THE
BALL GAME
By
B.W.
*** Sneak Preview*** With music excised***
EXT. FIELD #3 – LONG SHOT
A
large crowd of people gather to watch a refreshing new game. The home dugout is filled with young little
leaguers wearing maroon jerseys. The
away dugout is empty and waiting to be filled by a blended group of 10-12 convicts
from The Battery, Buffalo New York’s
department of corrections.
EXT. FIELD #3 – SHORT POV FROM BEHIND HOME PLATE
Tambrandt
slaps the microphone on his clipboard as he steps over in front of homeplate to
address the massive audience of people who have vested interests in how these
convicts will end their day if they can’t remain safe through six innings.
TAMBRANDT
Welcome,
All. Now for most of you this will be the first time you have seen your guy since trial. They may attempt to appeal to your kinder side here, given the payout they most likely will receive. Please let the name tags dictate who gets to stand closest to the sliding gates. Now, Please, again, we have fixed the trigger
gates this season so please, when a prisoner makes an out, do not push the gates. The locking mechanism will free and the gates
will slide open for you. If you still
need approved tools we have tool tents on both sides behind the stands, the
sitting area. New this year is the baby
lynx. It is the weapon that Braveheart
used to kill one of the selfish lords…a fine weapon. It ‘s chain is two feet long and the spike
ball is dangerous so do be careful when swinging. Mind your neighbors, please. We have had a good run of safety here we
like to keep it that way. If you do not
have a vested interests in a convicts demise, please feel free to help out the
families that are seeking justice today. We will be raffling off 6 taser guns - one for each inning. Please see the three raffle stations and ask Christie Anne if you'd like a hand.
Now,
let’s bring out the manager of the Northstar Tigers, the #1 ranked little
league team in upstate New York!
EXT. PRISONER BUS – ARRIVING
Murray,
the Warden’s appointed manager stands up and calls out the lineup as the
convicts drink beer cans from the two large coolers positioned up front of the
blue prison bus.
MURRAY
Okay,
here’s the lineup. Remember, you get a
hit…all you need to do is make it to first.
If you try and stretch it out against these kids, you will get a chance
to rest but don’t turn a single into an exit.
Those gates open, its only you and that bat you have.
CLARKE
“How
far do the tasers fly this time?”
BECKER
“
Tasers go one distance, three feet. You
can use the bat to swipe it and they only sell five of them all game. Maybe you will get lucky.”
MURRAY
One,
Thompson
Two,
Berman
Three,
Steenbock
Four,
Penner
Five,
Brushy
Six,
Mitchell
Seven, Maguire
Eight, Schwartz
Nine, Goldman
Ten, Kubricks
Eleven,
Russo
Twelve, Casey
Thirteen,
McCann
and last, Clarke.
and last, Clarke.
Good
luck, now remember go straight to the dugout or the guards will zap you.
TITLE: ORIGINS
EXT. Medium shot of the final stretch at Belmont. The horses jump from the gate.
SIEGRIST and
KUBRICKS HAVE TO STAND ON THE BENCHES.
ITS STAKES DAY-no room, poor visibility.
SIEGRIST
This is my
last $500, Wade, what did you bet? Lemme see yer tickets.
KUBRICKS
I don’t
know. #6 Pancake Sandwich.
SIEGRIST
Ha! 99-1.
The crowd
jumps and stirs as the horses race and close in on the final stretch. Kubrick’s gun falls from his waist when he
sees his #2 horse make a move.
KUBRICKS
Here we go,
terminator blue, I got you!
Three older
black men stand behind Kubricks and Siegrist.
They are too old to stand on the benches. They complain about seeing the backs of people and no race. As the horses head home for the line, one of
black guys gets irritated at the two idiots blocking their view. He sees the gun drop. He picks it up.
SIEGRIST
Come on
Pantherfox you bastard run!
BLACK MAN 2
Go 4 ! go 4!
Get up!
At the
finish the 4 horse soars up from wide outside and beats terminator blue to take
the million dollar prize.
BLACK MAN 2
I won! I
won! Hey!
