Field of Dreams

Movie cover for Field of Dreams

Terence Mann from Field of Dreams

I was sitting here watching tv and thinking about what to write about. The SF Giants recent win? David Beckham's response to Donovan's criticism? Stephen Curry's summer league debut?

But then my sister turned to Field of Dreams and we watched James Earl Jones make one of the most epic monologues in the history of sports movies. I'm talking about the scene when Terence Mann tries to convince Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to keep his magical baseball field despite his brother-in-law's attempts to get Ray to sell the farm because he faces foreclosure.

Every time I go to a Giants baseball game I see Mann's monologue written on the wall, but you can't actually experience the beauty of his speech unless you watch the movie.

The deep and calm voice of James Earl Jones, in sharp contrast to Ray's wife's brother's insistence that Ray sell, with the ball players slowly gathering to watch and a slow drum beat in the background for added dramatic effect.

Another reason why the monologue is so great is because so much of what the writer Terence Mann says is true.

Here is the monologue, with my favorite parts in bold.

Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

I especially like the last sentences I bolded. Field of Dreams is just an amazing movie.

Lance and the tour

Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong duke it out in the 7th stage of the Tour. (pic from si.com)

Ah, the Tour de France. That bike race that we Americans only pay attention to when Lance races and when cyclists test positive. Now taking PEDs, that's something we Americans can relate to. Other than that, the world's most famous bike race is a thing for the Europeans.

Seriously, how many cyclists can you name in the tour besides Lance Armstrong? I'll bet you know Alberto Contador, and only because he's mentioned as the guy with the best chance to deny Lance of his 8th Tour victory.

But I'm glad that Lance is back in the race because it makes the average American fan, including myself, pay attention to the race. And the notoriously prickly French media and its countrymen are warming up to Lance saying that he is no longer the arrogant and cold winning machine of the past.

In my mind, cycling is very similar to race car driving. They zip around for hours and hours and the most interesting part is when there are massive crashes. Cyclist goes flying over and down a ravine? Huge pile-up that results in a car catching on fire? Now that's what I'm talking about.

Donovan and Beckham

In a recent issue of Sports Illustrated there is a lengthy article excerpted from the book The Beckham Experiment. It opened my eyes to the effect worldwide celebrity and soccer star David Beckham has had on the L.A. Galaxy and the MLS as a whole.

The article focuses a lot on Landon Donovan's opinion on Beckham. Donovan basically says that Beckham's commitment to the team was subpar, he was not a good leader and that he has overall been very disappointing.

The article also talked about how Beckham couldn't connect to his teammates and how his personal business manager and best friend was put into a paid position on the L.A. Galaxy.

Since not many Americans follow soccer it is hard to see what Beckham has been doing for soccer in this country and this article showed me how much of a disappointment he has been.

Here is a link to the Sports Illustrated article.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1157380/index.htm

Back from Silver Lake

Just got back from Silver Lake up near Tahoe. Did some good board game playing, hiking, simple rock climbing, boating, napping, cooking and swimming. Stupid lakes up there are so dang cold.

R.I.P. Steve McNair. I didn't know much about Air McNair, because his heyday was when I was young. Steve McNair was immortalized in my 7 year old mind though as the hero of my Backyard Football team. Ah, good times, good times. The Backyard sports computer games were the best. Backyard Baseball and Backyard Football were superior.

Can I also talk about the Wimbledon final? That was amazing! I was waiting for my friend to pick me up to and found myself wishing that he would run late. (He did) I missed some of the last game though because I was in the car.

I hope this is the resurgence of Andy Roddick. He's really been picking up his fitness, he looked much fresher than Federer, and now should have a little more swagger.

He could have spiraled and called himself a victim of playing in the shadow of Federer, but he has worked his butt off and improved his backhand. He hit a few incredible backhand passing shots down the line.

Also, Andy looks clean in his Lacoste gear. Gotta respect that. Maybe that's how he landed such a hot wife. Check out the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit to see her.

women's tennis

With the men's, excuse me, gentlemen's final and the women's final tomorrow in Wimbledon, I thought it would be appropriate to voice some opinions on tennis. In particular, women's tennis.

I have a lot of respect for women's tennis, especially the Williams sisters. Not just respect, but fear. Fear of Serena Williams. I mean, have you seen the biceps on that woman? She's more ripped than any other female athlete I know. I wouldn't want to mess with her.

My biggest problem I have with women's tennis is the excessive grunting. I understand that grunting is necessary because of how hard they are hitting the ball and how hard they are working. But when it sounds like a mother seal is giving birth every time a shot is hit, that's unacceptable.

The grunting is so excessive that I am distracted from the actual match because of my fascination / disgust with the grunting.

Big offenders: Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams

Pilot Post

In the world we live in, sports are everywhere. Face it, there's no escape from sports. Just ask my sister about her battle to get some tv time in order to get away from flipping between sports channels.

Heck, on my tv I get ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN classic, ESPNU, the NFL network, the new MLB channel, the NBA channel, the Golf channel, CSN bay area and, unfortunately, the Big 10 channel. That last channel is courtesy of my dad, a proud Northwestern graduate, still trying to get over the Wildcats' football futility during his college years.

And all this sports exposure is great because it's so easy to become a sports expert. In fact, it may be too easy what with 24 hour sports channels and many sports websites. There's a plethora of fantasy sports columnists who slave away at the computer for that 1 piece of advice that will bring you home the cash and bragging rights for your fantasy football league.

But that may be just the problem. Too many experts are out there. Too many guys in their late 20's with no job who just sit on the couch all day and kick ass in their fantasy league.

So this blog is to give you an average American teenager's take on the world of sports. Don't get me wrong, I love sports, but I'm not going to pretend that I'm a fantasy genius and I'm glad I am not that obnoxious guy who calls in on the radio and thinks he's the next billy beane.

Just a simple sports blog from the perspective of a teenager; a fresh take on the sports world.