Home Opener 2016 / Believeland / Major League
I have been attending and writing about the Indians Home Opener for many years, and attending it for even longer. This year's was nothing particularly special in the big scheme of things. Oh sure, it got postponed one day in the most inept Indians-like way possible (I was already on the train downtown when I found out), but fortunately I was able to go the next day (April 5) with some herculean schedule revamping, and even more amazingly gieves was able to re-clear her schedule to attend as well. We enjoyed the sunny but chilly weather and watched the Tribe get stomped in a comparatively boring game. It certainly won't be remembered like the long opener or the blizzard opener, but it was a pleasant day at the park.
And so it was that the baseball highlights of the week were both provided by movies. My first CIFF movie of the year was the world premiere of the ESPN 30 for 30 film Believeland, which was based on a long form piece of sportswriting that went live the day LeBron James returned to Cleveland for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat. The film covered Cleveland's sports heartbreak since the last Browns title in 1964, so even though this CIFF event was held at the Palace Theater at Playhouse Square, it still nearly sold out the 2800 or so seats in that room.
The crowd was a sports crowd. They were loud, they were boisterous, they cheered everybody during the introductions prior to the movie (including Earnest Byner and Craig Ehlo, who of course figured in The Fumble and The Shot). Throughout the film the crowd repeatedly cheered, and on several occasions started up "Here we go Brownies" cheers. I've been to many, many Indians games over the year (80 home games as of today) and the vast majority of them didn't have a 2800 people screaming in unison at any one point.
Although the 1995 and 1997 World Series defeats were covered in detail, most of the movie was focused on the Browns. The loudest crowd reactions was when (on screen) Earnest Byner apologizes for letting the fans down because of the fumble. The crowd went nuts (remember, Byner was in the room), screaming "We love you Ernie" and "Browns forever" and "Not your fault." And by the crowd, I mean damn near everyone, not just a few drunk guys. The second loudest moment was when they somehow got Art Modell's son David on screen trying to justify his father moving the Browns to Baltimore. As you can imagine, this didn't go well. It's always impressive hearing a crowded room boo like crazy.
I'm not able to objectively evaluate this film in any kind of useful manner. For all I know it was terrible, but I've lived in Cleveland for 20 years this August, and although I don't much care about the NBA and only casually follow the NFL, I still want this city to win something. I rated it as "Excellent" on the CIFF ballot, but I honestly have no idea if it would be any good to a non-Clevelander. I am sure that one day thousands of Clevelanders will claim to have seen it at the premiere. I was there, and I won't begrudge them, because it was a lot of fun.
Then on Saturday, I took my co-host Colleen to see Major League at the Cedar Lee. Colleen isn't a native Clevelander, but her husband is and it was most or less inexcusable that she hadn't seen it yet. Major League dates from 1989 and tells the story of a pathetic Cleveland Indians team that somehow becomes a contender in the face of all adversity. Pretty much everything you need to know about Indians history prior to 1990 is that when Hollywood needed a team to be the terrible underdog, they picked Cleveland. The writer of the film actually is a Clevelander who claimed that he wrote the film "because just once he wanted to see the Indians win something." He probably didn't know he was going to end up writing one of the best sports movies of all time.
I personally know the film very well, although as far as I or my lists can recall I hadn't seen it in a movie theater before. I've been playing Burn On to kick off spring trainer for years now, just like they do in the movie. Thankfully, Colleen enjoyed it so I don't have to kick her off the show :-)
And with that, another season is off and running...
And so it was that the baseball highlights of the week were both provided by movies. My first CIFF movie of the year was the world premiere of the ESPN 30 for 30 film Believeland, which was based on a long form piece of sportswriting that went live the day LeBron James returned to Cleveland for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat. The film covered Cleveland's sports heartbreak since the last Browns title in 1964, so even though this CIFF event was held at the Palace Theater at Playhouse Square, it still nearly sold out the 2800 or so seats in that room.
The crowd was a sports crowd. They were loud, they were boisterous, they cheered everybody during the introductions prior to the movie (including Earnest Byner and Craig Ehlo, who of course figured in The Fumble and The Shot). Throughout the film the crowd repeatedly cheered, and on several occasions started up "Here we go Brownies" cheers. I've been to many, many Indians games over the year (80 home games as of today) and the vast majority of them didn't have a 2800 people screaming in unison at any one point.
Although the 1995 and 1997 World Series defeats were covered in detail, most of the movie was focused on the Browns. The loudest crowd reactions was when (on screen) Earnest Byner apologizes for letting the fans down because of the fumble. The crowd went nuts (remember, Byner was in the room), screaming "We love you Ernie" and "Browns forever" and "Not your fault." And by the crowd, I mean damn near everyone, not just a few drunk guys. The second loudest moment was when they somehow got Art Modell's son David on screen trying to justify his father moving the Browns to Baltimore. As you can imagine, this didn't go well. It's always impressive hearing a crowded room boo like crazy.
I'm not able to objectively evaluate this film in any kind of useful manner. For all I know it was terrible, but I've lived in Cleveland for 20 years this August, and although I don't much care about the NBA and only casually follow the NFL, I still want this city to win something. I rated it as "Excellent" on the CIFF ballot, but I honestly have no idea if it would be any good to a non-Clevelander. I am sure that one day thousands of Clevelanders will claim to have seen it at the premiere. I was there, and I won't begrudge them, because it was a lot of fun.
Then on Saturday, I took my co-host Colleen to see Major League at the Cedar Lee. Colleen isn't a native Clevelander, but her husband is and it was most or less inexcusable that she hadn't seen it yet. Major League dates from 1989 and tells the story of a pathetic Cleveland Indians team that somehow becomes a contender in the face of all adversity. Pretty much everything you need to know about Indians history prior to 1990 is that when Hollywood needed a team to be the terrible underdog, they picked Cleveland. The writer of the film actually is a Clevelander who claimed that he wrote the film "because just once he wanted to see the Indians win something." He probably didn't know he was going to end up writing one of the best sports movies of all time.
I personally know the film very well, although as far as I or my lists can recall I hadn't seen it in a movie theater before. I've been playing Burn On to kick off spring trainer for years now, just like they do in the movie. Thankfully, Colleen enjoyed it so I don't have to kick her off the show :-)
And with that, another season is off and running...