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One Strike, Two Balls: 3 reasons to watch IFC’s Brockmire

By Christopher Dodson

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Image: IFC

Brockmire’s cutting wit and sharpened verbal knives are the fastballs of the show. Brockmire brings the heat from his initial breakdown through every quip, quote, and hotline drive come-backer of a comment that comes after.

Jim Brockmire is known for his verbal riches and logical elasticity, depending on his level of inebriation. His initial on-air breakdown leads to a decade of downtime, but he is as quick and sharp as ever with his personal quips.

Jim kept his smooth delivery while detailing most of his wife’s infidelity, but lost his composure and job halfway through the at-bat. Brockmire then decided to take a voluntary decade long drug binge of a vacation to sort out his next move. That move turned out to be as a sideshow attraction for a flailing minor league team.

That’s where Jim met Jules. Jules brings out emotions of love Brockmire has long tried to unburden himself of. It’s the difficulty in expressing emotions in inoffensive ways that is most troublesome. Where Brockmire values honesty and verbal veracity, the rest of the world tries to respect other people’s feelings and emotions.

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Jim and Jules are both damaged souls but show signs of acceptance of the other’s flaws. There are drawbacks to an enabling relationship between risky drunks. Being on the edge of failure does not stop the flow of liquor, and Brockmire will never be at risk of being forgotten.

The Brock Bottom podcast give Jim an outlet beyond baseball, which leads to topics far from the field of play. It also helps him attract a new level of fame from a new fan base to entertain. Jim is a big reason his producer Charles is now rich and looking for new revenue streams.

The hi-jinks never stop; there are plenty of surprises every season, “and Brockmire is into it!”

On air meltdowns and backwater blackouts cannot kill his spirit or his confidence. Jim can be his own worst enemy, however, which is fatal for his career. In a small moment of unspoken honest, Charles gets to read what is likely the best side of Brockmire’s long-winded proclamations.

When Charles asked him why this side remains suppressed from most everyone, he simply explains, “Well, for the dead, I have emotions. For the living, my sincerest apologies.”

Emotional balance is difficult for Jim, drunk or sober.

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