"When I was a kid, I never had a chance to hang out with my dad much, because all it seemed like he did was work and sleep." "I tried working with him." "Come on, Chris, we got to pick up the pace." "We only got five minutes at this spot." "Here we go." "I tried sleeping with him." "But the one thing we loved doing together was watching baseball." "Oh, I'll get it." "Nothing could spoil family time like a visit from my Uncle Michael." "Big man!" "What's going on, Michael?" "Besides Mama being mad at me for eating all the Captain Crunch, nothing." "Who's up?" "Mets by one." "Mmm." "Hey, big man, you want to see the Dodgers and the Mets play on Saturday?" "You got Mets tickets?" "Where'd you get 'em?" "My man." "He used to work in the box office." "He got 'em from his girl." "Michael, I can't afford those tickets." "I'm not selling them." "We're family." "You can have them." "What's the catch?" "No catch." "My father would accept free tickets to a funeral." "Box seats, huh?" "Big man, can I borrow $40?" "Michael, if you needed $40 why didn't you just sell me the tickets for $40?" "That's against the law." "My uncle was a lazy bum, but he was honest." "What you need $40 for?" "I need it for a date." "I want to pay so I can make a good first impression." "Especially if your second impression is" ""can I borrow $20?"" "So who you going out with?" "Mm-mmm, I ain't saying." "I've been in a slump lately and I don't want to jinx this one." "Why don't you get a job?" "And move out of your mother's house." "So can we go, Dad?" "Yeah, Gooden's pitching." "All right." "Cool, y'all 'bout to see a good game." "Y'all 'bout to see Gooden and Strawberry." "A few years later, you'd have to go to prison to do that." "Capture:" "FRM@maoren Sync:" "FRM@seed0018" "When I was playing  on the game," "Vanessa was about to get played." "Girl, guess who asked me out?" "Who?" "Michael." "Mailman Michael?" "No." "Garbage man Michael?" "No." "Her man Michael?" "She went out with him last week." "Your brother Michael." "What?" "Vanessa, stop playing." "Girl, I'm serious." "He wants to take me to dinner and everything." "Everything means nothing but dinner." "Well, what would make him think that you would want go out with him?" "Because I said "yes."" "And you know I never turn down a free meal." "And I think he's kinda sweet." "Just like diabetes." "And besides, you never know where you might find love." "In the arms of a bum." "Mm!" "What do you mean, "Mm!"?" "I just don't think it's a good idea." "That's all." "Mm-mm." "It's just dinner." "You act like the man is moving in." "Keep an eye on your keys." "I'm just saying, every time you go on a bad date," "I end up with a bad perm." "Don't worry, your hair's going to be just fine." "After six months on the block," "Tasha had me confused." "She was a cute girl who didn't hate me." "So I'll see you guys at the theater." "Bye, Tasha." "Bye." "Hey, Tasha." "Hi, Chris." "So, what's going on?" "We're going to the movies Saturday." "You want to come?" "What are you gonna go see?" "What are you," "Siskel and Stupid?" "Just say you want to go." "Back to the Future." "Well, let me just get one thing clear." "You want me to go with you to the movies on Saturday?" "Yeah." "It'll be cool." "Yeah, it'll be real cool." "Like, cool is the word, too, so..." "Man, shut up before I build a time machine and come back to smack you upside the head." "So, I'll see you Saturday?" "Yep, you'll see me Saturday." "Okay." "If I don't have a heart attack by Friday." "Tonya loved Billy Ocean, so naturally, she joined the Billy Ocean fan club and sent off for an autographed picture." "But it wasn't the first fan club she joined." "There was the DeBarge fan club." "The Shalamar fan club." "Even the Terence Trent D'Arby fan club." "Too bad they were bought out by the Al B. Sure fan club" "Is that it?" "No." "Is that it?" "No." "Is that it?" "No." "I got the light bill, the gas bill, and the telephone bill." "There's nothing here from Billy Ocean." "Not unless his picture's on one of these bills." "But you mailed it almost a month ago." "A month ago?" "Baby, it's been barely four weeks." "Relax, you'll get your picture." "Hey, Mom, can I have a piece of gum?" "Sure." "Uh-oh." "No gum?" "Yeah, I got it-- here." "That look means "Damn!"" "Damn!" "See?" "My mother had lost more stuff in her purse