The Exiled

Last season, GR softball won its division for the first time in team history. We received a trophy and some ugly T-shirts to commemorate the accomplishment. We also got bumped up from the lowest level of Parks & Rec play to the middle level. Last night was our first game on a new diamond against new competition.

There were a lot of question marks, including two lost players and two new ones. How would we fare against the higher level of competition? In the beginning it looked rough. Right away, the other squad looked a lot more athletic than us. How do I say this? They were mostly a bunch of totally cut white dudes who towered over us. Our cast of characters resembles an Asian version of the Fat Albert gang. Our opponents jumped out to an 11-1 lead after three innings.

After some mixing and matching of our outfield, tightening up of defense, heating up of the bats, and very aggressive base-running, we held them back, inched our way back, and finally grabbed the lead. Then we stretched the bottom of the sixth inning and piled on to earn a 21-13 win. No time for a seventh inning. Those guys might have hit further, but I think we hit smarter.

It was great start to the season. A bunch of us went to Carrow's afterward. Fittingly, it was all players from the original squad. We discussed specific plays, and also talked about how we're new to this particular league but not rookies in any way. Our team has been through a lot, and it was nice to see use that experience to gut out a dramatic, satisfying, and--most importantly--fun start to the season.

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On an unrelated note, The Exiled is opening in L.A. today. We're huge fans of director Johnnie To, and have interviewed him as well as star Anthony Wong in past issues of GR. Recently, we introduced the movie at the L.A. Film Festival and the issue that's on the stands now has an interview with another star, our friend Josie Ho. In other words, we stand behind this stylish crime flick 100 percent, and think you'll dig it--especially on the big screen. Like 3:10 to Yuma, it is at heart a re-imagined Western, but the reworking is probably more imaginative and artful than anything else out there.