BASEBALL AND MOVIES: BULL DURHAM

BASEBALL & MOVIES: BULL DURHAM

Costner and Sarandon Sizzle in the Best Baseball Movie Ever!

Though it's been almost twenty years since it was releases, Bull Durham still tops almost every list of great baseball movies.

Part of the allure is the quality of the baseball and part, of course, is the sexual chemistry between Costner and Sarandon.

(Spoiler Alert)

The movie opens with a young fireball pitcher named Ebby Calvin LaLoosh (played to the hilt by Tim Robbins) having sex with a young girl named Millie (Jenny Robertson in her first screen performance) in the bathroom of the clubhouse. He is due to pitch in five minutes. His manager is displeased that he is "leaving his fastball in some piece of ass" but Ebby Calvin proves him wrong. His fastball is still there, just uncontrollable as he walks an incredible 18 in his first start, plus hits any and everything in sight.

After the game, Crash Davis enters the clubhouse. Davis (Costner) is a AAA catcher who has been reassigned to A ball to help teach and mature the kid to prepare him for "the Show", as the Major Leagues are referred to. He is unhappy initially to have his contract bought out babysit the flavor of the month but getting a chance to play everyday is in his blood, plus he is closing in on the record for career minor league home runs.

Later that night, Annie meets both Crash and Ebby at a bar and takes them home with her. She lays out the ground rules for having a relationship with her but Crash leaves, telling her he's "not interested in a woman who's interested in that boy." So Annie commits to Ebby (who she nicknames "Nuke") for the season.

During the season Annie and Nuke's relationship grows all the while she and Crash start pining for each other. However, as she stated, she is committed to Nuke for the season, and she remains monogamous during the baseball season. However Annie finds frustration as she convinces Nuke to rechannel his sexual energy into baseball and he starts winning and won't have sex until he loses. Meanwhile she is getting hotter and hotter for crash who now spurns her again.

I won't divulge any more of the story, but will say that this movie; despite it's sports theme, is as much romance and personal drama as it is sports. And the acting and photography are as solid as any, the dialog is incredible. Despite being a sports-themed movie, it is also one of those films that you can almost forget is sports themed!

Costner was in his hey-day, Sarandon was in her prime, and Robbins played the perfect foile for both! I give this one a solid and well deserved 5 out of 5 stars!

And if you don't have it or haven't seen it, I'm pretty sure there will be a 20th anniversary edition next year! :D

WASHINGTON NATIONALS ACQUIRE WILLIE MO PENA

Red Sox send outfielder to DC for player to be named later.


The Washington Nationals picked up disgruntled outfielder Willie Mo Pena (seen in the accompanying picture after hitting a home run for his new team) from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named later this weekend. The move was made to make room on the Red Sox roster for outfielder Bobby Kielty. While Pena was an unwanted man in Boston, he had been a target of the Washington Nationals for a couple of years now.

Pena never found a regular job in Boston despite being considered a top prospect for years. He does have a lot of power and given consistant at bats should be good for 30 plus home runs per season.

The knock on Pena has always been his questionable defense. Hitting is beyond a doubt his forte. The plan in DC is for Willie Mo to platoon in left field and fill in occasionally in center and left field. Days that he doesn't start will probably find him in a pinch hitting role.

Nat's manager Manny Acta is a former minor league manager of Pena and several players on the squad are familiar with him from their shared time as memebers of the Cincinatti Reds, who traded Pena to Boston before the 2006 season.

The pickup of the outfielder is the most recent transaction that shows promise for next season as the DC team builds for their future in a new stadium. The signings of Dmitri Young and Ronnie Belliard also show this is a team that is thinking toward the future and building a nice mix of young players and quality veterans.

As it happened, Pena blasted his first home run as a member of the Nationals today. I suspect it is but the first of many he will hit for DC in the years to come.

I'm Back!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6487940

To quote the Terminator, "I'm Ba-aack"... been out of the country on business but will try to catch up on my postings here.

First off, my most recent post regarding Ty Wigginton; while I was gone from this forum he was indeed traded; ending up in Houston in a trade for Astros relief pitcher Dan Wheeler.

So I missed the destination, but I knew they'd use him to upgrade the bullpen. Give me half credit?

I also have received my copy of "Raspberries: Live on Sunset Strip"... and it was everything I expected and more.

As it happened I was order #18 out of the 300 that were pre-sold in December and came with the entire cd set of 21 songs plus all 21 songs performed on the DVD! It was only available online from http://www.rasperriesonline.com/ and came signed and numbered by the band along with some nice extras, like an official "Rasperries" pin. (The LE sold out so quickly that many long-time fans missed out, so the band has offered a special edition online as well... that gives you everything I got except the pin and outographs. If you're a die-hard fan of the 'berries, you'll have to get this. If not, a deluxe set is available in select stores, and through sites like amazon.com that contain 21 songs on 2 cd's along with a five song DVD... )

Lots of other events to discuss that I'll get to in future posts. Until then, take care all. :D