Cubs: Will home movies of the 2003 season ever be released?

While the documentary “The Last Dance,” has been released, home movies of the 2003 Chicago Cubs season might never be.

Without live sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago Cubs fans, as well as all sports fans, have been looking for other avenues of sports to keep their minds occupied. With this came the release of ESPN’s 10-part documentary series titled “The Last Dance.”

This film follows Michael Jordan and the 1997 and 1998 Chicago Bulls. Two episodes have been released weekly on Sunday nights, and so far there are a total of four episodes out.

Every episode of “The Last Dance” has been all the rage since they were released and have been popular among sports fans and non-sports fans alike. Just like other sports documentaries, this one provides enough context for people to follow without having basketball or sports knowledge in general. This film also provides a rooting interest that could draw in the attention of any viewer. It should be noted that “The Last Dance” isn’t a home movie by any means.

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However, for those of you who are looking for home movies of a given sports team, there is one involving the Chicago Cubs out there, but unfortunately, it might never be released. In the summer of 2003, former Cubs first baseman Eric Karros recorded a couple of minutes of video over some game days of the season and ended up with about five hours worth of a home movie on VHS. The videos depicted the end of the wild 2003 season and featured players including Sammy Sosa, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Moises Alou and Kenny Lofton.

With all of these things considered, this home video collection sounds like a must-see for Cubs’ fans, and other baseball fans alike. The fact that none of the footage was rehearsed and how raw it is are just two things that make it sound so enticing. However, as mentioned before, who knows if or when they will be released, the videos have been locked away and will not be released until Karros is deceased.

There is no denying that the 2003 season was an exciting and historic one for the north side of Chicago. The Cubs ended up beating the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS and conveniently enough to tie this all together, Jordan was at the clinching game in Atlanta and joined in on the clubhouse celebration.

Unfortunately, the season did have a sad ending with the NLCS that I’d instead not recall. It’s enough to say that the Cubs’ didn’t end up winning it all, and we had to wait until 2016 for a championship.

Unfortunately, the kind of videos featured in both Jordan’s docuseries and Karros collection are extinct. These days, teams have their video crews, and players utilize social media to put personalized content out there. This is something to keep in mind while watching “The Last Dance,” and hoping that eventually, Karros releases his tapes.