than the Bermuda Triangle." "She lost little things." "There's my lipstick." "She lost big things." "There's that skillet." "She lost great big things." "There's that gallon of milk." "And things she didn't know how she lost." "There's my purse." "They might have found Biggie's killer if they looked inside my mother's purse." "What's that?" "Tonya's waiting on a picture from the Billy Ocean Fan Club, but I forgot to mail the letter." "Now I don't know what to tell her." "How about "I forgot to mail your letter to Billy Ocean"?" "Are you crazy?" "I can't just tell her I forgot." "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to get her a picture of Billy Ocean." "Monk was always on guard." "Is that your brother?" "Yeah." "Just checking." "I'll be back in 20 minutes." "Okay." "Hey, man, was that Tasha?" "Yeah, she just invited me to go see Back to the Future." "Oh, for real?" "That's cool." "Yeah, I didn't know she liked me that much." "No, I was talking about Back to the Future." "Oh." "So it's just you and her?" "No, some other people are going." "Oh, cool." "So you gonna sit next to her?" "I hope so." "So when you going?" "Uh, Saturday." "What Saturday?" "This Saturday." "How are you going to see" "Back To The Future with Tasha and we're supposed to be going to the game with Dad?" "Shoot, I forgot about that." "I thought about one girl so much when I was 16, I forgot I was 30." "Well, maybe Dad won't mind if I don't go to the game." "I think he's probably gonna be crushed." "I mean, plus he got those tickets for free." "It's a Saturday and he got a day off work." "I mean, who knows when that's gonna happen again." "This was gonna be one of the best days of his life." "Now it's ruined." "I'm glad some girl didn't ask me to go to the movies." "I'm glad I'm not you." "Oh, well." "See you later." "Where's a flux capacitor when you need one?" "Tuna on the top, sardines, then the cat food.oo" "For working people, broke people and old people." "So your daddy's got box seats to the Mets game, huh?" "And you're not going?" "I haven't decided yet." "We, what's to decide?" "Is she cute?" "It's Tasha." "Tasha!" "That was the code name to my first field exercise in Qatar." "Man, forget that game." "They play 180 games a year, every year." "That girl asked you out once." "Now don't expect her to do it twice." "Anyway..." "I couldn't imagine going to a baseball game with my father." "Why not?" "Because they didn't have baseball games in the Quang Ngai Province." "Was your dad in Vietnam?" "Nope." "Queens." "I don't know, he disappeared when I was two." "I haven't seen him since." "20 years later, Monk found his father on MySpace." "Profile name:" "Military Mike-tastic." "Look, you ain't gotta take my word for it." "I'm not." "But ask anybody, they'll tell you." "You can always hang out with your daddy." "Go to the movie." "Go to the game, man." "You know if my father wasn't in jail, that's what I'd do." "Yeah, go to the game, but whatever you do, don't sit behind home plate." "My father was killed by a line drive to the the medulla oblongata." "Tragic." "Go to the game." "My father never took me 'cause I was a test tube baby." "Want some peanuts?" "Why don't you and the girl go see a movie about the game that your father's going to." "Hurrah... sowah..." "I don't know, man." "That's a tough one." "Game-girl, girl-game." "Well... if you pick the girl, there's a good chance you're gonna hurt your dad's feelings, but.." "it is his job to love you unconditionally." "Now, if you pick the game, you might hurt Tasha's feelings... not to mention you'll miss Back To The Future, which is supposed to be one of the best movies out this year, but... it will be a pretty good game," "so I'd have to say girl." "No, game." "Girl." "Wait, no-- game!" "Girl!" "Game! Get your butt over here." "Rochelle?" "!" "What are you doing out here sneaking up on people?" "You could've caused me to have a heart attack." "Michael should've died years ago, but his heart was way too lazy to attack him." "What do you think you're doing?" "What?" "Why did you ask Vanessa to go out with you?" "Because she cute, she got a good job, she need a man," "Mama said I need a woman, plus, I hear she co-signs on loans." "Well, you need to ask somebody else out." "You don't see me going around asking your friends out." "What're you