Tag: baseball

Here’s tonight’s starting lineup for cinema

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Good evening ladies and gents, this is Ryland coming at you once again with another rocking review of life, cinema, and sports. Today, I will be combining all three for your reading pleasure. How awesome is that? Now as you all clearly know by now, I am a supreme movie buff who loves his sports teams and loves to describe things at length. First though, let me give you some background information. Not this one, but the coming Monday is Valentines Day. You know about that famous day that is known for chocolate, the color red, and hearts as far as the eye can see, giving Hallmark a bump up in the stock market for a day and reminding singles of their sad truths? It also brings the beginning of Ojai Valley School‘s baseball season. I thought it would fit well considering I love baseball so very much. So tonight, I thought it’d be fun to recap my top 5 favorite baseball movies of all time. Read up and I’ll be back in time for the 7th inning stretch.

5: Beer League
This one probably will not belong with the proceeding heavy weight talent, however this one is the brain child of one of my favorite comedians, Artie Lange. This is the story of Artie DeVanzo, a classic underachiever with a slow pitch softball batting average of .450 and a blood alcohol content of .16. Through the companionship of his love interest and determination to defeated the hated rival, Artie leads his rag tag group of teammates from softball ineptitude to the championship game leaving a ball busting trail of laughter and memories along the way.

4: The Natural
This movie simply shows that age is merely a state of mind. The classic tale of Roy Hobbs tells the story of a once promising baseball player derailed by a gunshot wound. His comeback and resilience in the face of constant sabotage is admirable and inspiring to say the least. His persistence through pain and tape measure home runs will leave any baseball player telling their bat boy to “pick them out a winner.” This coming season, I am going to name my bat “Wonder Boy” thanks to this piece of cinematic excellence.

3: Field of Dreams
The only Kevin Costner performance I have ever sat through 100%. This movie makes the list not necessarily because of the action, but because of the passion, the heart, the light hearted absurdity, the attractive impulsivity, and most of all the belief that the amazing can come true. The scene at the end can drive those who have a similar father/son bond to tears and if not, a lip quiver and the 1919 Whitesox were as real as could be pictured. Not to mention the classic speech delivered from the timeless wisdom of James Earl Jones. The speech I will admit I have on my ipod, and for good reason too.

2: The Sandlot
This is a story of friendship and about the summer of a life time. A memoir of the summer of 62′, Scotty Smalls moves to California with no friends and no baseball IQ whatsoever. When he sees the kids at the sandlot, he is driven away in embarrassment. Thanks to the leader of the gang Benny however, Scotty slowly but surely learns the game, about baseball, and what it is to be included. This movie will leave you reciting lines over and over again and the way Squints made the move on the lifeguard will go down in history. An absolute classic movie indeed, The Sandlot is the whole package, drama, comedy, romance, baseball. What could be better?

drumroll please………..

1: 61* Trust me, I didn’t pick this for number one just because I’m a Yankee fan. This made for TV movie was made with all the passion a life long Yankee fan like Billy Crystal could muster up. Filmed during the peak of Baseball’s infamous steroid era, this film offers a positive, informative, and action packed history lesson as it accurately captures the 1961 season and the tale of two Yankees. Mickey Mantle (a living legend who is loved by all and has all the charm and talent one could ask for) and Roger Maris (a soft spoken family man from North Dakota who was one of the most misunderstood people in sports history) both chasing Babe Ruth’s home run record of 60. This film does such a wonderful job of capturing every possible nuance of what it was like day after pressure packed day for both of them, that you will truly feel genuine emotions for all involved. The action is fast and realistic, the history is accurate to every last detail, and you could tell the director was a fan. 61* is number 1 in my book.

Kill The Umpire!

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Hello everybody, me again. As you all know from my previous blog, it is currently the MLB playoffs. It is a time of never ending drama and great theatrics and better performances. However, there has been quite the annoying trend of outcomes being marred by subpar umpiring.

Not saying this is a new trend because this has been going on since umpires have been employed. “The call” in the 1985 world series, Chuck Knoblauch‘s phantom tag in 1999. In the 98 fall classic’s game one, Mark Langston pitched a 2-2 fastball right down the pipe to Tino Martinez. Strike three, Padres get out of the bases loaded jam in a tied game, all’s well. One problem, that was ball 3. The next pitch was launched into the upper deck for a grand slam.  Yankees win, Padres lose, as was the outcome of the series.

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a no hitter and a good anecdote

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Hello one and all! It’s October, and that means three things, Halloween, Spudfest, and most of all, Major League Baseball’s fall classic. The postseason is here, and needless to say it is my favorite time of the year. Today, October 6th, the major league playoffs kicked off in grand fashion. Two Game 1 contests took place today and one (featuring my beloved Yankees) is in progress. Now, I have to mention something, even though I as a sportsman and fan hate Philadelphia sports teams, I have to tip my cap to Phillies Game 1 starting pitcher, Roy Halladay.

What did this 13 year veteran do in his first playoff start of his career? Oh nothing, except throw the second post season no hitter in MLB history. He walked one, struck out 8, and surrendered no hits. That’s pretty impressive and being that it’s in the playoffs is no exception. Today also marked the first time I rooted for Philadelphia in anything since Rocky Balboa fought Mason Dixon, but that’s another story. Any Phillie fan will tell you game 1 meant on the first day of “Doctober,” it was a Halladay in Philly.

This no hitter also meant something special for an OVS student. Sophomore John Olivo, a.k.a “the situation,” is a Phillie fan. I watched the game with him, and my friends Cameron Cuthbert, Rory Campbell, Grant Spencer, and Kyle Stephenson. Now, Kyle and John have a history. Yesterday during a dodgeball game, John tackled Kyle, and Kyle saw John coming. He straight up decked him, “lights out.” For all the trash Kyle was talking, it was pretty worth while to watch. It was both funny and unpredictable. We ordered Domino’s Pizza and were coming up with a decision as to how we were going to pay, so I make a bet. “If Halladay throws a no hitter, Kyle has to cover it all.” This meant 3 large pizzas and 3 sides. We’re boys, come on, we’re hungry. Watching Brandon Phillips ground out to Carlos Ruiz meant Kyle was paying, history was made, and the Phillies won game 1.

Plus my lady friend in Boston Stephanie is a huge Phillie fan as well. I called her after the game and she said she loved me. SCORE!