Its time for the All Star game--to figure out who's really the best of the best. But, be careful, because if you're the best, a mysterious woman in black might come and shoot you with a silver bullet. Vlad, do you hear that? Derrick Lee are you paying attention?
The Natural is not only one of, if not the best baseball movie of all time, but it definitely has the single greatest baseball moment of all time--Robert Redford's home run into the lights that sends glass and sparks shining down onto the field.
The Natural is a fantasy... a dream. Its the story of reclaiming lost youth and taking one last shot at winning something. Its about wanting so hard to be the best at something, even if its only for a moment.
Sometimes, I walk down the street and I feel like if I picked up a baseball, I could through it 100 miles an hour. Seriously. Unfortunately, I've never felt like that with a baseball in my hand. I did have one great casual sports moment, though... and it was a walkoff shot, too. Playing intramural softball at Fordham in my Senior year. We were down by two runs going into the bottom of the last inning. Our team was half my roommates and half of the varsity basketball team. Two guys got on and I parked an opposite field 3 run home run over the fence... I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it, and I'm the last guy in the world that you'd expect to hit a home run, because I'm really just a contact hitter. It was so cool to trot around the bases, and have all the guys from the basketball team like Jason Harris and TJ lineup between third and home waiting to give you a high five. There was no broken glass, no sparks, but that was my casual sports moment.
I don't need to talk about the movie anymore. Its a great baseball movie... what more is there to say? No, instead, why don't you comment on this post and tell us your greatest casual sports moment. No college or SEMI pro sports... its got to be beer league softball, little league, street football, or something equally unprofessional.