WizardOfAz

'Bull Durham' Event Canceled on Robbins War Stance

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Baseball's Hall of Fame has canceled its tribute for the 15th anniversary of the film "Bull Durham" because of the anti-war stance of the movie's stars, Tim Robbins and his longtime partner, Susan Sarandon.

Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan, canceled an April 26-27 celebration of the film, saying Robbins and Sarandon endangered U.S. troops in Iraq by flashing peace signs to cameras at the Academy Awards ceremony last month and by speaking against the conflict.

Robbins told Reuters in an interview that he was stunned by the decision and charged that Petroskey was playing politics by trying to turn baseball into "a Republican sport."

A spokesman for Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said professional baseball had nothing to do with the Hall of Fame event and did not make "political statements."

The actor and Sarandon were to participate in a discussion of baseball and the film with writer-director Ron Shelton and actor Robert Wuhl, who also played in the film, at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.


"WE STAND BEHIND OUR PRESIDENT"

But on Wednesday, Petroskey told Robbins in a letter that he had canceled the event because "as an institution, we stand behind our President and our troops in this conflict."

"We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important -- and sensitive -- time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position, which ultimately could put our troops in more danger," Petroskey wrote.

At the Academy Awards, the couple flashed peace signs as they walked the red carpet to the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Both Robbins and Sarandon are vocal opponents of the war.

In a letter to Petroskey, Robbins said he was dismayed. "As an American who believes that vigorous debate is necessary for the survival of a democracy I reject your suggestion that one must be silent in times of war.

"I wish you had ... saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan administrations. You are using what power you have to infringe upon my rights to free speech..."

Robbins, 44, said Petroskey apparently faxed his letter to the media at the same time he mailed it to Robbins "to make it a story, the message of which is, if you oppose this administration, you can be punished."

Robbins and Sarandon were banned from the Academy Awards in 1993 after they used their appearances as presenters to call attention to a group of Haitians AIDS sufferers interned in Guantanamo Bay.

"We were banned ... until we were nominated and then they had to invite us," Robbins said. "I guess I'll have to become a pretty good baseball player pretty quickly to get back in the Hall of Fame."

He also found disturbing the cancellation last month of a United Way event featuring Sarandon, as well as the backlash against the country western group the Dixie Chicks (news - web sites) for speaking against the war and Bush.

Shelton, the film's director, said: "I can't believe that this country has come to the point where people of disparate political opinions can't gather together to celebrate something we can all agree on -- baseball and films."

Actor Kevin Costner, a Republican who played a lead role in "Bull Durham, said in a statement: "I think Tim and Susan's courage is the type of courage that makes our democracy work. Pulling back this 'invite' is against the whole principle about what we fight for and profess to be about."

Dback Jon

This is the type of knee-jerk reactionism that makes me sick.
Are we not Americans, who have FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

This guy is no better than Saddam Hussein. He would like to repress free speech and the exchange of ideas.

This quote is awful:
"Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan, canceled an April 26-27 celebration of the film, saying Robbins and Sarandon endangered U.S. troops in Iraq by flashing peace signs to cameras at the Academy Awards ceremony last month and by speaking against the conflict."

Flashing Peace Signs endangered U.S. Troops? What a Maroon and a Fascist.

__________________



R.I.P Tim Minnick

The KING of Cards

AZCB34

Funny, I thought the same thing. I almost fell off my chair laughing on that line. Sounds less like a democracy and more like a dictatorship developing. Can an outright police state be far behind?

Damn. I flashed a peace sign at my wife as she was pulling out of the driveway. Did I endanger her?

__________________
Dream like you'll live forever, live like you will die today. -James Dean

SweetD

Not really but you should have used both fingers not just one.

Mike Olbinski

Hey, if they have the freedom to say what they want, I guess he has the freedom to do what he wants...

Mike

__________________
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Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/mikeolbinski

WizardOfAz

Yeah, but it was a damn good movie. Now nobody will get to enjoy the event.

Brian in Mesa

That quote is ridiculous. I doubt flashing the peace sign has ever endangered someone, especially troops which are thousands of miles from where the peace sign was flashed.

It's kind of funny because everyone was watching Susan Sarandon on Oscar night figuring she would be the one to make a scene if anyone did...and in the end it turned out to be Michael Moore who made a fool out of himself.

