Phillies Karen

I love baseball.  And I love going to baseball games...at any level, Little League, high school, college and professional, both Major and Minor League.

The ultimate baseball game souvenir is a baseball batted into the stands.  Of course, a home run ball is preferable to a foul ball.  In all the times I went to a baseball game, I never caught a ball, neither a home run nor a foul.

In early this September, a Philadelphia Phillies fan, who now lives in south Florida, attended a Phillies-Miami Marlins baseball game at LoanDepot Park in Miami with his family.  

In the fourth inning, a Phillie hit a home run into the left field stands near where the fan was sitting.  He went to where the ball landed and grabbed it and returned to where his family was sitting and gave the ball to his young son.  

Soon, a woman, wearing a Phillies jersey, approached the fan and berated him for entering her space and "stealing" the souvenir that was rightfully hers.  She demanded the ball.  Normally, in such situations, possession is what counts.

The media named her Phillies Karen (a pejorative slang term used to describe a middle-class, often middle-aged, white woman who is perceived as entitled, demanding, and who uses her privilege to get her way, often at the expense of others).

"She just screamed in my ear, ‘That’s my ball,’ like, super loud,”  said the fan. “I jumped out of my skin and I was like, you know, like ‘Why are you here?’ You know, ‘Go away.’”  

After a brief, tense exchange, the fan took the ball from his son’s mitt and gave it to her, and she walked away.  “I had a fork in the road: either do something I was probably going to regret or be a dad and show my son how to deescalate the situation.”

This reminded me of a similar event when my son Bret was young and playing basketball for MQ-FM.  I was asked to be one of two coaches at the annual all-star game.

I had 11 players on my team, including my son.  11 is an awkward number for a sport in which 5 players can be on the court at a time.

I was given no advice nor information as to how to substitute my players.  The other coach was substituting his players rapidly, almost every minute.  I had devised a different system which I thought was fair.  

Because the two teams were substituting differently, some spectators became frustrated.  One of the league directors approached me shouting angrily.  He demanded I start substituting like the other coach or he would replace me.  I tried to explain my alternative strategy, but he wouldn't listen.  

My immediate idea was to tell him to go f__k himself, but then I looked at my son sitting on the floor.  I didn't want to do anything to embarrass him or me.  I did what the director wanted me to do.  I de-escalated the situation.  And that was the last time I volunteered to help MQ-FM. 

The Parent Trap

The Parent Trap is a 1961 American romantic comedy film.  It stars Hayley Mills in a dual role as a pair of teenage identical twins who switch places with each other in order to reunite their divorced parents, played by Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith.

Teenagers Sharon McKendrick (Mills) and Susan Evers (Mills) meet at a girls summer camp. Their identical appearance causes jealousy, resentment, and a rivalry in which they continually get each other into trouble and disrupt camp activities. As punishment, they must spend the remainder of the camp season rooming and dining together in isolation. 

Sharon and Susan overcome their mutual dislike when they realize they are identical twin sisters, whom their parents, Mitch (Keith) and Maggie (O'Hara), separated upon divorcing shortly after their birth. Eager to meet the parents from whom they were separated, they decide to cut their hair identically, coach each other on their lives, and switch places.

Hayley Mills was born April 18, 1946 (8 months after me) in London, England.  Both of her parents were actors. In 1959, she was cast in a film (Tiger Bay) in which her father (Sir John Mills) co-starred.

Mills was given the lead role in Pollyanna (1960).  The role of the orphaned "glad girl" who moves in with her aunt catapulted her to stardom in the United States and earned her a special Academy Award of Juvenile Oscar, the last person to win the accolade. 

In the summer of 1961, The Parent Trap was featured at the Oswego Theater.  I must have seen it at least a half a dozen times.  Why?

I developed a crush on Hayley Mills.  I even fantasized about how I would go to Hollywood where we would meet and become boyfriend/girlfriend.  It never happened.

Strangely, I never saw her in any of her other movies.  It was as if I fell in love with her characters in The Parent Trap and didn't want to mess up my mind with her being something different.

Occasionally, I hear in the media about Hayley Mills and am glad she is alive and well.  I am then reminded about that wonderful summer of 1961.

Paladin, Chapter 12

 INT. HOTEL DINING ROOM - NIGHT

PALADIN and SHERIFF ROGERS are sitting at table eating dinner of steak and potatoes and drinking beer.

PALADIN: Well, SHERIFF, I've decided to accept your offer to be deputy sheriff while you're gone.  

SHERIFF ROGERS: Great news.  You were my last hope.  I dunno what I'da done if'n you said no.

PALADIN: And you don't have to pay me.  I'm taking the position that, as a citizen of Windfall, POLLYANNA has already compensated me...$1,000...to do this service for her community.

SHERIFF ROGERS: More great news.  You saved the town $50.  Meet me at my office tomorrow morning at 9 and I'll swear you in.

PALADIN: So, exactly what do you want me to do?

SHERIFF ROGERS: Look, this is ordinarily a peaceful town.  You can sit on your ass in my office or you can wander the streets.  You might want to check the saloons a bit where trouble usually starts...if'n there's trouble.  

PALADIN: Are there any troublemakers I should look out for?

SHERIFF ROGERS: The only one comes to mind is an overgrown kid name of BILLY MORTON, a cowboy who works for BIG DAN.  Killed a guy in the saloon with his gun about six months ago.  Witnesses said it was self-defense.  Maybe they was scared.  BILLY likes to think he's tough.

PALADIN: Good to know.  I'll be there at 9.  Want more beer?

SHERIFF ROGERS: Sure, as long as you're payin.

