Heck of an article.

"What are the women like down there?" they want to know.

Phil Coorey had a delightful comment about this a few years ago.

it would only be better if pohle was really female

It really wouldn't make much of a baseball movie. He doesn't surmount impossible odds. He doesn't win anything or learn any lessons. The appropriate comparison is something like "Catch Me if You Can," an upbeat and episodic movie about a con artist with no inspiring arc and no moral. It might make a fun movie, but it has nothing to do with "Rocky" or "Rudy."

Good story, but I hated the article. The constant "It's a story about starting over, about building a new life, about someone who heads west and decides it's never too late to seize one's own destiny." interjections got in the way, as did the extended introduction. The story is fine; it doesn't need elaboration. Just tell the story.

The constant "It's a story about starting over, about building a new life, about someone who heads west and decides it's never too late to seize one's own destiny." interjections

I feel like we have seen a lot of writerly stories that have used a similar pattern recently.

The best baseball movie never made? The Natural.

And I don't know who could pull it off, but I'd love to see a movie of Coover's "J Henry Waugh..."

And I don't know who could pull it off, but I'd love to see a movie of Coover's "J Henry Waugh..."

Casting Terry O'Quinn would be a big step in the right direction, but there are two huge problems in dramatizing it:

1. It may not long enough as-is, and
2. the ending essentially doesn't work on-screen, as it's way too metaphorical and philosophical, meaning you might have to devise a dramatic ending that is true to the same points while somehow satisfying the "plot" that has come before it. Coover's not really interested in the story, per se, so that last chapter goes in an entirely different direction that's satisfying on the page but wouldn't necessarily be so on the screen.

I always wanted to see The Rookie Part II based on Brendan Donnelly's story. Disney should already have the rights as Donnelly and the rest of the Angels were Disney employees at the time.

It starts with a pitcher getting his release from a AA team because somebody decided they had to sign the 36 year old teacher with a 97 MPH fastball. A few flashbacks to all the stops he's made along the way and odd jobs worked through his pursuit of the MLB dream while he tries to catch on somewhere else. Ends with the 31 year old rookie pitcher holding a lead in game 7 of the world series and then the next year getting a win in the Allstar game.

Quick glance at the title, I thought it was:

'The Best Baseball Movie NEYER Made'

'The Best Baseball Movie NEYER Made'

They made a movie out of Forever Plaid?

Actually, the story on Donnelly is even better in that he at one point quit baseball and was bartending and Darryl Strawberry came into the bar, totally a random. Brendan mentioned his recent retirement and Straw told Brendan that getting cut was no big deal and that if he worked out and had the agent making calls he would always get a look if he had not "lost it" - Donnelly credited that conversation with reviving his career and handling rejection down the line.

"It really wouldn't make much of a baseball movie. He doesn't surmount impossible odds. He doesn't win anything or learn any lessons"


Ugh. That attitude is why sports movies have turned into utter shite.