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Greatest individual performance by a fictional athlete in a movie?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by PeteyPirate, Feb 4, 2009.

  1. DougDascenzo

    DougDascenzo Member

    Johnny Utah jumping out of the plane to tackle a parachuting Bodhi in "Point Break."
     
  2. I very much enjoyed the movie. Actually never knew it was a book until now.
     
  3. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    I can respect that, especially the part about unathletic actors ruining good movies. Tim Robbins' delivery is hideous in "Bull Durham," but that movie still rocks.

    Disagree on the merits of FLOTG, of course, but I can't say I don't enjoy the baseball parts -- and the announcing of Vin Scully. The love story, however, draaaaaags on unmercifully; it's worse than "Hoosiers" in that respect. So I'll watch that movie when I have the chance to fast-forward through the crap; it's surprisingly enjoyable done that way.
     
  4. Dignan

    Dignan Guest

    Bugs Bunny playing all nine positions, striking out three batters on one pitch, and climbing the Umpire State Building to make the game-saving catch against the Gashouse Gorillas.
     
  5. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    I'm sure you noticed that Vin borrowed liberally from his actual call of the ninth inning of Koufax's perfect game.
     
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    The book has a different feel than the movie. The love story is a bit darker and the flashbacks are different. It is an interesting book. It was written by Michael Shaara, who did mostly historical fiction and won a Pulitzer Prize for The Killer Angels, which is a fictionalized version of the Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara died and his family found the manuscript to For Love of the Game and it was published after his death.
     
  7. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I don't think I have ever disagreed more with a post on this board, and that is saying something.

    The movie turned every single character into a cliche, including Billy Chapel. I guess that was my biggest problem. I didn't even like the character and his journey barely made sense. The girlfriend in the movie just seemed like somebody we have seen a hundred times in movies before and the kid was completely useless. buckweaver is right about the romantic bits, and I think it was because the two characters made no sense together.

    Carol, the girlfriend in the book, was more of a kindred spirit to Chapel and a hell of a lot more interesting. The owner, his asshole sons, Chapel's parents and the catcher were all better in the book. The only improvement in the movie was the manager, but that is only because J.K. Simmons can make just about anything at least a little bit better.

    I think I need to dig out my beat-up old copy of the book and read it again tonight.
     
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    outof, "I don't think I have ever disagreed more with a post on this board" made me laugh. You're probably right. I know this, because no one I know loves that movie the way I do. I just know that the love story parts that Buckweaver said dragged for him make me all misty and Vin Scully is perfect announcing it. My only quibble is that the numbers on the Yankees' uniforms are all 89, 94, 73, etc.
     
  9. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    And I'm glad he did. One of the greatest works of spoken art in American history, IMO.

    http://www.doubledogmusic.com/baseball/Scully_Koufax_Perfect.mp3.
    (Transcript here: http://archive.salon.com/people/feature/1999/10/12/scully_koufax/index.html.)
     
  10. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    One problem I had with the movie, and you can tell me if I'm wrong. The manager gets the bullpen going in the ninth inning? I have trouble believing that any major league manager would do such a thing during a perfect game, regardless of how tired he thinks his pitcher is. It seemed more like a device to give Chapel something else to contemplate from the mound.
     
  11. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Ehh, depends on how important the victory is and the condition of the pitcher. The Tigers weren't in contention, no? ... But yeah, I've seen relievers warming up when a potential no-hitter occurred early in the season and it's too cold to have your starter throw 125 pitches just to finish it off. Also have seen that happen when it's a rookie/call-up involved and they're trying to protect his arm.

    Not with a "Hall of Famer" like Billy Chapel, though.

    Unless, of course, you're Jim Riggleman. :D
     
  12. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    It was the last game of the season with Detroit in last place.
     
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