It Ain’t Over (2022)

It-Ain't-Over-(2022)
It Ain’t Over (2022)

We all know celebrities own extravagant homes which are extremely lavish, it is really common for celebrities to have homes worth millions. A friend living in Montclair decided to take me for a drive around the hill in New Jersey because it is where Stephen Colbert’s mansion is located. While we were on the road, we came across a fork and my friend pointed towards Yogi Berra’s house which was to the left. He made a whole explanation as to why we were taking him around and I found it hilarious how he used the traveling saying of Yogi as his reasoning: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” 

Considering Yogi uses it on numerous occasions, a lot of people criticize his sayings and term them as yogiism and word scramble or at their best ungrammatical nonsense, However, I beg to differ, we must consider the critic’s adage that amends Yogi Berra’s admirers and followers. For instance “It was déjà vu all over again” is a well-known quote which is quite amusing and explains itself. In this regard, one of the other sayings that Yogi uses with great enthusiasm is “It ain’t over till it’s over” and recently a journalist even released a documentary named “It ain’t over.”

The title was said to have a dual meaning, much like the rate at which Yogi being funny unfolds over time. Yogi Berra is a well-known American baseball player and coach. He achieved success for the better part of his life in that area. But since he is most famous for the Yogi-isms, the Yogi Bear character alongside the clownish and goofy persona created by the newspapers. The attitude was frequently patronizing, stemming from comments about his distortion of the baseball form-short, stocky, and low to the ground. He was rather regarded in the fashion of a freak or a brand of a team, especially due to his amiable love for advertisements and dumb advertisements. Yet, on a baseball field, he was something else, a tremendous presence at the plate, and even more so as a catcher.

His enlistment in the US Army fought World War II before being drafted, while still being a child of Italian immigrants. He took part in the invasion of Normandy among other advances that followed for the US military. The title of the film could be used to describe Yogi who in regards to his baseball was an underachieving master welder.

“It Ain’t Over” begins with an inciting event. During the 2015 All-Star Game Koufax, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, and Willie Mays, often dubbed as the “four greatest living players”, came onto the field receiving a loud applause from fans. That was very moving however I remember my cousin exclaiming “Where the hell is Yogi?”, Indeed. Many people did so and it is one of the things “It Ain’t Over” says reiteratively. It is unfair for Yogi to be even marginalized by his bulging ‘brand’, a well-liked, standard figure of the game who was always gabbing, playing the joker in commercials and now joins his ‘brand’ that overshadowed his work.

Just take a glance at his sparkling statistics. As a player, he earned 10 World Series championships. He took home MVP honors on 3 occasions. In the year of 1956, during the World Series, Berra was behind the plate calling shots and pitcher Don Larsen threw a no-hitter for out. I admire the perspective that of all the pitches Larsen made that day, not once did he wave off Berra’s calls. The achievement partially belongs to Berra, though, as well as to Larsen. It is the only no-hitter in the history of the World Series. The clip is, to be honest, exciting no matter how many times you view it Berra, with the crowd deafening the stadium jumps into Larsen’s arms, like a child, Larsen’s arms, on wind the crowd together. The World Series victory and the manager’s and coach’s title came in droves. If anything, he possesses high-level achievements that are more impressive than the four current players of the most all-time (and they are legends, and quite rightly). So what is this superiority complex for.

“It Ain’t Over” is a family affair: his sons are interviewed, and his grandchildren (the main character for me is his granddaughter, in whose narration we are led through the career). Because of this, the documentary feels at once urgent and emotional.

The Berra family recollects their narrative with nostalgia and endearment, amends, tears or laughter-it’s a hoary fusion, a folklore, a history of their clan. 

Derek Jeter, Roger Angell, as well as other writers, the athletes’ colleagues, friends and fans today make for an awesome line-up of interviewees. There is an astonishing sound bite from a former MLB player, Nick Swisher: “12 strikeouts? I don’t even recall ever achieving that when playing whiffle ball!” The ex-player and the coach Joe Madden is more blunt with words “Just look at the old videos, man.” Roger Angell has said ‘He ruined the concept of the strike zone.’ 

Others too, write extensively about the fact that he readily accepted the blacks being allowed into the major leagues which was highly unpopular at the time. After all, Jackie Robinson didn’t always remember the first words that Yogi Berra spoke to him: “Thank you for your service to the country, and welcome to the professional game.” There is more of it, for instance, Berra’s participation that started later in his life in a Non-profit organization called Athlete Ally that advocates for sports inclusiveness against for LGBTQ athletes and fans.

“It Ain’t Over” fulfills its role perfectly. I’ll be the first to admit I get thrilled when baseball players give in-depth talks on their craft, show excitement in sharing ideas, and show respect for fellow professionals and legends. There is a stretch, a legacy from history. The movie also gets into the subject of Yogi-isms, how they are made, and features life coaches and linguists for the discussion. This is an extraneous digression. You cannot be helped by any literary professor if you need such an obvious thing as the saying of Berra: “If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him” properly explained to you.

In Moneyball, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the beleaguered Oakland A’s general manager, says wryly, “It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball.” I suppose some people do find it straightforward. But for you who find it difficult, people like Yogi Berra are important. The past is significant. The past, I mean, the real one. Not the Yogi Berra brand, not the image of Berra as a popular personality, but who he was in the baseball world. Let’s put it this way.

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