FanHouse KevinCostner

Kevin Costner is a pretty annoying person, I tend to think. After all, he did bring Waterworld and the Postman into our lives, and those alone are worthy of eternal banishment from our country. Which, actually, may explain what he was doing playing golf in Canada at the recent Canadian Open. Or not -- either way, I'm personally revoking any ban that may be on Costner in the United States after seeing the following video: Costner is asked if he's ever had Mike Weir's wine before and then the hilarity kicks in.

Last month Tim Robbins and writer/director Ron Shelton openly discussed the possibility of a Bull Durham sequel with the media during a 20th anniversary ceremony for the film at Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Well, it seems like the project is gaining steam, at least if you believe the New York Post's gossip page (via SbB):

THE long-awaited sequel to "Bull Durham" is finally getting off the ground. A spy tells us Kevin Costner recently met with director Ron Shelton at Trader Vic's in LA to discuss reprising the role of carousing catcher Crash Davis from the 1988 baseball flick. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are also expected to return as pitcher Nuke LaLoosh and baseball groupie Annie Savoy, who are now married and owners of a Major League team that Costner manages.

Wait, Nuke and Annie get married? And they somehow own a major league team? Last month Shelton and Robbins suggested that Crash and Annie would be married, and that Nuke would be a washed-up drunk. What gives?

My guess is that nobody is right. Shelton admitted that he only recently warmed up to the idea of a sequel, so I'd wager that an actual script has yet to be written (and once it does, it probably won't be leaked before the project even starts filming). But for better or worse, it looks like this is really going to happen.

If you're ranking the best baseball movies ever made, The Natural would be near the top, and Field of Dreams wouldn't be far behind. At the risk of being laughed at, I'd include For Love of the Game (aka, "Kevin Costner's other baseball movie") in the discussion, too, that's probably because I'm a Tigers fan first and an objective film critic second.

But what's the best baseball movie ever made? Why, Bull Durham, of course. To this day, Crash Davis and Nuke LaLoosh still serve as timeless archetypes of the grizzled farmhand and the spoiled bonus baby. It's an absolute masterpiece ... which is why talk of a sequel kind of scares me.

Speaking on Friday at the Baseball Hall of Fame to commeorate the film's 20th anniversary, writer/director Ron Shelton and Timothy "Nuke" Robbins revealed they've kicked the idea around to make another film. From Mark McGuire of the Times Union (via BBTF):

"My view of his major-league career is he went up there and in his second year in the majors he was 18-4. In his third year he was 4-18," Shelton said. "It was a sort of an unrealized career in which we saw glimpses of his greatness."

Crash Davis, the grizzled catcher, "is now managing Durham in Triple A, back with a (major-league) dream alive again," Shelton said. "I think he's kept this wonderful hot relationship with Annie, who probably has the Faulkner Chair in Oxford, Miss."

As we've mentioned previously here, the Devil Rays are the Devil Rays no longer. They have absconded the evil-doing front end of their name and are now quite simply, the Rays. But if you thought they were just going to make the switch with little to no fanfare, think again.

It's going to be a par-tay.

The team is going big time for Thursday's official uniform/logo/colors unveiling (4-8 p.m. at Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg) by bringing in nearly 20 players (including Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Delmon Young, but not Carlos Pena, who will be on a cruise) plus former stars Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff for the "fashion show" and appearances. ... Kevin Costner and his Modern West band will play starting at 6:30.

Whoa, wait a second? Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff .... and Kevin Costner? Are we sure we aren't reading off the guest list at Les Deux on a Friday night? Because it sure sounds like it. Either way, I need to get down there. Late Thursday afternoons are my time to shine. Because really, if you go out on weekend nights, you are just totally following the crowd.

HT: With Leather.

To this point in franchise history, most of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' playoff aspirations have been the stuff of imagination. So I guess it makes sense that the team has landed Kevin Costner, who built a career out of suspension of disbelief and playing fake baseball players, to help launch its new uniforms, team colors and logos.

Costner -- AKA Crash Davis, AKA Ray Kinsella, AKA Billy Chapel -- will be on hand with his band, Modern West, when the Rays kick off their two-day unveiling celebration at St. Petersburg's Straub Park on November 8.

It all makes perfect sense to Costner, who claimed a special kinship with Rays manager Joe Maddon.

"[Maddon] didn't make it into the bigs as a player, and ... I kind of dig that," Costner said. "That's kind of who Crash Davis was."

The extravaganza will also include a fashion show, with Maddon, Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff modelling the Rays' new look uniforms. And if that doesn't scream "something I need to see before I die," I just don't know what would.