Meathead.. behind the scenes

As an actor, Rob Reiner

first came to national prominence as Michael "Meathead" Stivic, the son-in law of Archie Bunker on the once in a lifetime politically incorrect classic TV show All in the Family. The character's nickname became closely associated with him, even after he had left the role and went on to build a high-profile career as a director. Reiner has stated,

"I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize". I took a stab at becoming softball's version of MeatHead
 

when I was asked to create a Professional Softball Umpire Website . From a site design standpoint I had my CitySoftball I.T. department to properly guide me

CitySoftball Management

and on the pictures side I had talented photographer "Q" http://www.qbaseball.com/

to take great shots. Next I needed a softball environment and that's where my main problems were b/c:

1. It was February and it was freaking freezing. No games were going on
2. I needed Actors and had no Money to spend.

I got lucky as experienced softball players/friends Christian, Cano, and Bandanna Man agreed to wake up early, work for food, and help me out.


Now that I had my Motley Crew in place and drove them all to Brooklyn to get down to work.

As a Meathead director


I wanted to created professional umpiring environment so I directed the following situations:

Behind the Scenes : Manager-Officials Pre-Game Meeting Shot
 

As both a player and umpire I know this a key time in a game where an official establishes his professionalism and control. Good Idea, but it didn't make the final cut b/c we actually got better pictures. Now I understand when actors say "it got left on the cutting room floor".


Behind the Scene : Actual Calls
My photographer, players, and officials took incredible pictures considering the circumstances but one criticism of myself is that I made it a point to not to micro-manage and I was too hands off. For example, these two shots

 
could have been so much better if I was on top of things. The batter was standing awkwardly in both shots and he's not a lefty. As for the umpire, he was too close in the first shot.  SB Meathead has to be more involved and attentive next time. Oh well, live and learn


Behind the Scenes : New Official Training
I was both an actor and a director

 in these shots. The pictures looked great, but it was tough to explain to everyone what I wanted while actually play the role of a Blue  This was multi-tasking at its best and exhausting, as it really made me appreciate actor-directors.

Behind the Scene : Videos
As part of the site my creative juices created three types of videos
Video 1 - Personal Statements

Video 2 - Case Study on how an umpire should professionally handle an argument These of course led to bloopers like me forgetting to argue
and moving variables 
and rookie director mistakes

 Video 3 - How to properly call an illegal pitch. Good idea, but again didn't make the cut


At the end of the day

we had a good time and delivered a quality product to the client. Meathead couldn't have done it without his friends and being the professional that he is "Q" http://www.qbaseball.com/ offered to go back during the season to take live shots. Meathead might get a second chance after all till then I'm hungry, I guess being called Meathead does that to you.