Nine Innings from Ground Zero

Nominated for three Sports Emmys, the HBO-aired Nine Innings from Ground Zero looks at the cathartic passion and determination with which New Yorkers embraced baseball in the weeks following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. While the Yankees and Mets found ways to volunteer their energies and bolster morale--showing up at victims' centers and reaching out to families of the deceased--fans turned to the ritual of baseball games as a way of sharing grief and striving for a return to normalcy. An action-packed chronicle of the Yankees' wild ride to the 2002 World Series (and the up-and-down dramas the team faced against Phoenix for the championship) that also interweaves the hectic, anxiety-ridden hours of anthrax scares and terrorist alerts that followed the 9/11 tragedy, this excellent documentary offers a compelling perspective on those dark days. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)