Bull Durham

Tonight we went to a Durham Bulls minor league baseball game. They made five errors and lost 10-2. Maybe we should have stayed home and watched the movie!

Some say it's the best baseball movie of all-time, and while not a fan of baseball or movies about baseball, I'd have to agree. It perfectly marries male bonding, sports, sex and romance, mixing them all together in a way that appeals to men and women alike. Just crude enough for the men, just romantic enough for the women.

Also, for a movie to stand the test of time, it's gotta be quotable. Bull Durham gives us such beauties as "Man that ball got outta here in a hurry. I mean anything travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?" And who could forget Costner's rousing soliloquy in which he says "I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days".

Ask anyone here, Durham is proud of their movie legacy. The city hosted Costner and his band in 2008 to celebrate the movie's 20th anniversary. The movie was largely filmed in downtown Durham at the athletic park, the former home of the city's minor league baseball team for 68 years; an old stadium nothing like the fancy new digs the Bulls currently play in. But one aspect still remains - the famous Durham Bull sitting high atop left field that wags his tail up and down and blows smoke from his nostrils every time the Bulls score a home run. Unfortunately of the two games I've been to this season, the opposing team scored all the home runs so I've had to settle for watching scenes like this one:



Not certain is actually makes mooing noises... maybe we'll find out next season.