CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HOUSTON ASTROS, THE 2017 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!
It wasn’t always an easy journey. When the Astros made the switch from the National League to the American League, it was not always a smooth transition. But this season, the Astros have again and again proved themselves to be the best team in the American League.
And tonight, they are the best team in major league baseball.
It took them seven games to win. The Los Angeles Dodgers proved to be a tough and worthy opponent. Of all the World Series that I have watched, this has been one of the most exciting and unpredictable When the Astros lost Game 6 on Halloween, no one gave them much of chance to win Game 7. They were playing in Los Angeles and everyone said that the Dodgers couldn’t be beaten at home.
Tonight, the Astros did the same thing that they did during the regular season. They played good baseball and the proved the doubters wrong. Tonight, the Astros won their first World Series. For the first time, the World Series has been won by a team from Texas.
Just as people underestimated the Astros this year, people have also underestimated Houston. When Hurricane Harvey flooded the city, it was said that Houston and the people who lived there would never recover. Just like the Astros, both Houston and Texas are proving the doubters wrong.
Congratulations to the Houston Astros! Tonight, the Astros showed the world what it means to be Houston Strong!
We’re about a quarter of the way through the baseball season, so let’s take a trip to the ballpark with Joe E. Brown in ALIBI IKE, a 1935 comedy based on a story by Ring Lardner, one of the best baseball writers of the early 20th Century. Brown, known for his wide mouth and comical yell, is an admittedly acquired taste; his “gosh, golly” country bumpkin persona is not exactly what modern audiences go for these days. But back in the 30’s he was one of Hollywood’s top box-office draws, specializing in sports themed comedies revolving around wrestling (SIT TIGHT), track and field (LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD), swimming (YOU SAID A MOUTHFUL), polo (POLO JOE), football ($1,000 A TOUCHDOWN), and racing (boats in TOP SPEED, airplanes in GOING WILD, bicycles in SIX DAY BIKE RACE).
ALIBI IKE is the final chapter in Brown’s “baseball trilogy”. The first, 1932’s FIREMAN, SAVE MY CHILD, found him…
Apparently, today is the opening day of the 2017 baseball season. The only reason that I know that is because of my sister Erin. I don’t know much about baseball, to be honest. I know that my city’s team is the Texas Rangers and they were once owned by George W. Bush. I know that Houston has a team called the Astros. But, really, the main thing that I know about baseball is that my sister absolutely loves it.
So, when Erin asked me to review a baseball movie today, how could I say no? I mean, I may know next to nothing about baseball but I certainly know something about movies!
For that reason, I’m going to take a few minutes to tell you about a 1989 film called Night Game. Night Game is many things. It’s a movies that features a lot of baseball, even though it’s not really a sports film per se. It’s a police procedural, though the film itself suggests that the police often don’t have the slightest idea what they’re actually doing. It’s a serial killer film, though its killer is never quite as loquacious as we’ve come to expect in this age of Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan. At times, it’s a slasher film, though it’s never particularly graphic. Mostly, Night Game is a Texas film.
Directed by native Texan Peter Masterson, Night Game is like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre in that it is one of those rare films that not only takes place in Texas but was actually filmed on location. To be exact, Night Game was filmed in both Galveston and Houston. The entire film has a friendly and quirky Texas feel to it. Masterson may not have been a great visual director (If not for some language and nudity, Night Game could pass for a TV movie) but Night Game is a movie where the plot is less important than capturing the little details of a time. a location, and the people who lived there. Though Night Game is 28 years old, it’s portrait of my home state still seemed very contemporary to me. I guess Texas hasn’t really changed that much over the past few decades.
As for the film’s plot, someone is murdering young women in Galveston and leaving their bodies on the boardwalk. Obviously, that’s not going to be good for attracting Spring Break revelers. The film doesn’t make any effort to keep the murderer’s identity a secret. We see his face fairly early on. We also see that he has a hook for a hand. Eventually, we do learn the murderer’s motives. They’re pretty silly but then again, individual motives rarely make sense to anyone other than the guy with the hook for a hand.
Detective Mike Seaver (Roy Scheider) has been assigned to solve the case. One thing that I really liked about Night Game was that Mike was pretty much just a normal guy with a job to do. He wasn’t self-destructive. He wasn’t always drunk. He wasn’t suicidal. He wasn’t always lighting a cigarette and staring at the world through bloodshot eyes while the lighting reflected off of his artful stubble. He was just a detective trying to do his job and get home on time. After sitting through countless films about self-destructive cops and criminal profilers, the normalcy of Mike was a nice change of pace.
Mike does have a backstory. He used to play baseball and he still loves the game. He goes to every Astros home game in Houston. He’s in love with Roxy (Karen Young), who works at the stadium. Things are only slightly complicated by the fact that Mike had a previous relationship with Roxy’s mother (Carlin Glynn). Don’t worry, Mike’s not secretly Roxy’s father or anything like that. It’s not that type of movie.
