And no, it's not that I've gone this long without blogging, though I do apologize for it.
No, the injustice is here, and with baseball season underway, I figured I'd bring it up:
http://www.nfl-nba-mlb-nhl.com/category.sc?categoryId=98
There are some great, great, GREAT Movie/TV jerseys here. I mean, a Jimmy Chitwood Huskers "Hoosiers" basketball jersey? I'd wear that.
And there's some really good fictional players from many sports movies there.
The injustice comes when you note the selection from the Major League movies.
There's Wild Thing, Ricky Vaughn. There's Roger Dorn. There's Pedro Cerrano. There's Willie Mays Hayes. Theres...Tanaka? Well, okay. And that's it. Obviously, there are lots of people left out there. But one of them is glaring and I'm actually sorta steamed about it.
Where's #7? Where's Jake Taylor?
You can argue that the first movie is supposed to focus on a group of players, mainly Vaughn, Hayes, and Taylor (and to some extent Dorn, who, by the way, has many B.J. Surhoff separated at birth moments, especially after his "pep talk" to Vaughn before the penultimate strikeout that leads to the climax). I'd argue that it's Taylor's movie, the rest get second focus, and everyone else gets third. I'd even argue that while the focus clearly shifts in the second movie, it still has Taylor at the heart.
So where's his effin' jersey, you buttholes? I mean, you gave TANAKA a jersey. An offensive (though it's okay, its for laughs!) stereotype that, in the wake of all the good Japanese players that have crashed the MLB since looks so dated in the second movie...but you don't make one for Jake Taylor...the man not only was the heart and central focus of the original movie, but he ends up managing the team by the end of the second!
Yeah, you can get Taylor t-shirts on the web if you look, but I'm pointing a finger directly at that site for a grave failing on their part.
Side note: For those familiar with the movie, have you ever seen the alternate ending? Where Lou Brown hands in his resignation to Rachel Phelps, saying he has no intentions on hanging around while she machinates a move to Florida, and she tells him it was all a ruse? That she actually did love the team, and wanted to keep it in Cleveland, but it was on the verge of bankruptcy, so she not only personally hand picked him to lead them, but personally scouted the team, trying to find players she knew could turn it around. She then played the "Herb Brooks" ploy, uniting the team by being a bitch to them. Brown agrees to stay, but Phelps tells him he can never reveal what really happened, or her "true" nature. Test screeners liked having Rachel as the evil bitch villain though, so it was removed. You can find it on one of the special edition DVDs. Not to mention, she plays the bitch too often in the previous scenes, especially when alone with GM Charlie Donovan...an ending like that, while "happy" would seem jarring and out of place and too neatly wrapped up and perfect.
And just because I know you'd kill me if I didn't, your dose of cute:
And just for kicks, the final 20 minutes (cut in to two parts), which is basically the climactic win and you're in game they play vs. the Yankees for the pennant.
*Definitely* one of my favorite movies! We are in complete agreement about Jake being the central character in that movie. How could he *not* have a shirt on that site?? I did not know there was an alternate ending though. I'm glad they didn't use it! That would have just been... I don't know, you summed it up perfectly with "jarring" I think. I reference this movie all the time during baseball season. Especially references to Jobu when things are not going well. "Shoulda got the live chicken!"
ReplyDeleteBy the way? I'm not sure there's anything cuter than a baby in bunny ears. And yet I am sure Erin will make me eat those words in a future photo.
I LOVE Jake Taylor!!!!!!!! You're absolutely right to be dismayed.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, I love baseball. I love baseball movies. It's America's pastime, after all. However, there are some baseball movies (and it's even worse with other sports) that are just asinine. You don't even have to watch them ... the best parts are given away at the previews, you know exactly how it'll end, and so on and so forth.
What made "Major League" so unique, in my opinion, is that it managed to be funny and unpredictable (inasmuch as a predictable movie can be) and, most of all, human.
Jake was a hero and a leader and he got the girl ... but he did it on his own terms. When he convinced Lynn (I think that's her name ... I haven't seen the movie in way too long) that he read "Moby Dick" like she'd asked him to with facts gleaned from the comic book adaptation ...
Sheer. Cinematic. Genius.
Indeed. "Cover to cover, babe." Then later, in the throes of passion "Who saved Ishmael at the end?" "Uh..no one! It was Qeu-Queeqegs coffin!"
ReplyDeleteAlso, I shouldn't have called it an alternate ending. Its actually a deleted scene from right before the final game. I think all the "bitchy" Rachel footage was probably shot once it was removed to keep it consistent. Leaving those scenes out would have made it significantly less jarring, but jarring nonetheless.
You've been recommended for a Lemonade Stand Award because your blog is so awesome : )
ReplyDeletehttp://philosophyofklo.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-got-award-im-ridiculously-excited.html