saying, I'm not good enough for your friend?" "No, Michael, I'm saying that if you go out with her and have a good time, she's going to expect you to call her back." "You ain't got no money, you ain't got no phone, and if she hasn't heard from you, she's gonna be distracted." "And if I end up with a bald patch in my head 'cause she left the perm in too long-- oh, you and me we gonna have problems!" "Well, I'm sorry, sis." "She already said yes." "I can't cancel right now." "What would I look like?" "Like a bald patch." "Don't you walk away from me!" "Don't you walk..." "I'm gonna get my woman." "Michael!" "Back at home," "I was about to call the game on a technicality." "Mm!" "The Dodgers e on a three-game run." "They're going to stomp the Mets." "This game is gonna be good." "I thought we wanted the Dodgers to lose." "Usually." "But the Dodgers are the only tm that weren't mean to Jackie Robinson." "You hire the only black guy playing, I'm on your side." "I feel the same way about midgets." "Baby, I haven't seen you this excited since you found that book of food stamps." "She should have seen him when he found a meter with time left on it!" "Look, we got great seats, free tickets," "I got the day off, and I get to hang with my boys." "If you threw in a nap, he would die and go to heaven." "If you threw in a nap, I'd die and go to heaven." "See?" "Tonya, you want some cornbread?" "No, I'm not really all that hungry." "Baby, you got to eat." "You don't want to die of starvation before your picture gets here." "Oh, okay." "Hey, Dad?" "Can we eat whatever we want at the game?" "Yeah." "As long as it costs less than $2.00." "I'm going to get two hot dogs, cotton candy, and peanuts..." "Chris, what you gonna eat?" "My words?" "Nothing." "Because I'm not going to the game." "What do you mean?" "Well, Tasha asked me if I wanted to go to the movies on Saturday, and I said "yes."" "My father never really showed his feelings,in but when he was hurt, he'd always say the same thing." "Cool." "Cool." "That's not cool, that's cold." "?" "giving it some thought," "Vanessa decided to give my mom a piece of her mind." "Rochelle." "Ah, hey, Vanessa, what's up?" "Well, you tell me-- why don't you think I'm good enough to go out with your brother?" "I never said that." "I tell you what, Miss High and Mighty, when you figure out what you are trying to say, you call me at home and then say it." "Until then, find somebody else to wax your mustache." "What about the soul patch?" "My mother went from making a snap judgment to looking for a snapshot." "Oh, Risky, Risky, Risky." "Oh, hey, Rochelle, what do you need-- a butter roll or bagel?" "Do you still have those celebrity autograph pictures?" "I might have a few." "You got Billy Ocean?" "What you want with a picture of Billy Ocean?" "It's for Tonya." "All right, Tonya." "All right, let's see here." "Okay, uh, Billie Jean King, Wild Bill Hickok, uh..." "Billy Joel..." "What do you do with these pictures anyway?" "Oh, I sell 'em to soul food restaurants." "Okay, Arctic Ocean, uh, Atlantic Ocean," "Pacific Ocean..." "Billy Ocean!" "Ah!" "Yes!" "Billy Ocean!" "Yes!" "Thank you." "Two dollars." "Okay, here you go." "All right." "You got a bagel?" "Oh, sure, sure." "Oat, uh, honey..." "Thanks." "Out of all the people I talked to the only one who didn't tell me what to do was the one who it mattered to most." "Hey, Dad." "Yeah?" "I'm going to work." "I'll be back in a little bit." "Okay." "Dad?" "Yeah?" "Can I go to the Mets game with you and Drew?" "What happened to your movie?" "Nothing." "I'd just rather go to the game." "Okay..." "Cool." "Cool." "For the first time, "cool" actually meant "cool."" "It's Mets against the Dodgers this Saturday, from Shea, on Mets Network..." "Ain't you supposed to be going to work?" "Yeah." "Letting my father down was hard, but bailing out on Tasha was going to be worse." "Hey, Chris." "Hey, Tasha." "Um, I've got some bad news." "What?" "I can't go to the movies with you on Saturday." "Why not?" "I've got to go to this baseball game with my dad." "That's okay." "Hey, Eric." "Want to go to the movies Saturday?" "Sure." "See you Saturday." "Okay." "If Tasha were here to do her voice-over, she would admit that she's heartbroken." "No, I wouldn't." "I wasn't heartbroken, I don't even remember this happening." "So I'll see you