I have recently started watching the show Eastbound and Down with Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a former ace pitcher in the Major Leagues. He loses his mojo and is dropped so low he has to teach gym at his middle school with a few people from his past.
The show has shown some propensity to be funny, but most of the humor is just centered around Kenny Powers being a huge ass to everyone he encounters, because he used to be badass but hasn't quite come to the realization that his career is over.
Overall, I am liking the show, but my nitpicky brain is very, very flustered at one glaring weakness.
It is PAINFULLY obvious that McBride (the actor) has no idea how to throw a baseball. When you see him "pitch", it looks like he has trouble throwing a baseball 50 miles per hour, yet he constantly refers to his "98 mph" fastball that he used to be able to throw.
Sure, I know that the show is showing that he no longer has the ability, but his mechanics are so awful. My daughter has better mechanics than he does, and she is 8.
In the episode I watched last night, Powers gets pissed at a local high-school pitcher who throws a no-hitter, referring to him as the competition. It shows this high school pitcher in a game, and, surprise! He can't pitch either. It shows a high school kid throwing what was probably a 45 mph pitch....and I am supposed to believe he threw a no-hitter? Riiight.
I see this quite a bit in sports movies. Very rarely do they get it right, but when they do, it is good. Miracle was a great movie for sports mechanics. The Rookie was not (the kid playing Dennis Quaid as a boy threw better than Quaid did, and he was doing it opposite handed....look it up!). The Blind Side was ok, but you can read my previous post on that one.
I know that acting is a skill just as much as throwing a baseball or hitting a slapshot, but it kills me to see a show where it isn't a focal point. Give McBride a few weeks of pitching lessons and he can correct that, no problem. But it is obvious to me that they don't care about stuff like that...like it would have been real hard to find an actor who looks like he is in high school that can throw a real pitch.
Call me...I would be glad to be an advisor!
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