Kubrick is pissed, he throws his beers and spits on his ticket before ripping it to shreds.
KUBRICKS
I can’t see
shit! Just saw a few manes!
Kubricks
notices his gun is missing and he looks back to the guy hollering about the
horse that beat his.
SIEGRIST
Hey, good
bet! How much you have on him?
BLACK MAN #2
$2 across
the board!!!! Wooo-hee
KUBRICKS
sees his gun in Black man 3’s hand, holding it out to return it t him. Kubricks thanks him, smiles, picks up the
revolver and shoots black moon 2 in the back of the head as he waits in the
crowd to go cash his chalk winning ticket.
TITLE: FIRST INNING
EXT. Close-up of the back of the first
batter. He is a huge, massive man....over300 pounds. Name on the #14 jersey reads “THOMPSON”
The pitcher sends the first pitch down and Thompson swings and fouls it back. The crowd has been drinking, too, and they make sure to let the folks with "Thompson" stickers gain prime pole position where the gates slide open. The second pitch arrives and Thompson smacks a ball down the third base-line. The third baseman fields it quick, then loses the ball on the transfer to throw. Thompson, rther than running full blast, looks back and sees the bobble, and trips five feet from first. 3B picks up the ball and whipts it to first. Thompson picks himself up and dives to first. The ball is overthrown and Thompson is safe.
TITLE: THOMPSON
EXT. Long shot of a swimming pool hosting a swim
meet. The scoreboard reveals a tie meet;
Bay Hills
8
Bay Coast
8
There’s one relay left.
Dusk
A gun
fires and the first of three swimmers vaults into the shiny, calm , dark blue
pool water.
The crowd
cheers and the loudest chant is first heard.
BAY COAST
HECKLER PARENT A
“Don’t
fuck this up Joey, you’re the fucking anchor!”
The
heckler was screaming at his son, and Bay coast anchor freestyle, Joe Thompson,
undefeated in five years. This year he
faces Lenny Gott, the kid who stole his girlfriend, took her to the prom, and
took her virginity, then proposed marriage.
BAY HILLS
HECKLER PARENT A
“ Let’s go Rick, we’re winning!”
Joey rips
his headphones off and walks over to Lenny who is getting his shoulders massaged
like fresh meat by his ex-girlfriend of only 6 months ago.
THOMPSON
“EAT SHIT
LEN. WATCH ME WIN NO matter how big the
lead.”
LENNY
“Ahhh,
thanks Stacy. That feels better,” he and
Stacey both ignore Thomson which infuriates him.
The
second unit goes off and Bay Hills team has pulled off a four length lead.
Thompson
just stares at Len and Stacey. He wants
them both dead.
BAY HILLS
HECKLER PARENT B
“Oh, shit
Joey!! This is all up to you now! We’re fucked!
The
parent argue as Lenny steps up and dives in.
A full four seconds elapse until Joey launches out and immediately he
picks up a length on Lenny. He strokes
hard and when they hit the wall Lenny is ahead by only one length. Clearly, he is a shitty freestyle swimmer.
BAY COAST
PARENT HECKLER B
“Oh, what
a shit-show Hess, your son cant swim
for shit! He’s blowing it!
Thompson
takes over and proceeds to win by five lengths.
As Stacy
waits for Lenny to sulk in the pool at
his monumental failure, Thompson walks
over, holding a huge five foot long , glowing gold trophy, grabs Lenny by his
hair, drags him out of the pool and into Stacey. Thompson then attacks Lenny, picking him up,
flipping him around and performing, of all moves, a real professionally set-up
pile driver, impaling Len’’s skull into the wet cement. Blood burst all over the rest of Len’s team.
ANNOUNCER
“… and
his sixth consecutive win at Anchor! Big
Joe Thompson!”
EXT
Field #3 Crowd perspective looking from the stands as the next batter
steps up.
#7 slowly steps to the plate. David
Berman may be dressed in a baseball uniform, but he does not look like an
athlete.