later?" "Um, yeah." "Okay." "While Tasha silently suffered in Brooklyn..." "I wasn't suffering then and I'm not suffering now-- I don't care." "Be quiet.The next day, outside of Shea Stadium..." "Man, I can't wait." "Hey, Dad, during the seventh-inning stretch, can we get some caramel corn?" "Yeah, but let's not eat so much we get sick" " Come on." "I would've enjoyed Back to the Future with Tasha, but it wasn't better than a day in the present with my father." "Here you go." "Hold on-- you can't use these." "Why not?" "Why not?" "What do you think, I can't read?" "What are you talking about?" "These are from last year's game." "Let me see those." "April, 1984?" "Otherwise known as last year." "I'm going to kill your uncle." "Do you mind?" "Uh, where's the ticket booth?" "Maybe we can buy some bleacher seats." "I don't think so." "The game's sold out." "Did I ask you that?" "Fine, go to the ticket booth." "They're going to tell you the same thing." "Down and to the left." "Let me know how that works out for you." "So, did they have anything?" "Nope." "Bleachers?" "Sold out." "Nosebleeds?" "All full." "I'm sorry, Chris." "It's okay, Dad." "Too bad you didn't get to see Back to the Future." "You probably could have sat right next to Tasha." "I know." "And afterwards, you could have gone to the park, got some ice cream..." "Yeah." "Probably chocolate, 'cause I know you like chocolate." "Yeah, I know." "It would've been one of the best days of your life, and now it's ruined." "I'm sure glad I didn't miss the movie to see this game." "Okay!" "Okay!" "You know what?" "I told you guys we were going to see this game and we're going to see this game." "Come on." "Tonya!" "I have a big envelope for you!" "Is it my picture?" "Oh, I don't know, but..." "smells Caribbean to me!" "Maybe he wrote your name." "He probably said something special!" "Ma, this is not Billy Ocean." "This is Billy Dee Williams." "What?" "Let's see that." "Damn it, Risky." "Baby, I'm sorry." "Why?" "What happened?" "Well, you gave me your letter for Billy Ocean, and I lost it in my purse, and I never mailed it." "So I'm not getting my Billy Ocean picture." "No, I'm sorry, baby." "Do you still have the letter?" "Yeah, why?" "Can I have it?" "Oh... here." "Thanks." "W-wait, wait, wait where you going?" "I'm going to go mail this letter so I can get my picture of Billy Ocean." "My mother always did the best for us that she could, even if it didn't make a bit of sense." "Me and Drew had never been inside Earl's bar." "It was a place where men got together to act like men." "Hitter's got a full count." "That don't mean nothing." "I'll tell you what it means." "It's going to be tragic." "Tragic?" "Want to hear about something tragic?" "You ever been lost in the Peruvian Jungle with a mine stuck to your butt?" "Man, will you be quiet and watch the game?" "When I was a kid," "I never got to hang out with my dad that much." "But not going to a baseball game turned out to be one of the best days ever." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "You need anything?" "Can I have a beer?" "No." "Can I have a beer?" "No." "My mother lost friends over money, and over men, but she wasn't about to let anybody get in the way of a good perm." "Hey, girl." "Hey." "I'm sorry." "I shouldn't tell you who you can and can't go out with." "I know you was just looking out for me." "So how was it?" "Awful." "I never been with a man that cheap in my life." "He's not cheap, he's broke." "Trust me, there's a big difference." "Well, then why did you let me go out with him?" "I tried to talk you out of it!" "No, you didn't." "You said, "I don't think this is such a good idea."" "Well, what was I supposed to say?" "You supposed to say, "He broke, don't go out with him."" "And that would make a difference?" "Not to Britney Spears." "Yeah, well, when I'm doing something stupid, you're supposed to stop me." "Don't blame me, heifer, you're a grown woman." "Believe it or not, that's how they made up." "You still got me on the books for Tuesday?" "Does Diana Ross wear a wig?" "Oh, that game was great." "Yeah, thanks, Dad." "Yeah." "Whoa, cool." "Yeah, if you want a car that looks like a belt buckle." "Kill Moves, where'd you get this car?" "I went to see Back to the Future and they were giving them away." "That explains the car." "What about the white lady?"