Bits & Pieces

By Kim J. Harmon

The Newtown High School softball team has been cooped up inside throughout its training, has been displaced from its usual haunt, and just as it was ready to open the 2003 season on Monday at Dickinson Park it was discovered that the grounds crew mistakenly lined the wrong pitching rubber.

But, hey, it was corrected and the game was played.

Thank god!

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My, what a glorious day on Monday, huh?

Already that awful winter (during the blizzard, I shoveled nonstop for over four hours trying to keep up with the snow) and the April storm are just a bad memory, although I can’t help feeling a little apprehensive (although the feeling is fading) that another storm might be lurking out there.

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After the rough winter and the April snowstorm postponed the official start of the Newtown High School spring sports seasons, I got to wondering – hmmmmn, what happened back in 1978 when we got walloped by those back-to-back storms in April.

Remember?

Sure, the first one dropped something like 16 inches and, a week later, the second one dropped like 21 inches (or vice versa). School was closed for a week (which was good) and I had to shovel tons and tons of snow (which was bad).

I suppose spring didn’t start until May that year. I guess I could go over to the bound volumes (about 12 feet away from my desk – I can see them right now) and check, but I’m too lazy. I just had a buttered hard roll.

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Hey, guys – getting your physicals is one of the most important aspects of getting ready to play. With Sports Physicals screening sessions coming up in May, all Newtown High School athletes can get themselves set up for fall and winter seasons now.

All it takes is a parent permission form and a visit to the nurse’s office to sign up.

The session for boys will be held Thursday, May 1 (all athletes must be signed up by April 25) and the session for girls will be held on Wednesday, May 7 (all athletes must be signed up by May 1). Both sessions will begin at 2 pm.

Any questions? See athletic director Gregg Simon.

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I have to applaud the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for deciding not to show the movie Bull Durham and to dis-invite Tim Robbins for Susan Sarandon to the big anniversary gala in light of their anti-war sentiments.

Although people are allowed to speak their minds in this country, there doesn’t seem to be any sense in politicizing a great movie like Bull Durham and turning such a revered place as the Hall of Fame into a bully pulpit.

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On the subject of baseball movies – 61* is, without question, the best one I’ve seen (I have to admit, I got misty-eyed).

Then, in order, comes The Rookie, Bull Durham, Major League, Field of Dreams (this one fell to No. 5 on my list because of the Joe Jackson gaffe) and The Natural. Trailing far behind, in no particular order, is The Babe Ruth Story, Major League II, Major League: Back to the Minors, Angels in the Outfield (a fun movie for kids, though) and The Babe.

Now, with the NHL in its interminable Stanley Cup playoffs, a GREAT hockey movie is Mystery, Alaska with Russell Crowe (my favorite actor – mainly because of Gladiator), Hank Azaria, Burt Reynolds, and Lolita Davidovich.

And with the NBA approaching its playoffs, a superb movie is Hoosiers with Gene Hackman.

I suppose I would have been better off watching one of those instead of the movie I saw the other night – Dracula and His Vampire Bride.