When Netflix announced their new documentary series that follows the Boston Red Sox through their 2024 season, the reaction from Red Sox fans was…not what one would expect. Personally, as someone who grew up watching the team with my mom, I was beyond excited. However, article after article was released stating that it was serving as a distraction for a team that needed anything but that. After all, baseball players are already grinding through 162 games, so how are they going to perform at a high level when there’s always a camera shoved in their face, right? 

This is an assumption that is made about most sports documentaries that are meant to focus on professional sports teams throughout the season or preseason. HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” a show that follows a chosen NFL team during preseason and training camp, has taken the brunt of these comments for years. At one point, I remember seeing the idea of a “Hard Knocks” curse floating around social media with people saying the team being covered doesn’t have time to focus on their offseason needs because they are too busy involving themselves with the show. There have been other variations of this type of documentary such as “Quarterbacks” and “Receiver” that cover the NFL’s biggest stars and their in-season routines, “Starting 5” that follows five stars of the NBA during season, “Break Point” following the world’s biggest tennis stars and “The Clubhouse” following the Red Sox, all airing on Netflix. Netflix has found immense success with these documentaries, specifically after F1: Drive to Survive became one of their most popular shows following the stars of Formula One. 

Perhaps it’s just the nature of being a sports fan when your team doesn’t perform at a high level. You have to find something to blame, and the easiest thing to point the finger at is the fact they are more enamored with filming this series rather than playing their sport. But, in my opinion, these documentaries aren’t trying to prevent your favorite MLB team from making it to the World Series, they are simply trying to change the negative fan gaze that has fallen upon athletes and people in powerful positions in a sports organization. 

Let me use “The Clubhouse,” which Netflix released on April 8, as an example. The documentary focuses on new front office members such as Craig Breslow, the Sox’s fifth Chief Baseball Officer in just ten years, and of course the coaching staff and players as they navigate the balance of being humans and playing 162 games for about eight months of the year. In the eight-part series, fans are able to get a close look at Manager Alex Cora’s team through their ups and downs of last season. Star outfielder Jarren Duran opens up about his mental health that he has struggled with throughout his career and rising star pitcher Brayan Bello struggles with the expectations placed on him with a new contract locking him in with the organization. There’s even a scene where Duran’s old Ford Bronco breaks down (which he said he owns because he feels that a fancy car would do him no good) after a game and first baseman Tristan Casas stays with him until he figures out how to get the engine running again. These types of experiences and looks are something that can connect a fan to a player, also serving the purpose of showing fans even the star of the historic Boston Red Sox experiences his fair share of problems. 

This type of documentary is meant to humanize athletes, not cause a distraction for them. At the end of the day, athletes are humans too. I understand being passionate, as most fans are, but when it comes to the point of leaving comments under their Instagram posts stating how bad they suck and they should harm themselves, that’s not passion, that’s just human indecency. In a world where there are cameras everywhere, I don’t think these kinds of projects serve as an enormous distraction like many think it does.

Players are also willing to open their lives up for projects such as “The Clubhouse” because it offers an inside look to a game that they have dedicated themselves to their entire lives. As a former athlete myself, there is no better feeling than sharing the sport you love with a community, and that’s exactly what they are doing when they agree to film these documentaries. 

As Netflix prepares its next release, a documentary following the 10 SEC programs throughout this past year’s football season, it’s important to remember that the idea behind these documentaries is never to distract a team. Harassing the teams because of their decision to participate or scolding the creators for even thinking of the idea is unfair. It’s simply a project that is supposed to be for the fans’ enjoyment and to teach the sports community something new and deeper about what they love. It’s a project meant to show the humanizing aspect of sports, something fans need to remember in the midst of passion and love.