ANGRY CROWD HECKLER B
“ You murdered my daughter you
worthless fuck. Go ahead try to hit…try
to get a-“
The pitch came in and the umpire
called it as it was
UMPIRE
Striiiike 1
Tambrandt tapped his mike on his clipboard
to indicate this could be the first victim.
He is so proud of his code activated, sliding security fence, he wants
to make sure it fucking works given all the money it cost. Tambrandt relaxed as he saw Ronnie Summers
counting today’s gate. $2,000 per
person.
UMPIRE
Baaaall 1
The pitcher was young Mike Kotic, and
he was not afraid of these guys. He’s
hit 25 convicts so far. A hit by pitch
is a safe trip to first base.
Mike hurled in his third pitch and
this time Berman swung….he just got a piece of the ball with the tip of the
bat, the ball rolled out three feet, Berman dropped his bat and booked it to
first. Andujar Rojas was at catcher and
he was chubby and slow. This was a piece
of cake though. He grabbed the ball and
drilled a strike to Jimmy Sebbo at first.
TITLE: WINTERS
EXT.
Longshot of a crowded stretch of ocean beach. Gerry Winter’s wife, Bambi, is a beach bum
and she forces him to go on weekends when the sands are packed and it just boils
his blood. After a few cold crisp beers
he gets cozy and enjoys himself, though.
Gerry just finished suffering a 100 yard walk carrying an 80 pound Coleman
capped with two bags of ice, plus an ice water thermos that weighs 30 pounds. He is pissed and tired. The beach is packed and to further irritate him
Bambi packed a spot about 8 feet from
some jerk listening to his portable radio.
He is listening to the Yankee game. DAY
BAAMBI
Don’t be a dick, Gerry. Put your 50 block on and have another
beer. They are cold. I got your favorite, red dog…or wolf.
GERRY
Excuse me buddy, could you turn that
down a little. It’s too loud.
ANNOYING BEACH RADIO GUY
It’s almost over. Maldonado’s coming in. Games tied!
Gerry played soccer, he has no idea
what he just said.
FADE OUT
TITLE ONE HOUR LATER
FADE IN
It’s an hour in and still, the radio
is playing as the game has reached inning 15.
Gerry cracks beer8. He’s loosening
up and rubbing lotion bambis back.
Gerry
Hey pal, your annoying. Turn the game
off. No one wins today.
ANNOYING BEACH RADIO GUY
Hey, I’m a cop. Watch it.
Ext.
parking lot – almost sunset.
Gerry walks on the pavilion heading toward
the car. He had to listen to 10+ innings
of a baseball and the game lasted longer than his beer supply. He listened to the nobody beats the wiz commercial
20 times. He is pisssed and h made sure that
he and bambi left shortly after the cop who shit on his only day off all week.
Gerry
Hurry up, girl. Giddy.
Bambi
I have to hit the showers and wash
off this sand.
Gerry
I’ll bring the car around
The lot was still filled with cars as
most afternoon beach folk stay until sunset.
Gerry sense his chance to get this guy.
EXT
Zoom shot of the annoying radio guy loading his trunk, taking his time.
Gerry jumped in his car and swung it
around fast and he was going to enforce his own law today= the law of peace and
fucking quiet on the goddamn beach.
Gerry steppe on it and rather than
throw an empty beer bottle at the guy’s head, the cop lost his balance toweling
off his ankles. He stepped into the path
of Gerrys speeding car and Gerry just ht the gas.
Rather than call 911 and report the
accident, Gerry noticed no one was in sight.
In a flash he did a lap and ran the prick over a send time just as he
held up his hands , stunned reaching for help.
Gerry smiled and yelled at him as he passed.
Gerry
Hey!
You deserve it asshole!
To his shock Gerry was able to bring
the car up to the pavillion, pick up his wife of 15 years, and drive away like
a cop himself – keeping the ocean free from assholes with portable radios.
Six weeks passed. Gerry never gave it another thought.
In the middle of week 8, almost two months
after the accident, two plainclothes officers knocked down his front door.
“… and
his sixth consecutive win at Anchor! Big
Joe Thompson!”