Anyway, Mike is such a fan of baseball that he realizes something. The killer only strikes on nights that the Astros win a game. And he only strikes if a certain pitcher was throwing the ball. The obvious solution would be to shoot the pitcher in the arm and end his athletic career. However, Mike’s too nice a guy to do that. Instead, he just tries to track down the killer…
And, as I said, Night Game actually isn’t a bad little movie. Make no mistake, it’s a very slight movie. At no point are you going to say, “I’m going to remember that scene for the rest of my life!” That said, it’s a surprisingly good-natured film and Roy Scheider’s performance is likable and unexpectedly warm. With all that in mind, Night Game is an entertaining and (mildly) bloody valentine to my home state.
Plus, it’s a baseball movie! I don’t know much about baseball but, if my sister loves it, it has to be a good thing!
I know that the Shattered Lens isn’t a sports site but I love the Rangers and I can’t wait to see how they do this season. I can’t wait for more memories like this one:
The season officially starts on April 2nd! Good luck to my Rangers and to every other team (even the Blue Jays)!
Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs, who just won their first World Series since 1908!
I started this season believing that this would be the season that my Texas Rangers would finally win their first World Series title but it was not to be. After a great regular season, they lost the division series to the Blue Jays. As much as I wish my Rangers had gone further in the postseason, I’ll always cherish the memories.
But if my Rangers couldn’t win the World Series, I’m glad that the Cubs did. Going into the series as an underdog to the Cleveland Indians, the Cubs came back from behind and won Game 7, in extra innings with 10 runs to Cleveland’s 8. Both Chicago and Cleveland should be proud of their teams tonight!
Way to go, Cubs!
And here’s hoping my Rangers make it next season!
Congratulations on the victory, Chicago! You earned it!
For many of us, October doesn’t just mean Halloween and all things horror, it also means playoff baseball. Unfortunately, my Boston Red Sox were eliminated last night by the Cleveland Indians. Fenway Park has locked its gates for the winter, but the Boys of Summer will return next April. Only there will be something missing in 2017. There will be no more Big Papi.
David Ortiz has decided to call it a career after nineteen glorious seasons as the best Designated Hitter in baseball. The 40-year-old slugger gave us his all, but the wear and tear on his body told him to make this season his last. And what a tremendous final season it was: .315 Batting Average, 38 Home Runs, 127 RBI, and he led the American League in OPS (1.021), Doubles (48), Slugging Percentage (.620), and Intentional Walks (15). Not bad for an old geezer, and Papi will…
This scene isn’t from a movie but it is one that I love and that I’ve watched a dozen times today.
Here’s what those of us watching the Rangers/Blue Jays game saw yesterday.
I’m usually against violence and I don’t like it when grown men act like children but I’m also a Rangers fan and Jose “Bat Flip” Bautista got what he deserved. After Bautista’s hard slide into 2nd base, Odor is lucky he didn’t end up with a broken leg and Bautista’s lucky that Adrian Beltre was there to carry him to safety.
Here it is again:
For the record, that game was the last time that the Rangers and Blue Jays are scheduled to play during the regular season. With a final score of 6-5, the Rangers not only won the game but also swept the series!
Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball? It went zoomin cross the left field wall. Yeah boy, yes, yes. Jackie hit that ball.
And when he swung his bat, the crowd went wild, because he knocked that ball a solid mile. Yeah boy, yes, yes. Jackie hit that ball.
Satchel Paige is mellow, so is Campanella, Newcombe and Doby, too. But it’s a natural fact, when Jackie comes to bat, the other team is through.
Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball? Did he hit it? Yeah, and that ain’t all. He stole home. Yes, yes, Jackie’s real gone.
Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball? Did he hit it? Yeah, and that ain’t all. He stole home. Yes, yes, Jackie’s real gone. Jackie’s is a real gone guy.
As a bonus, here’s Jackie Robinson stealing home plate at the 1955 world series! Yogi Berra said Jackie was out. The umpire disagreed.
Welcome to the wacky, wonderful world of 70’s sexploitation comedies. Today we’ll be dealing with two Great American Obsessions: boobs and baseball! (Actually, it’s softball here, but why quibble). SQUEEZE PLAY is brought to you by Lloyd Kaufman and his team at Troma Entertainment, the folks responsible for such cinematic gems as THE TOXIC AVENGER and CLASS OF NUKE EM HIGH. Let’s slide right into the plot of the movie, shall we?
SQUEEZE PLAY is your basic Battle of the Sexes romp. The Beavers are the champs of the Mattress Workers Softball League, and the guys on the team have been ignoring their women folk for softball. This is causing much friction between them (and not the pleasant kind!), especially our two leads, team captain Wes and his fiancée Samantha. Things change when Mary Lou, a pretty heiress on the run, comes to town and demonstrates a killer arm (seems…
This week’s baseball theme wouldn’t be complete without Bud Abbott and Lou Costello doing their classic “Who’s On First?”. The skit originated in burlesque in various permutations, until the team turned it into a baseball routine and ran away with it. They first performed it before a national audience on Kate Smith’s radio show in 1938, and it was an immediate smash. Abbott & Costello never did it the same way twice, riffing on the routine like a jam band. Enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956, here’s the boys doing “Who’s On First?” from their 1950’s television show:
Through the Shattered Lens 