EXT. PORCH IN FRONT OF HOTEL - NIGHT

PALADIN and SHERIFF ROGERS sit on porch in front of hotel smoking cigars.  SHERIFF ROGERS gets up to leave.

SHERIFF ROGERS: Gotta go.  Early day tomorrow.  Thanks for the smoke.  Night.

PALADIN: Good night, SHERIFF.  See you tomorrow.

PALADIN finishes cigar and re-enters hotel.

John Lithgow

John Lithgow was born October 19, 1945 in Rochester, New York...73 days later and 86 miles from...Happy Birthday, John

He spent his childhood years in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  Coretta Scott King was his babysitter.  

John Lithgow spent his teenage years in Akron and Lakewood, Ohio followed by Princeton, New Jersey.  He graduated from Harvard University in 1967.

John Lithgow was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in The World According to Garp (1982) and Terms of Endearment (1983).  He won in neither year.

I pictured John Lithgow as my protagonist in my screenplay Best of Intensions, which I wrote some years ago.  It is a love story between an American and a Mexican woman (I thought of Salma Hayek) which takes place in the early years of WWII when the USA invaded Mexico, an axis partner(?).

My prophecy happened in 2017 when John (Doug) and Salma (Beatriz) appeared together in the film Beatriz at Dinner.  The two portray guests at a dinner party.  Interactions between Doug and Beatriz get off to a bad start with Doug mistaking her for one of the house staff members.  

Later, in the living room, tensions come to a head when Doug brags about his hunting of animals while on safari in South Africa and passes around his phone that has a photo of a dead rhinoceros he hunted.

When Beatriz sees the photo, she calls the act "disgusting" and hurls the mobile at Doug.  This is not the love story I imagined.  In fact, Beatriz imagines killing Doug.

rap sheet

A rap sheet is an informal term for a criminal record, which is a detailed list of a person's arrests, charges, and convictions maintained by law enforcement agencies. These records include details on various offenses, penalties, and judicial decisions related to a person's involvement with the criminal justice system.

The term rap sheet is a combination of the slang word "rap," meaning a criminal charge or accusation, and the word "sheet," referring to a document or list. It became a common phrase around the 1940s.

Access to a person's rap sheet is legally restricted to law enforcement, criminal justice professionals, and authorized state and federal agencies for legitimate purposes like employment or licensing.  Public access is highly restricted, as rap sheets are not public records and cannot be obtained through Freedom of Information requests.

About forty plus years ago, I was driving along Delancey Street in lower Manhattan, having come across the Williamsburg Bridge on the way to my family's favorite Chinese restaurant, Say Eng Look, which is unfortunately gone. 

At a red light, a scruffy young man approached the car and engaged my first wife, Bonita, in conversation.  It basically consisted of asking for money.

She obliged, but asked him why he was not looking for gainful employment.  He responded as it was difficult to find because of his rap sheet.

The light turned green and we departed, but not before Bonita wished him well.  A few seconds later, my young daughter Rachel asked unforgettably, "What's a rap sheet?"

Robert Redford

Robert Redford was born August 18, 1936 in Santa Monica, California.  He became a respected actor, director and producer.

Robert Redford attended Van Nuys High School, where he was a classmate of baseball pitcher Don Drysdale.  Another student at the school was the actress Natalie Wood.  He hit tennis balls with Pancho Gonzalez at the Los Angeles Tennis Club to help Gonzalez warm up for matches.

Robert Redford's acting career began in New York City, where he worked both on stage and in television. His Broadway debut was in a small role in Tall Story (1959).  

His biggest success on Broadway was as the stuffy newlywed husband of Elizabeth Ashley in the original 1963 cast of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.  One night, I was in the audience at the Biltmore Theatre watching the young Robert Redford perform.

In the play, a newly wed couple live on the top floor (no elevator) of a brownstone in Manhattan.  When people arrive in their apartment, they are out of breath.  It reminds me of the apartment my brother Paul once lived in west of Central Park.

I saw many of Robert Redford's movies such as: Barefoot in the Park, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Tell Them Willie Boy is Here, Downhill Racer, The Candidate, The Sting, The Way We Were, All The President's Men, The Natural, Out of Africa, Indecent Proposal and All is Lost.

Robert Redford won his only Academy Award as Best Director for the film Ordinary People.

Sadly, he died at his home in Sundance, Utah on September 16th this year.    

  

Paladin, Chapter 11

 INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY

When PALADIN opens door to his hotel room, he is confronted by BIG DAN, large and  heavy-set, who is sitting in a chair at the far end of the room next to a picture window.  

PALADIN: Who are you and what are you doing in my room?

BIG DAN: I'm BIG DAN and what are you doin' in my town...with my woman?

PALADIN: Your wife hired me in San Francisco.  I suggest you discuss her reasons with her.  Now, I also suggest you get out of my room.

BIG DAN: You fuck her in San Francisco?

PALADIN: My relationship with POLLYANNA is purely professional.  As I said, I suggest you talk to her about why she hired me.  

PALADIN gives BIG DAN his card, who then reads it.

Paladin pivots to be ready to draw his gun.  BIG DAN rises from his chair.

BIG DAN: Well...did you fuck my wife?

PALADIN: That is a very crude remark.  I do not fuck women.  I make love to them, and I do it very well.  To answer your question, I did not fuck your wife.  Now, for the last time, get out of my room.

BIG DAN: If you're trying to scare me, I don't scare.  I'm the one who's scary. 

PALADIN: I don't think you're scary, just big, an accident of birth.

BIG DAN: Alright.  But I better get the same answer from POLLYANNA.  I'll be seein' you again...PALADIN.  

BIG DAN slowly leaves the room.  PALADIN takes a deep breath.