"So good, so good, so good"

So I had another couple of days off this week. My Thursday was interesting and I will talk about it later. However, my Wednesday was uneventful save for the fact that for the third time, I watched the movie Fever Pitch.

Why have I seen it three times? Because it literally gets better every single time I've seen it. The first time I saw it, my dislike for Drew Barrymore's cutesy style of acting almost ruined the movie for me.

But the second time, it didn't bother me. I got caught up in Jimmy Fallon's character's love for the Boston Red Sox. Like when Barrymore invites him to go to Paris with her and is offended that he has to stay in town because the Red Sox are playing the Mariners that weekend. She yells at him for caring more about the fact that Pedro Martinez is pitching on Friday than going to Paris. He ignores the drama and merely corrects her by telling her Pedro's pitching Saturday, Schilling is pitching on Friday. And the third time I saw it, it was just as good. Even if you hate Barrymore and/or Fallon, I highly recommend this movie.

I love learning about outside circumstances having to change the production of a movie and making it better. Like Woody Allen directing Annie Hall like a murder mystery and then cutting out all of that story and focusing on Diane Keaton's character instead. In the end, Annie Hall won the Best Picture Academy Award and Diane Keaton won for Best Actress. With Fever Pitch, the ending of the film had to be changed when the Red Sox actually came back from a three game deficit in the ALCS to beat the Yankees and then swept the Cardinals to win the World Series for the first time in 86 years.

I know consider Fever Pitch as my third favourite baseball movie of all time trailing Bull Durham and The Natural. I am not sure which would be my fourth and fifth favourite. I should probably pick classics like Pride Of The Yankees of Bang The Drum Slowly but to me, Bull Durham is the defining baseball movie of all time and all baseball movies made prior to it just pale in comparison. Bull Durham is the only one that has ever "got it right" and baseball movies made after are better overall because of it.



And that scene where Drew Barrymore drops from the wall in centrefield at Fenway Park and then rushes across the field to the first base side to convince Jimmy Fallon not to sell his season's tickets gets me every time. It is like the male equivelant to when Richard Gere comes into Debra Winger's factory and picks her up and walks her out in his arms in the film An Officer And A Gentleman.

Even though I am not a Red Sox fan, there were lots of Red Sox details that I loved. Details of the numerous clutch defeats of the Red Sox like Bucky Dent's home run, Buckner's error in the 1986 World Series and the Curse of The Bambino. Even the singing of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline by the Red Sox fans (which is where I got the title of this blog).

Fever Pitch was originally a British film about an obsessed Arsenal fan starring Colin Firth. It is based on a book by the same name by Nick Hornby who also wrote High Fidelity and About A Boy. I haven't seen the British film (not a Colin Firth fan) but based on this Americanized baseball version, I think I will try to find it. Not that I even understand soccer in the least. Perhaps I should just have Coglero rent it and then get his review. Though as he is a Man. U fan, he probably has little interest in watching a film about an Arsenal fan.

Top 5 Worst Baseball Movies
1. Mr. 3000
2. Ed
3. Summer Catch
4. For The Love Of The Game
5. Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (haven't seen it, but, come on...look at that title!)

My Thursday off entailed golfing with Emo and his brother in the morning. These guys have been golfing for many years and was kind of regretting agreeing on going with them. However, they taught me tricks to improve my putting and showed me that I must have some sort of inner ear infection because when I think I am lined up and aiming for a certain spot when I am driving, I am actually aiming more to the left which is why I hook so many shots. They also got me to move closer to the ball. And to stop bending at my knees so much. All which helped me immensely for the last three holes. The less we talk about the first 15 holes...the better.

Thursday night was out for drinks with Jayman, Ricky B and Sky Pilot. Co-incidentally, we actually drank at the Pilot on Cumberland. Always nice to be in a bar where we are the youngest people there.