__________________
HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE

WizardOfAz

Well, it seems that unlike Dale Petroskey, we are able to tell the difference between Tim Robbins and the parts he plays.

I for one enjoy ol' Nuke....enjoy:

http://www.moviesounds.com/bdurham.html

Mike Olbinski

DVD players are cool I've heard....

sorry, sarcasm...

Mike

__________________
Photography: http://www.mikeolbinski.com
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/mikeolbinski

WizardOfAz

Brian in Mesa

__________________
HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE

WizardOfAz

Writer Cancels Over Cooperstown 'Bull Durham' Snub

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sportswriter Roger Kahn has canceled an appearance at baseball's Hall of Fame after the museum scrubbed a 15th anniversary tribute to the film "Bull Durham" because of the anti-war stance of its stars.

Kahn sent a letter to Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey on Thursday to protest the Cooperstown, New York, museum's snub of Tim Robbins and his longtime partner, Susan Sarandon.

"By canceling the Hall of Fame anniversary celebration of "Bull Durham" for political reasons, you are, far from supporting our troops, defying the noblest of the American spirit," wrote Kahn, who was to speak there in August about his new book.

"You are choking freedom of dissent. How ironic. In theory, at least, we have been fighting this war to give Iraqis freedom of dissent. But here you, through the great institution you head, have moved to rob Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and Ron Shelton of that very freedom."

Petroskey, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan, had told Robbins in a letter that he canceled the April 26-27 event because "as an institution, we stand behind our president and our troops in this conflict."

Kahn's 17th book, "October Men," is about the 1978 New York Yankees. He is best known for "The Boys of Summer," about the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s. That 1972 book has sold about 3 million copies.

WizardOfAz

Brian

Are we not Americans, who have FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

I guess sometimes there are repurcussions (sp?) for what you say though. I can't just walk into my bosses office and say "Hey, I think you're an a**hole without expecting some kind of backlash.

Even as a soldier that quote about "endangering soldier's lives" was ridiculous. Bullets kill, peace signs don't.

To throw in my two cents worth, the actions of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon make me sick. I wish they would stick to acting.

But I agree with their right to say it.

WizardOfAz

Thursday, April 17, 2003

One simple question: Why?

In his nearly four years as president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Dale Petroskey has been an excellent ambassador for the game of baseball, and has brought a contagious enthusiasm for the sport to the museum.

But his letter to Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon last week, canceling their appearance at a celebration for the movie "Bull Durham" because of their political views was just plain dumb.

And now, the old axiom that any publicity is good publicity is going to be put to the ultimate test for Petroskey and the Hall of Fame.

Many of the writers of letters to the editor to this paper have called for Petroskey's resignation, while many others say they have canceled plans to travel to Cooperstown or the Hall of Fame this summer.

Petroskey's letter touched such a national nerve that the museum has received over 22,000 e-mails on the subject.

This, understandably, has upset residents of Cooperstown, especially business people who rely on the summer tourist season, and has everyone wondering one simple question: Why?

Petroskey was concerned Robbins and his longtime companion Sarandon, both very outspoken anti-war protesters, would use the Hall of Fame event as an excuse to speak out on the war in Iraq.

"We believe your very public criticism of George Bush at this important and sensitive time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position," Petroskey's letter read in part.

The real absurdity is the April 26-27 celebration was not likely to draw any major media outlets and it's very likely the event would have come and gone with very little notice had Petroskey not gotten involved.

Why he didn't just pick up the phone and call Robbins and Sarandon and tell them he'd like to keep the celebration about baseball only is anyone's guess.

"It's so ludicrous because we were all looking forward to a weekend of not talking about baseball," Robbins told ESPN's SportsCenter last Friday.

"We weren't even scheduled to speak," Sarandon told the Associated Press.

So what was Petroskey trying to accomplish?

"I was trying to keep politics out of the Hall of Fame," he said early this week.

But what a can or worms he has opened, and what a bad precedent he has set.

What if 2003 inductees Gary Carter or Eddie Murray or any future inductee takes a stance the Hall of Fame or Petroskey don't agree with. Would he bar them from election?

Robbins was an invited guest to the Hall of Fame, and Petroskey had every right to limit the scope of the event at the Hall of Fame. But to convict them for earlier statements and not talk to them first is indefensible.



http://www.coopercrier.com/opinion/e...04/ed0417.html