The Chris Moeller Archives

The inner child

Did you rush out to see "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" last night? Me, neither. I didn't see the first one so I would probably be lost. I did, however, enjoy reading Roger Ebert's review earlier in the day. It's right up there with the most scathing pieces Ebert has ever written.

I was first reminded of last year's exchange between Ebert and Vincent Gallo, director of a film called "The Brown Bunny." Ebert called "The Brown Bunny" the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival. Gallo responded by calling Ebert "a fat pig," and by putting a hex on the critic's colon. In print, Ebert countered, "I will one day be thin, but Vincent Gallo will always be the director of "The Brown Bunny." The entire exchange was magnified when Ebert revealed that he had been diagnosed with oral cancer.

That story had a relatively happy ending. Ebert overcame the health scare, and Gallo apologized for his comments. Meanwhile, Ebert lost about 80 pounds and Gallo re-edited his film for American release, and earned a favorable review from Ebert.

The critic's distaste for Rob Schneider's work goes back further than "The Brown Bunny." He wrote a harsh review of the first "Deuce Bigalow," and "The Animal" as well, writing once that Schneider's movies are too dumb for anyone over 13 years old. That prompted this retort from the actor: "I don't worry about fatso Roger Ebert-- his contribution to cinema is extremely limited." (A strange comment considering Ebert was the first person to win a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism, and by virtually all other accounts, has changed the way America's mass culture views his profession.) Schneider was also quoted as saying, "I know why Gene Siskel (Ebert's former TV partner) passed away so early. He had 20 years with this guy."

Here's the link to this weekend's review. In it, Ebert comes to the defense of a fellow critic targeted by Schneider. It's brutal and hysterical.

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You many have heard already about another angry confrontation-- this one between Hall of Fame pitcher and native Iowan Bob Feller and a St. Louis sports radio host. The exchange resulted in broadcaster Mike Claiborne calling Feller "a racist." The St. Louis Post Dispatch has the lowdown, and comments from Claiborne, and the Des Moines Register spoke with Feller.

It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Feller is 86 years old, and outspoken. His public comments often seem rooted in anger, resentment, and a belief that the world exists without shades of gray. But frankly, I would hate to see this become another media pile-on. We shouldn't be afraid to have this, or any other, conversation about racial stereotypes. Feller's a stubborn old mule, and the comment was truly ridiculous, but I'd like to think I could endure more than two minutes of his 86-year-old thought processes before I was throwing the word "racist" at him, considering also that Claiborne and Feller had probably never met before the interview. What good comes of that?

There's an old saying about baseball on the island of the Dominican Republic that "no one walks off the island," meaning a young player has to be a free-swinging type of hitter to get noticed and earn a shot in the big leagues. I don't know where the saying started, or to what extent the ballplayers buy into it, but it's the type of pigeon-holing assessment that gets naturally burned into people's brains when they attempt to dissect our melting-pot culture.

Roberto Clemente was the first high-profile Latino player, and he was a rather reckless-style outfielder, and a free-swinging hitter. As a result, I think, some observers came to see him as a player who lacked the fundamentals, as if the two styles were mutually-exclusive. The stereotype got stuck to all Latin players (even one as uniquely different in approach as fellow Hall-of-Famer, Panamanian Rod Carew.) Yogi Berra was the same type of ballplayer as Clemente, but was never forced to live down that reputation. Albert Pujols, a Dominican-born player, might be the most remarkably disciplined player in the game today. His constant mental adjustments and his consistency mark his greatness.

Feller, of course, is guilty of an affliction that threatens all of us-- vanity. Notice that his defense is to align himself with the minority ballplayers he played with and against, in essence, the superior ballplayers of his generation. If anything, it's youth discrimination, that ole' universal pining for "the way things were."

Here's a guy who's damaged more than a few personal relationships over time, and now sits firmly in the twilight of his life-- and he believes, perhaps, his legacy. He's been in the national limelight since the time he was a teenager, treated as someone truly special. How will I be remembered? he asks. Will I be remembered at all? And, of course, the current media hysteria surrounding steroids in baseball has given the older generations free license to scold young players. It's ironic that he got in trouble while answering the question-- what's wrong and what's right about the game today?

I feel more pity than anger about Feller's comments, but not just towards Feller, but for the whole lot of us. We build our own cocoons, and if we're not equipped to accept the perspectives of others on the same plane as our own, time becomes a steamroller.

posted by CM @ 2:21 PM