Great resource, thanks for the link.
This line alone makes the review excellent to me:
But any movie that has a chorus of frogs singing Big Band music and a healthy respect for failure is worth seeing.Last night, after baseball practice, my youngest son asked me point blank: "Dad, do you think I'm good at this? (Playing baseball)." I know why he's asking me this, he doesn't hit the ball like Carlos on our team (that kid can hit a baseball and will be playing ball in school for sure). He's also asking me this because he doesn't throw as well as Chris or Daniel, two strong arm kids who can fling the pill around the diamond.
My son is average as a player. He won't be looked at as the best player on this team and his Dad is the coach, a guy parents and all the other kids look up to. So I can see his little mind working, he wants to be the best for my sake or at least thinks for my sake. So he's asking me if I think he can be.
"Aren't you having fun?" I reply. "Yeah, I am" he says. "Good, that is what this is *ALL* about... fun! Oh, I know some of the guys (even though I have on girl on the team, I call them "my guys" all the time, along with my "twinkies" since we're the twins) always talk about winning and beating the other team and I hear when they yell stuff like "Throw the ball! COME ON THROW TO ME!!!!". It's a bit silent as he listens to me as we drive back home. I know what happened. I was pitching to the kids during batting practice and I had everyone in different positions fielding the ball. In one occasion, my son was near the pitchers mound and the ball was hit weakly in front of the plate, rolling out towards the mound. My son stood there, frozen trying to remember how to play that position, since he is normally our centerfielder (and a good one at that). I hear the kids start to yell at my son to "Go get it! Don't just stand there... THROW IT TO FIRST!". Then one of the loud mouth Dads (I have two that I worry about) starts to yell out "SON, GO GET THE BALL!". My son is now perplexed and a bit intimidated. He isn't moving, as the runner makes it to first easily while my son stands there a bit shaken.
"It's okay buddy, don't let it bother you" I tell him at the time. "You're supposed to go get those balls hit around this area (as I draw an imaginary circle for him) when you stand here. But nobody should be yelling at you either... except me, and I don't yell, I teach. So don't ever think I'm mad at you when you don't understand what to do... I'll teach you."
So now in the car, he's asking me about failure in a sense. Failure is a huge part of baseball. Babe Ruth struck out as many times as he made contact with the baseball, in fact much more. The best players in the game actually fail hitting a baseball 7 out of 10 times. At a very young age when they're learning to play baseball as an organized sport, failure must be taught or at least how to deal with it and move on. So he thinks awhile about what I asked "Are you having fun?" and it sinks in for him. At least for a moment. I'm sure we'll talk more and more about failure as our lives meet at the father/son talks, sometimes centered around our baseball journey together.
Bring it on!
