Steff Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Sorry if this was posted already.. Stung by anti-war criticism, Hall cancels `Bull Durham' festivities BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer Wednesday, April 9, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (04-09) 22:56 PDT NEW YORK (AP) -- The baseball Hall of Fame has canceled a 15th anniversary celebration of the film "Bull Durham," and the shrine's president said it was because of anti-war criticism by co-stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. Hall president Dale Petroskey sent a letter to Robbins and Sarandon this week, telling them the festivities April 26-27 at Cooperstown, N.Y., had been called off. Petroskey, a former White House assistant press secretary under Ronald Reagan, said recent comments by the actors "ultimately could put our troops in even more danger." Reached Wednesday night, Robbins said he was "dismayed" by the decision. He responded with a letter he planned to send to Petroskey, telling him: "You belong with the cowards and ideologues in a hall of infamy and shame." The weekend affair, planned months ago, also was to feature "Bull Durham" actor Robert Wuhl and Ron Shelton, who wrote and directed the 1988 film. Instead of commemorating the movie, the Hall canceled the celebration in a letter Tuesday sent to the scheduled participants. "In a free country such as ours, every American has the right to his or her own opinions, and to express them. Public figures, such as you, have platforms much larger than the average American's, which provides you an extraordinary opportunity to have your views heard -- and an equally large obligation to act and speak responsibly," Petroskey wrote. "We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important -- and sensitive -- time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger. As an institution, we stand behind our President and our troops in this conflict." Robbins and Sarandon, his longtime partner, have been active in peace rallies to protest the war in Iraq. In his letter, Robbins said he'd been looking forward to "a weekend away from politics and war." He said he remained "skeptical" of the war plans and told Petroskey he did not realize baseball was "a Republican sport." "I am sorry that you have chosen to use baseball and your position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement," Robbins wrote. "I know there are many baseball fans that disagree with you, and even more that will react with disgust to realize baseball is being politicized. "To suggest that my criticism of the President put the troops in danger is absurd. ... I wish you had, in your letter, saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan administrations. "You invoke patriotism and use words like 'freedom' in an attempt to intimidate and bully. In doing so, you dishonor the words 'patriotism' and 'freedom' and dishonor the men and women who have fought wars to keep this nation a place where one can freely express their opinions without fear of reprisal or punishment." Robbins signed his letter with a reference to an old World Series champion. "Long live democracy, free speech and the '69 Mets -- all improbable, glorious miracles that I have always believed in," he wrote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Critic Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Overrated movie, Sarandon looks like a frog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steff Posted April 10, 2003 Author Share Posted April 10, 2003 Overrated movie, Sarandon looks like a frog. No way!! Bull Durham was the BEST movie!! Everytime I think about the fungus shower slippers I nearly pee my pants! And.. "she gets wooley..." ROTFLMAO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 kind of smacks of censorship, McCarthy style - I suppose blacklisting of actors will begin all over again. Were the situation reversed, someone canceled because they supported the current war, the howls of outrage would be overwhelming. It is highly offensive to suggest that opposing this war would 'put our troops in even more danger." That is very close to saying if you disagree, you are commiting an act of treason. Under that standard, A. Lincoln is also guilty for opposing the Mexican American war and speaking out against it and saying the president wasn't very bright. No one from the anti war side, to my knowledge, has tried to censor any of the country singers or others who have tried to commercialize their support of the war. But that is not something extended by the other side. Steff, thank you for posting this. I would not have seen it otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Bull Durham was the BEST movie!! It has many wonderful scenes in it, a very funny movie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moochpuppy Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 I think they are trying to avoid a Micheal Moore situation. Even though I disagree with the platform Moore used to express his opinions, I do agree that cancelling the Bull Durham celebration was done for the wrong reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steff Posted April 10, 2003 Author Share Posted April 10, 2003 You're welcome cw. I'll add that I agree with mooch and don't agree with the action or the reasoning behind it. But you gotta admit.. political views aside, they have got to be two of the most annoying people on the face of the earth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 the best part about this movie was costner is a pretty good athlete and can pull off playing a ballplayer...the fact he could switch hit and had a good left handed swing impressed me.. robbins looked real bad as a pitcher...i remember 8 men out the guy who played lefty williams was horrible...david straithern as cicotte looked okay but still wasnt that good....the only actor that ive ever seen that really looked like he could throw a baseball was charlie sheen...in major league he really looked like he was throwing in the high 90's....wouldnt have surprised me if he could have had a career in baseball.. i think db sweeny , who played some minor league ball , would have been a better choice for nick laloosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 I think that the explanation is pretty simple. Yes the Michael Moore incident is fresh in MLB's minds, and the last thing they want to do is link the national past time to the anti-war movement by honoring two of its most visible leaders. Plus as with Moore, you give them a chance to give baseball a PR nightmare by having happen at a Hall of Fame function. Agree with it or not, it is best for the image and ideals of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurcieOne Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 kind of smacks of censorship, McCarthy style - I suppose blacklisting of actors will begin all over again. I couldnt agree more, I think it's a close similarity. Maybe they'll start holding the communist trials again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowerCaseRepublican Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 kind of smacks of censorship, McCarthy style - I suppose blacklisting of actors will begin all over again. I couldnt agree more, I think it's a close similarity. Maybe they'll start holding the communist trials again. PATRIOT Act and the pre-emptive detentions. It's already begun my friend Murcie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleM23 Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 I think we're forgetting the best job of baseball acting ever.... Frank Thomas in Mr. Baseball! