You wanted to see me Sir?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yes, come on in. We got to do a sports movie and I was wondering what you can get out of this. (tosses book onto the desk)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Faith and Fear in Flushing, by Greg W. Prince?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Terrific book, sir, I\u2019ve read it myself. And I\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They say it\u2019s like \u2018Fever Pitch\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a fine comparison, Sir. Hornby and Prince are both outstanding writers whose works examine how a passion for a sports team becomes an inextricable part of who we are.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hornby? Who the hell is Hornby? I\u2019m talking about Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Kimmel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jimmy Fallon, Sir.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whatever. Can we get Ben Affleck to play the lead?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Of Greg? I get more of a Paul Gamatti vibe\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not going for Academy Awards here, son. We\u2019re making a sports movie. And get Matt Damon to play his sidekick, Jason. \u2018Lethal Weapon\u2019 meets \u2018Bull Durham\u2019 I like it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well, boss, this is more of a love story.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then get Drew Barrymore to play the girl.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll call her agent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And write in a little more drama. Have him have to win her from a Yankee fan. Or maybe from the Matt Damon guy. That\u2019s the kind of spice this picture needs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Sir, you don\u2019t understand. It was love at first sight between these two. In some ways, it mirrors the burgeoning relationship between the boy and his team, one that continues to this day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She doesn\u2019t have to compete for his love with the team?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nope. It\u2019s about devotion in good times and bad. It\u2019s about what it feel like to be uplifted in 1986 and to bear witness to 1993, on 15 separate occasions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well then who\u2019s the bad guy?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Oh, there\u2019s lot of them, Sir. There\u2019s Cesar Cedeno, M. Donald Grant, Benji Molina, Joe Grahe, Keith Lockhart \u2026 Page 157 is full of villains from the 1988 postseason alone and it pointedly doesn\u2019t even include Mike Scioscia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So this Scioscia fellow is innocent?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No, guilty as sin, Sir. It\u2019s just one of many instances in this book where even hard-core fans will be reminded of how much more there were to the stories we all experienced than what may remain in popular memory. This is the testimony of a writer who has seen much, and forgotten little. Quite remarkable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yes, yes. But these bad guys? They all get it during the Big Game at the end, don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n
No sir. This is a story of the Mets. They\u2019ve won the Big Game quite infrequently, as a matter of fact.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s a tearjerker?<\/p>\n
Certainly, some is. It reminds us that baseball, like life, often is a hard thing to endure. We might see ourselves as the awkward child who humiliates himself in a chance meeting with his hero — or the awkward adult whose Mets gear draws idiotic responses in the supermarket. And the story of a loved one with whom we\u2019ve had complicated relationship dying of a terrible disease? Yeah, that one just might hit home. Thanks to the Mets, we all know what it feels like to look at a called strike 3.<\/p>\n
Maudlin don\u2019t sell popcorn, kid. Punch it up some.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t need to Sir. It\u2019s actually quite funny throughout. I particularly enjoyed the lighthearted but vicious gutting of Yankee fans in Chapter 23. I\u2019ve taken it upon myself to contact the agent for Stuttering John Melendez.<\/p>\n
I see. So how does it end?<\/p>\n
They lose the Big Game \u2013 and for the third year in a row. Only, and I believe this is the central point, we don\u2019t have to feel bad about ourselves because of it. And we needn\u2019t be ashamed, because that\u2019s what being a fan is all about. This is a story about loving the endings, some happier than others. It\u2019s about being a Met fan. It\u2019s about us.<\/p>\n
(Summer 2010)<\/p>\n
BEN AFFLECK DREW BARRYMORE\u00a0PRINCE OF FLUSHING\u00a0<\/strong>MATT DAMON PAUL GAMATTI and JOHN MELENDEZ as \u2018THE UNCLEVER TOOL\u2019 BASED ON THE MEMOIR \u2018FAITH & FEAR IN FLUSHING<\/a>\u2019 BY GREG W. PRINCE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You wanted to see me Sir? Yes, come on in. We got to do a sports movie and I was wondering what you can get out of this. (tosses book onto the desk) Faith and Fear in Flushing, by Greg W. Prince? That\u2019s the one. Terrific book, sir, I\u2019ve read it … Continue reading “Coming Soon to a Theater Near You”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[389],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-met-lovin-big-shots-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1166,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions\/1166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}