown in Ireland over the past 15 years.The movie has been shown at special screenings throughout the country, and is available online. NESN has shown the film before, and now a station in New York will broadcast it for the first time, and it is the cable home of the Mets that will broadcast it this Saturday.
I got to meet John Fitzgerald, the filmmaker who brought this story to celluloid, after the screening. He maxed out all of his credit cards to make "The Emerald Diamond" come to life and he did a really superb job with the film, which I am proud to support. I have also gotten to know Cormac Eklof, a pitcher on the Irish National Team, who is featured in the film and a big Red Sox fan as well. (Cormac has a great blog about baseball in Boston and Ireland called "I Didn't Know There Was Baseball In Ireland?!" at http://irishbaseballseason.blogspot.com) My thanks to him for bringing the SNY airing to my attention on his blog today, and he has more info about the SNY airing there.
BTW, the above picture is of the Irish National Team when they played an exhibition game against a New England amateur team at Fenway Park in August 2001. That had to be the thrill of a lifetime.
I will be marching in the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday so I won't be able to catch it live. But there's a reason why God invented VCRs! It's definitely worth taping and seeing it later, or do what I may do: ask your bartender where you're celebrating the day to put it on one of the screens.
If you'd like more info on "The Emerald Diamond," please check out these great web sites:
The Emerald Diamond: http://www.theemeralddiamond.com
Irish Baseball Movie Blog: http://irishbaseballmovie.blogspot.com
Baseball Ireland: http://www.baseballireland.com
4 comments:
Gee, I'm sorry I missed that when it was on NESN. I hope it runs again soon.
I love seeing ball played by those outside of the usual places you'd expect it. One of the best days of my life as a baseball fan was when I saw the teams from Australia, Italy, China amd the US play in an amatuer championship at Fenway. The Chinese fans were absolutely amazing! The US kicked the Chinese team's collective butt, something like 22 - 1, but the Chinese fans never ONCE stopped cheering and making noise and clapping for their team. After the game, I walked up to their section - they were just behind me by ten or twelve rows - and I told them that they were the best baseball fans I had ever seen. It was the truth, too.
I absolutely agree with you, Suldog. Watching baseball fans from other parts of the world is a trip, and they put their own special touch on how to support their teams. A friend of mine was at one of the WBC games last year and said it was one of the best baseball experiences ever.
If you don't get a chance to see "The Emerald Diamond" on TV, it's definitely worth getting the DVD online...
I recall that in Eire, in 1990, the Budweiser Commercials, run on RTE & Network 2, had Baseball in them:
Then, there was a wee pub, there, claiming to pick up both TV38(Red Sox) & WWOR(METS), via Satellite, in the days before DirecTV & DISH.
Hey guys,
Thanks for the support for the film. Most of all, thanks for talking about baseball outside the US. I'm still a huge fan of stateside baseball, but seeing Sox fans discuss Irish baseball and the WBC really helps turn other fans onto baseball in other parts of the world. And in most countries, they really need the support!
Best,
John Fitzgerald
www.IrishBaseballMovie.com
www.SupportIrishBaseball.com
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