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowerCaseRepublican Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 It may be 2003 but welcome to 1984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 before you all go off into more conspiracy theories remember that this is the hall of fame cancelling this and it has nothing to do with the government (though im sure apu will pull something up saying its proof bush , oops i mean hitler , ordered the baseball hall of fame to do it)... im sure what the baseball hall of fame was worried about was robbins or sarandon taking the opportunity to use this to spew an hour long diatribe about the criminal nazi like regime of george bush... wouldnt surprise if the guy asked both of them to promise not to use this night as a platform for thier politcal views and im sure neither would agree...as you can see by robbins response if an ant farts its bush's fault...he cant find enough forums to spew his hatred... now with that said , i would have liked to have seen the hall go on with this anyways...as i hate to see any form of censorship..but this not a free speech issue since it has nothing to do with the government murc..if someone came to our site and started posting all politcal stuff in the soxtalk section and you asked them to stop and they refused , would you lock them out or let them keep posting in the wrong section and ruining the site for all of us???....its not much different with what this guy was facing with robbins and sarandon...while they are great at what they do, the are more zealous then apu when it comes to war sorry for picking on apu..but its fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 apoligy to mr robbins on my part...he was asked if petroskey asked him not to metion anything about the war would he have complied and he said yes...so sorry tim..you can konk me over the head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowerCaseRepublican Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 apoligy to mr robbins on my part...he was asked if petroskey asked him not to metion anything about the war would he have complied and he said yes...so sorry tim..you can konk me over the head Consider yourself konked, haha. Did anybody see the South Park episode about the war in Iraq? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 i missed that..i havent watched south park since the war started..i can just imagine though with those two goofs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowerCaseRepublican Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 i missed that..i havent watched south park since the war started..i can just imagine though with those two goofs They had all the kids come out to protest the war. Then they had like Jimbo and the other country fans come out to support the war. Then, the media interviewed the kids protesting and Cartman and Co. didn't know who the founding fathers were, so Garrison said that they all had to write reports on 1776 and what the Founding Fathers would say about the war. So, Cartman keeps trying to do a flashback to 1776 which he does, haha. The anti and pro-war people have a giant rally where they start singing a song and they get into a giant fight where they start beating the s*** out of each other. Meanwhile, Cartman is in 1776 and he gets into the Continental Congress while they are talking about war with England and Ben Franklin says "Why don't we do this since 1/2 of you want war and 1/2 of you don't? We can found a country on being assholes who will kick ass whenever and wherever we want, but have the protests to show like we don't want it to happen, so people won't kick our ass for being insensitive pricks." So, Cartman comes back and tells the entire group that and then they all starting singing this giant song together. It was a pretty damn funny episode. By the way Baggs, if you haven't seen Bowling for Columbine, there is a VERY good interview with the creators of South Park in the movie (since they both went to Columbine and were picked on. That's why South Park is in Colorado...it was their way to make fun of their hometown and all the assholes who messed with them, haha) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted April 12, 2003 Share Posted April 12, 2003 i missed that..i havent watched south park since the war started..i can just imagine though with those two goofs They had all the kids come out to protest the war. Then they had like Jimbo and the other country fans come out to support the war. Then, the media interviewed the kids protesting and Cartman and Co. didn't know who the founding fathers were, so Garrison said that they all had to write reports on 1776 and what the Founding Fathers would say about the war. So, Cartman keeps trying to do a flashback to 1776 which he does, haha. The anti and pro-war people have a giant rally where they start singing a song and they get into a giant fight where they start beating the s*** out of each other. Meanwhile, Cartman is in 1776 and he gets into the Continental Congress while they are talking about war with England and Ben Franklin says "Why don't we do this since 1/2 of you want war and 1/2 of you don't? We can found a country on being assholes who will kick ass whenever and wherever we want, but have the protests to show like we don't want it to happen, so people won't kick our ass for being insensitive pricks." So, Cartman comes back and tells the entire group that and then they all starting singing this giant song together. It was a pretty damn funny episode. By the way Baggs, if you haven't seen Bowling for Columbine, there is a VERY good interview with the creators of South Park in the movie (since they both went to Columbine and were picked on. That's why South Park is in Colorado...it was their way to make fun of their hometown and all the assholes who messed with them, haha) il be looking for the replay of that episode...i didnt know the creators went to columbine...kinda of an interesting dynamic in play there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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