What's the Buzz?

http://youtu.be/iywUZHAepmo (Check this link on Youtube. I can't get it to post correctly in the story. It's part 6 of 7 sections from the movie Major League 3.)

When my oldest son was about 3, people kept telling us that he should be in commercials and we should get an agent. So we got him an agent. Why not? Not much happened for a couple of months, then we got a call one night that we could be paid extras in a movie if we could get to South Carolina by the next morning. (We lived in NC at the time.) Since I only had the two boys at the time, the youngest being 1&1/2, it was relatively easy to just go. My parents were in town just then and went along with us. All five of us were extras in the movie Major League 3 - Back to the Minors. Woo hoo!

The team for which we were supposed to be rooting was called the Buzz. Too bad our agent hadn't told us that. We were filming around Halloween time and I happened to have bee costumes sitting out at home that fit both of my boys. I've always wondered how much screen time the boys would've gotten if we'd shown up with two adorable little bee boys in full costume. Certainly at least as much as the bare-bellied Hog rooters and the three men in tutus, I would think.

We filmed at a ballpark for several days, shooting most footage inside the park and a bit out in the parking lot. I especially enjoyed the times when Ted McGinley was there. His character in the movie was not so likeable, but the actor was quite a handsome guy. Now we can watch the scene in the parking lot where he steps off the team bus and the bee mascot drives past on a motorcycle and we know we were right there, just outside of the frame that made it to the screen. (On a video clip I found on Youtube, that part is at 2:48.)

A few minutes later, at 7:04-7:08, I found a clear shot of the boys and me. When you see the Budweiser sign and hear people chanting, "Hog, Hog, Hog," make sure not to blink or you might miss us! While most people are surely focused on the grown men wearing hog noses, no shirts, and pig-ear headbands, I tend to look just a couple of spaces over to the right of the screen. There we are - me wearing a white shirt with my hair back in a french braid, nearly-bald Griffin in cute denim overalls on my lap, and sweet John-Michael wearing a royal blue ballcap and standing near my right knee. John-Michael spent a good part of that scene being blocked by an older lady on the row in front of us. Why didn't I think to have him stand up on the bleacher next to me? Honestly, it probably had something to do with the fact that we were all so cold. We were supposed to look like we were at a summertime ball game, but it was actually late fall and the air was quite chilly. Between shots, I attempted to keep the kids warm by holding them as close to me as I could. I imagine they would've been much warmer if they'd been wearing those bee costumes. Way to go, agent lady.