Vote: Bad News Bears VS The Sandlot
by Jesse on Sep 23, 2010 10:00 PM EDT
in Best Baseball Movie Ever
Email
PrintYes yes, my friends. We're back for another vote!
As much as it pains me to say it (which is just a little, honestly), Field of Dreams beat out Bull Durham in our last vote. As the last Kevin Costner baseball movie standing, it will go on to face one of the following two movies in the Best Baseball Movie Semifinal.
But now we move onto the next quarterfinal matchup. Classic Matthau beligerence versus FFFOOOORRRRRREEEEEEEVVVVVVEEEEERRRRRRR. Who's your dog?
(By which I mean Matthau, or the dog from The Sandlot.)
Oh yeah, if you're new to this, here's our intro.
Bad News Bears (1976) - There's just something satisfying about a grumpy and disgruntled Walter Matthau. Sort of like House. Anyway, Matthau is a former minor leaguer who likes to drink beer and clean swimming pools. Or maybe he drinks beer because he cleans swimming pools. He starts coaching a talentless rag tag crew of misfits, and after a few ups and downs manages to get the punk daughter of an ex-girlfriend to be his star pitcher. I put this in the Kids division because there are a kids in it...but that doesn't mean I recommend your kids watch it. Oh yeah: suck it, Billy Bob Thorton.
The Sandlot (1993) - Set as a flashback to the 60's, Scotty Smalls moves to LA and wants to learn how to play baseball. Benny Rodriguez, the best damn player in the neighborhood, shows him the ropes and suddenly we're off and running with adventures of friends with mishaps and comedic adventuers a-plenty, including kissing the cute lifeguard while pretending to down and losing his step dad's baseball (that was signed by Babe Ruth) to the viscious dog known only as "The Beast". There are so many amazing quotes from this movie. I'll remember it fffooooorrrreeeeevvvveeerrrrrr...
Brackets after the jump!
Eliminated in the first round:
For Love of the Game
The Natural
Angels in the Outfield
Little Big League
The Fan
61 *
BASEketball
Mr. 3000
Bracket for Round 2:
New Classics Division
Field of DreamsBull Durham
Kids Division
Bad News Bears
The Sandlot
Drama
A League of Their Own
Eight Men Out
Comedy
Major League
Mr. Baseball
19 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Sandlot forrrevvvverrrrrr
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
Follow me on Twitter for the latest Badger Bits @veldyhoosey
On, Wisconsin!
Something tells me...
…The Sandlot in a rout.
The next round might be interesting, though.
Do Bull Durham fans auto vote for The Sandlot since they’re crushed from Bull Durham’s defeat? Then, only a few Sandlot lovers need to vote for it to make it to the finals… hmmmm…. movie politics at its finest. hehehe
You know how I voted
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
i think major league
is a lock to win it all now
current resident: alexi casilla
by gardy's dog house on Sep 23, 2010 10:36 PM EDT reply actions
This just reminded me that I haven't seen Bad News Bears in about +15 years
Anyway, I chose The Sandlot.
Baseball reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.-Terence Mann/James Earl Jones in FoD
We've been going about this all wrong...
I blame myself, really….
Sandlot all the way….
I picked Sandlot
but I did love Bad News Bears. Walter Matthau was great.
(And I’m still sad that Bull Durham didn’t make it. So unfair.)
"To tell the truth, I'm not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying." -Ichiro
Is this an age/generational thing?
I love The Sandlot, but there’s just no way in the history of cinema/baseball movies, it should rank higher than the original Bad News Bears!
I’m just 30, so BNB was even a little before my time, but I remember seeing it as a kid, and very few movies struck me or stuck with me like it did. Such a classic.
Again, The Sandlot is great too, but it’s no BNB. I wonder about the age demographics of this site and how that’s playing here.
I’d probably rate Bull Durham as the best baseball comedy and maybe even overall best baseball movie, but it got edged in its unfortunate pairing with Field of Dreams, which as an Iowan, I dutifully — but happily — voted for.
Me too
I wonder about the age demographics of this site and how that’s playing here.
It would make for a simple FP poll.
My guess is that it’s a bit older than you suspect, though.
Voted Bad News Bears
I just like the way the movie was made. The cliches from Bad News Bears were invented in that movie. There is no voiceover, the story isn’t told in flashbacks, the situations feel less scripted although the characters might be more contrived in BNB. Sandlot is a decent movie but it always felt like a kids movie to me and it is entirely predictable. BNB defies prediction unless you watched one of the dozens of movies it inspired. I’ll give the nod to the movie that created a new story archetype.
Who cares?
We got sole possesion of the best record in baseball…Go RESOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Twins!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bad News Bears is great but c'mon...
FOR-E-VER!
"Life is precious and time is a key element. Let's make every moment count and help those who have a greater need than our own." -Harmon Killebrew
Votes for the Bad News Bears?
You’re killin’ me smalls!
"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane
PS
Ps, I think bad News Bears is totally forgettable, except for the fact that it’s namesake has spawned an oft used cultural phrase. Maybe that’s just because kids swearing in movies is a lot more commonplace now.
With Field of Dreams edging Bull Durham, I MIGHT just vote The Sandlot all the way.
"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane
For me, Sandlot is the best movie left in the pack
I’d take Bull Durham over Sandlot by a Smalls. But now that it is eliminated, it has to be Sandlot.
The two movies are different from other baseball movies, to me, because they don’t just describe a baseball team or a special player, they capture a way of life. It’s not just about baseball: It’s all the stuff around baseball that make those movies memorable. The best scenes in Sandlot, to me, were at the amusement park and the pool. In Bull Durham, the best scenes were in Annie’s house.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Please hold: Indians’ Joe Smith jumps the gun on relief appearance
- Local radio host honors Cubs’ Tony Campana with parody song
- Roy Halladay bobblehead with glove on wrong hand selling on MLB.com
- Will Smith shows why making your big-league debut at Yankee Stadium is less than ideal
- Steinbrenners selling the Yankees? Family denies New York Daily News report
