All Rise...

During the Seventh Inning Stretch, Judge Eric Profancik ruptured his funny bone.

The Charge

"Hosted by comedian Chris Kattan!"

The Case

"No it's not," I thought.

I was looking at the official site for some additional technical information on the DVD when that little line jumped out at me. Chris Kattan hosted this disc? No way. I just watched it last night, and I don't remember him at all. Let's pop in the DVD and double-check myself.

Hosted by comedian Chris Kattan! Yes, it is. Interesting how I missed that the first time, but it's not a huge oversight. He only does the voiceover narration, and his voice isn't that recognizable. He's not the star of the show, anyway.

As the title clearly states, MLB Bloopers: The Funny Side of Baseball is a compilation of various bloopers, interesting events, jokes, and other oddities from Major League Baseball. These are cleverly categorized into nine innings (chapters):

1) Park and Ride
2) Wired for Bloopers…
3) Character Guys
4) Baseball, It's "elemental"
5) Superstar Comedians
6) Baseball Pranks
7) Behind the Blooper
8) A Language All Their Own
9) Shake It Up

Continuing on the easy-to-use idea, the inning titles make it easy to know what's going on, but some may seem unusual.

1) Park and Ride: Players getting to the stadium for work.
2) Wired for Bloopers…: Players miced for sound, so we can hear the zany things they say on field.
3) Character Guys: Some guys are just characters, overflowing with personality.
4) Baseball, It's "elemental": Neither rain nor bugs will stop the game.
5) Superstar Comedians: The biggest names in the game like to think they're the funniest comedians around.
6) Baseball Pranks: Um, players playing pranks on one another.
7) Behind the Blooper: Making a blooper and laughing it off.
8) A Language All Their Own: The press conference and the great clichés that come from them.
9) Shake It Up: Singing, dancing, and weird handshakes.

So, now that you know what's on the disc (like you really couldn't guess before I went through all), is the disc funny? Yes, it is…at times. As in all things meant to be humorous, some things work and some things don't. You know how you go to a baseball game and they'll show a minute of bloopers between innings? Now think about watching that show—and it's "background story"—for an hour. You'll laugh; you'll yawn; you'll pay attention; and you'll find your mind drifting. I believe the main distraction for me on this disc is that it wasn't just bloopers. When we saw the falling, tripping, wild pitches, and other silliness, I found that funny and enjoyable. But when we went off that track, I wasn't entertained. That's clearly demonstrated in the first inning. Why do I care how these guys get to work? OK, he has unruly kids in the backseat, he rides a skateboard, and he can't find the right entrance. Cute, maybe, but not funny. If you're going to call something "MLB Bloopers" then I think it should be nothing but bloopers.

Rewinding back to the beginning, I am a little fuzzy on the video specs for this disc. The video is clearly letterboxed. However, the video itself is almost flawless. If you've watched a baseball game in high definition, you know it's one of the best things you can watch in HDTV. That comes through on the disc, with crisp, accurate colors, rich details, spot on sharpness, and nice contrast. There was just the briefest flicker of a compression artifact in the eighth inning, and the rest looks great. The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is also clean and clear, with easy to understand dialogue and hiss free presentation. Sadly, this DVD doesn't contain any subtitles.

If you enjoyed the first nine innings, it's a tie game and the disc goes into extra innings with 12 more blooper-related items. Most of these are the "full blooper" that is only briefly shown in the main story, but a few are new comedy-like items:

• The Bruce Chen and Steve Kline Show
• Dontrelle Willis and Jimmy Rollins Talk About Growing Up Together
• The Aftermath of the Tim Hudson/Eddie Perez Prank
• TWIB Classic: 1993 Florida Marlins Grounds Crew's Tarp Troubles
• Blooper Stories: Randy Wolf and Mike Lieberthal Talk About Mike's Pre-Game Dance
• In-Game Blooper: Ruben Rivera: "The Worst Base Running in the History of the Game"
• In-Game Blooper: Nook Logan Hits a "Little League Homerun"
• Blooper Stories: Ryan Dempster's Harry Caray Impersonation
• In-Game Blooper: Jason Lane Forgets How Many Outs There Are in an Inning
• Blooper Gone Good: Mike Cameron Falls and Makes a Great Catch
• In-Game Blooper: Chad Cordero Trips on the Mound While Throwing a Pitch
• Blooper Stories: Johnny Damon Recalls When Manny Ramirez Cut Off One of His Throws in the Outfield

Also included are preview trailers of other Shout! Factory baseball titles: Pure Heat: Ultimate MLB Flamethrowers, Red Sox vs. Yankees: The Ultimate Rivalry, 2005 World Series, and MLB Superstars Show You Their Game.

For the serious baseball junkie, I'd give this a marginal buy recommendation. For the rest of us, a simple rental at best might be acceptable. Even then, how many times have you gone to the store to rent an episode of TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes?

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