There’s no crying in baseball

I’m thinking I might be watching too much TV and movies. It might be time for me to get out more. Here’s what I mean.

Our youngest son texted us from college recently with some good news. A professor sent him a message that praised his lab work and thanked him for helping get newer students up-to-speed on the lab’s processes and standards. He shared the note the prof sent and after I finished it I couldn’t have been prouder.

I hadn’t expected the text. It came out of the blue. I kind of felt like Tom Hanks’ in the movie Forrest Gump. He says throughout the movie: “My momma always said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.'”

Scene from Forrest Gump.

The battle within

It gets better.

When a coworker cut me off in a meeting and pooh-poohed a suggestion I offered to a problem that we were trying to solve, I thought of the 1987 movie The Princess Bride and Mandy Patinkin’s character seeking retribution. “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Oh, I was cordial in my response. The meeting remained quite civil. No swords were pulled out of their scabbards. However, I can’t speak to the sword battle that raged in my head. Let’s just say Inigo got his triumphant revenge!

I think I can, I think I can

I’ve been thinking lately of movie lines all the time.

My wife and I took a week off recently. Our first day back, we struggled to get out of bed. I hit the snooze button and then my wife hit it. Neither of us was ready to face the day. We were like a couple of zombies, straight out of The Walking Dead. When we finally pulled the covers back and got up and going, I repeated the line that Dory says to Nemo’s father, in the movie Finding Nemo: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

Yes, just keep swimming. Gotta get coffee. Need coffee. Just keep swimming.

Later in the week, I pulled up to my wife’s work. I was picking her up after work so we could go out and grab a bite to eat. As I waited in the car for her to grab her things and wrap up for the day, I thought of Julia Robert’s classic line from Notting Hill: “And don’t forget, I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

I’m not a girl, but it still seemed appropriate enough for the situation.

Scene from Notting Hill.

Take that

There have been two other lines in recent weeks that have been on regular rotation in my head. The first is passed along by Tom Hanks again in A League of Their Own. He yells at his team and says: “There’s no crying in baseball.”

Matt Damon says the second line in Goodwill Hunting. His street-tough, genius-like character walks away from the bar and sees the Harvard student who he confronted earlier in the evening. He knocks on the glass and asks, “Do you like apples?” The student says sure. And Will boasts, “Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?”

Scene from Goodwill Hunting.

I absolutely love them because they’re appropriate for any and all situations. My wife and I got to see all three of our kids recently and then had to say goodbye. We were both sitting numb in our living room. We weren’t sure what to say or do. I broke the mood by saying, “Hey, there’s no crying in baseball.” Does it make sense? Was it appropriate to the situation? Heck, no, but it broke the ice.

A few days later, we were driving on the highway and the guy who nearly clipped me five miles back is pulled over and a police car’s lights, flashing a bright red and blue, sits behind him. You better believe that I’m all over it. As I drive-by, I say: “How about them apples?”

When my wife shakes her head at me and says that I’m not right in the head, I use another movie line to justify my craziness. I repeat a version of Emilio Estevez’s line from The Breakfast Club, to defend myself. You remember the line, right?

“We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.” Yea, I’m bizarre and that’s okay.

What famous movie or book lines do you love?

. . . . .

“You had me at hello.” —Jerry Maguire

“I’m the King of the World.” —Titanic

“I volunteer as tribute.” —The Hunger Games

“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” —The Godfather

“May the force be with you.” —Star Wars

. . . . . .

Related Posts:

• Play it again, Sam! and great movie lines
• Favorite movie lines
• My trip on the Hogwarts Express
• Meeting the Don: Returning to The Godfather