Those are the “traditional names” for the 20th and 35th anniversaries. As mentioned in the BBS post from Friday, we are celebrating two “milestones” in baseball pop culture. Moneyball gets china for marking the 20th since its publication. Doesn’t it seem like we’ve been hearing about that for a lot longer? Friday’s entry refers to […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Moneyball
As I mention in the Conversation, when I went to Yankee Fantasy Camp in 2009, I found out the coach of my team would be Ron Shelton. How cool was that? But when I asked him about Bull Durham, he told me he wasn’t that Ron Shelton. I hope my disappointment wasn’t too evident. Readers of […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Ron Shelton,
The Church of Baseball
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Ron Shelton
One of these days I have to ask publicists, “what goes into getting a book reviewed in The New York Times” or something like the New York Review of Books? Numbers vary as to how many books are published every year. One figure I’ve seen puts it at 4,000,000, another more than 3,00,000 but that […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Dale Scott,
Rickey Henderson,
Ron Shelton
Getting closer (hopefully) to pitchers and catchers reporting but there’s still time to catch a good baseball movie. Or a bad one, depending on your point of view. The folks at MLB’s website are offering their choices on various themes. In this entry, they seek to answer the question, “Which baseball film has the best […]
Tagged as:
Bingo Long,
Bull Durham,
Major League,
Moneyball
Because you can keep a viewing device on your bookshelf. In the most recent episode, “The Fresh Princ-ipal,” the “B” story involves the eponymous hero, suddenly being unable to flip hamburgers in his shop after his friend and frequent customer, Teddy, asks about his technique. Bob’s wife, Linda, asks “What’s going on? Bob, what did […]
Tagged as:
Bob's Burgers,
Bull Durham,
Mackey Sasser,
Major League II
It’s a fine line. I am in the early stages of watching Knuckleball!, the 2012 documentary about the “trick pitch” and its practitioners by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg. So far I’m really enjoying every aspect of it: the cinematography, the special effects, the music. But what has taken the total bloom off the rose […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Knuckleball
“There’s no tomorrow, so it’s one of those things where you go out there and leave nothing in the tank.” That was Boston Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis. And virtually every athlete you will talk to about a Game 7 will say some variation of the same thing. So while we’re on the subject […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Kevin Youkilis
Haven’t seen too many of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series, but happened on this one while flipping through the dial. Jordan Rides the Bus is a nifty piece by Ron (Bull Durham) Shelton that takes a studied look at Michael’s days as member of the Birmingham Barons, a minor team in the Chicago White […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Chicago White Sox,
ESPN,
Michael Jordan,
Ron Shelton
In this article on the Atlanta Braves’ Brian Barton, the write pretty much brands the ballplayer an egghead. Last summer, during his first full season in the major leagues, he read 17 books. He recently finished off the 900-page “Roots” by Alex Haley. Which made me think of this line from Bull Durham by Max […]
Tagged as:
Brian Barton,
Bull Durham,
Max Patkin
An amazing piece of cinematic coincidence. Now compare that scene with the one in Costner’s Academy Award-winning Dances With Wolves in which his character, John Dunbar, and his drover, Timmons (the late Robert Pastorelli), argue abut the sagicity of remaining at Fort Sedgewick. The dialog is provided by script-o-rama.com: Timmons: There ain’t nothing here, Lieutenant. […]
Tagged as:
Bull Durham,
Dances With Wolves,
Kevin Costner
With rumors of a sequel to Bull Durham running around, I thought I’d take this opportunity to vent about something that’s been bugging me for awhile. I recently watched the movie for the umpteenth time and one scene in particular always makes me scratch my head. It takes place in the night game in which […]
Tagged as:
baseball movies,
Bull Durham
This interesting piece from InsideHighered.com on how Bull Durham serves as a metaphor for the academic world. My classes have come to a close for another year while professional baseball is finding its summer stride. I have come to see that my classes over the span of a semester are a lot like a baseball […]
Tagged as:
baseball education,
Bull Durham
Has it really been 20 years? ESPNthemag.com has a five-part retrospective, featuring interviews with director Ron Shelton and actors Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner.
Tagged as:
baseball movies,
Bull Durham,
ESPN
That's Bull
November 14, 2008
With rumors of a sequel to Bull Durham running around, I thought I’d take this opportunity to vent about something that’s been bugging me for awhile. I recently watched the movie for the umpteenth time and one scene in particular always makes me scratch my head. It takes place in the night game in which […]
Tagged as: baseball movies, Bull Durham
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