The Sandlot

I come to you tonight with a heavy heart. I found out today that a friend of mine has unexpectedly passed. It is an absolute tragedy, and it has eaten at me all day. His name is Terry. Terry was a fan of this blog and my fan page and I appreciated everything he was about. He was an extremely genuine man and he will be missed. I do regret not knowing him better. Our jobs is how we met. He was a manager and I am a vendor. He's one of the few people who actually knew my name, and he always made a point to ask how everything was going, and what the rest of my day looked like. He just had an extremely genuine attitude about life, and the world is a little sadder without him. He seemed to be entering his prime and was taken from us way too early. I know Terry played softball, so this is a tribute to you big guy. I'm not sure if you liked The Sandlot, but I'm sure you did. How could you not? The Sandlot is a coming of age story told through America's past time, Baseball, and an instant American classic. A young boy named Scotty Smalls moves with his mother and stepfather to LA in 1962. Smalls as he is called, has to leave everything he knows, and he is not really happy until he is introduced the game of baseball. Was he a natural at this game? Not even close. He was a sad excuse for a ball player, but that did not deter Benny from continuing to try and help him fit in. Benny was the leader and the best ball player in the neighborhood. He had all the skills, while Smalls had none. He did the impossible. He turned Smalls into a real player. Not only did he give Smalls a reason to get up in the morning, but he formed bonds with these guys that changed his life. I love this film because I was that age when the movie came out. It's so relatable still today. The stupid crap we did as kids, like be afraid of "The Beast", a killer dog that eats people, and baseballs. The film quickly goes from light hearted to horrific instantly. When Benny busts the guts out of the ball, they can't play anymore....until Smalls speaks up and says he has a ball. When Smalls hits his first home run with the ball he just came back with (Big moment in a boys life) he loses his stepfathers Babe Ruth autographed ball to "The "Beast" and realizes this isn't even bittersweet. It's just damn vinegar in his mouth, and a punch to his gut. What's sad about it, is he knows he messed up, but he does not even know who Babe Ruth is. Once the guys explain it to him, it goes from bad to horrible. This is when the story turns the guys from team mates into a brotherhood of sorts. A brotherhood with one thing on their mind, getting that ball back from a creature as unrelenting as a Velociraptor. "The Beast" is said to have killed 173 men and these boys are not looking forward to pickling the beast, as they say. With several attempts and several failures later they start to become desperate, and then Benny shows his true self. A hero among boys. He buys a pair of PF Flyer shoes, which are guaranteed to make you run faster and jump higher. It turns into one of the most scary chase scenes ever to hit the cinema. It really is one of the greatest movies about growing up with your buddies that's ever been told. I know we all wish we could stay that age forever. Like I said earlier, I wish I had known you better. When I think about it now, you kind of had the same Mentality that Benny had. You didn't feel better than anyone, and you would help anyone who needed it. Terry, I hope you go to a place where you can play ball all day and all night if you want to. This one's for you. We will miss you. God Bless.

NBM rates The Sandlot - A Cinematic Work of Art

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