One of the things that makes sports truly great is the tradition. It doesn’t matter how big or how small the tradition is. It can be something done by an entire fanbase, like the hook ’em horns by Texas fans or Roll Tide by Alabama fans. It can be scheduling events for a specific time of the year, the Masters in the first full week of April, the World Series in October, or the Kentucky Derby on the first weekend in May. Or it can be done on an individual level, something that doesn’t quite qualify as a superstition, but more of a ritual – wearing the same jersey for every game or hosting a party for the big game. One of my favorite that I do is Pig Day when Minnesota plays Iowa in football, I make any kind of pork product I can think of – breakfast with bacon and ham, ribs, pork chops, pork roast, pulled pork – whatever I can get my hands on and have time to cook throughout the day. But today, the day before opening day, I have another one. I watch as many baseball movies as I can fit into a day leading up to the first pitch of the first game.
Why do we do these traditions and rituals? The main reason is they’re fun. They add a little something extra to the experience – it’s what makes sports great to begin with. It’s the emotional experience that ties us to sport and gives us a culture to be a part of. That’s why I watch baseball movies the day before opening day. It brings out the excitement and nostalgia for the game.
There was a time that Hollywood had a love affair with baseball. Today is a day I celebrate that affair.
Here’s what I’m watching
Brockmire
It’s a bit of a cop-out starting with a tv series, and starting with a tv series that I wouldn’t qualify as about baseball as much as it revolves around baseball. But it’s still a fantastic series where they let Hank Azaria loose and say whatever crazy thing comes to his mind. It covers the trials of small town baseball and about growing from the minors to the majors. With only 32 episodes over 4 seasons a half hour per episode it’s the perfect background show for the workday.
Major League
This is as staple in my baseball movie rotation. The player names alone are legendary Wild Thing Rick Vaughn, Willie Mays Hayes, Jake Taylor, Pedro Cerrano. The first movie in the Major League series was the best. It didn’t try too hard, it just told a silly story about a meddling team bringing these different personalities together to win.
The Bad News Bears
The original one. I don’t have anything against the Billy Bob Thornton remake but it’s been years since I’ve seen the original Bad News Bears. Like the rest of my theme this year we’re watching a rag tag bunch on a redemption track… sort of. At least they gave them beer in this one.
Everybody Wants Some!!
I haven’t seen this one before, and I try to mix in one movie I’ve never seen on this annual tradition. All I know is this made the top-10 baseball movies of all time list on MLB.com and I’ve seen the rest of them. So I’ll give it a shot.
A League of Their Own
There’s no crying in baseball! The most famous line in this iconic movie. Every Halloween you’ll still see the costumes out and about. Really though I’m having this one on my list because I can easily convince my girlfriend to watch this one.
It’s a shorter list than most years, how much I’ll get through depends on how many seasons of Brockmire I decide to watch. Either way, I’ll be ready for Opening Day tomorrow.