"You bob for apples in the toilet... and you like it!"

            The movie I decided to watch again, after noticing that every available movie I had already seen, was Sandlot, which in my opinion has to be one of the greatest films of all time. The film centers around a bunch of misfit kids that spend nearly every waking minute playing baseball. Unfortunately, they only have 8 players until Scottie Smalls moves into the neighborhood and is invited to play by Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez. After proving that he is coachable and given the nod by Squnitz, he joins their sandlot team During one of the so called practices that Benny was leading they went into some batting practice and Benny hit the ball so hard that he knocked the covering off the ball. After realizing that they didn’t have enough money to buy a new ball Smalls tells the boys that he has a spare ball at home. However, it wasn’t just any spare baseball, it happened to be a baseball signed by a man known by many different names: the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, the King of Crash, the Great Bambino, or as most people know him as… BABE RUTH! Unfortunately, Smalls didn’t know who he was and the rest of the team didn’t look close enough at the baseball before Smalls stepped up to bat and crushed a monstrous home run that flew into old man Murtle’s backyard, the meanest old man that ever lived. Most people would have just jumped the fence to retrieve a ball but in this case there was no way they could do that because the backyard was patrolled by “The Beast,” a junkyard dog that, according to Squnitz, is responsible for killing any and all trespassers. The rest of the movie is the 9 trying to get the ball back without attempting to physically enter the backyard. They give it three attempts with different strategies and all three fail at the last second, keeping the ball the beast’s possession. Eventually Benny decides that the only and last option is to pickle the beast by jumping the fence, retrieving the ball and jumping back over, and it would of worked too had the beast not broke his chain and ran through the fence. Benny then leads the beast on a wild chase throughout the city that eventually ended back at the lot where they started. In the end fence fell on the beast trapping him underneath until Smalls and Benny lifted the fence off of him and freeing the beast. The movie ends on a high note when Mr. Murtle gives Smalls a replacement ball, the Murders Row ball, which contains Babe Ruth’s signature along with multiple other Hall of Fame baseball players.

            Throughout the film the writers do a good job of creating realistic middle school stereotypes that, although can be exaggerated at times, tend to reflect middle school pretty well. One that I noticed early on is when Squintz immediately does not want Smalls to play ball with them because he wasn’t very good when given a couple opportunities. Middle schoolers can be quick to judge and the athletic ones especially don’t want anything to do with kids that are not athletic when it comes to sports. Another stereotype I observed comes when the boys try chew for the first time. This portrays that middle school kids enjoy experimenting at this age, which in many cases is accurate, however, the level of experimentation varies. Lastly, one final stereotype I noticed is the rivalry and disdain that middle school kids may have for other social groups or those form different schools. This comes into play during the scene when Ham faces off in an insult match against a kid from a different, well funded, baseball team. Kids may not go to the extreme to insult and belittle other kids of different ability levels or socioeconomic backgrounds, but they will sometimes tend to avoid and stay away from them. Unfortunately, I would have to say I was more of a Yea-Yea kid in middle school. I tended to go along with what others said and did without truly thinking for myself. You see throughout the movie that Yea-Yea tends to just go with what the popular opinion is at the time, regardless of the consequences or if it seems right or wrong. I was that kid. I enjoyed going with the flow and avoiding having to think for myself. Something I absolutely regret about my childhood when I look back and reflect on who I was then and who I am now.