The Losing Edge
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| “The Losing Edge” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 Kyle's cousin Kyle at the bat. |
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| Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 130 |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Original airdate | April 6, 2005 |
| Season 9 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 9 March 9, 2005 – December 7, 2005 |
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| ← Season 8 | Season 10 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"The Losing Edge" is episode 905 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired April 6, 2005.
[edit] Plot
The boys of South Park are involved in a Little League baseball team, despite the fact that they all hate the sport; they play because of the enthusiasm of their parents. When they win their final game they are initially elated, thinking the season is over, but then discover to their horror that they have to continue playing in the state championships. They decide to lose their next game, and thereby get out of the running for the championship, but the teams they oppose have exactly the same idea. They compete with Fort Collins, Greeley, and Pueblo (shown as being full of Mexicans). While trying desperately to lose, they manage again and again to beat the other team, whose efforts at throwing the game are more effective.
Meanwhile, Stan's father, Randy, has taken up the hobby of being a "trash talking dad," being generally obnoxious at every game so as to get into fights with other, equally obnoxious fathers. While training to be the best fighter he can be, he becomes terrified when he meets the Denver team's "Bat Dad," who wears a purple Batman cowl and cape, is much bigger than him, and behaves like an over-the-top professional wrestler. He decides not to attend his son's game, as Stan and the others play the Denver game, which, if they win, will force them to waste the whole summer in the national circuit. The team drafts Kyle's stereotypically Jewish cousin, Kyle Schwartz (distinguished in a previous episode as "Kyle One") to join their team, knowing he is terrible at any sport. Even this strategy fails to work as the pitcher hits Kyle's bat with the ball, resulting in a ground ball and subsequent home run after Kyle rounds the bases with no effort from Denver to throw him out. The kids realize that while they were practicing being bad, the other team got "really good at sucking" - they can even "bat themselves out," purposely hitting pitches directly into South Park fielders' gloves. Just as it seems the South Park team is sure to win, Stan's dad shows up and begins harassing Bat Dad. The two get into a huge brawl that spills onto the field, and the umpires declare that if either man continues to fight their team will be disqualified. With the encouragement of his son and his team (though he doesn't really know why) and other illusionary people in his head (including Mickey Goldmill from Rocky), Randy gets up and keeps fighting, and the South Park team is disqualified, leaving victorious Denver to go to the national circuit. Stan tells his father, "You're the greatest," as he is led away in handcuffs by the police in his underwear. After hearing that, Randy jumps for joy as the song "You're the Best" plays.
[edit] Kenny's face
Kenny, whose jersey number is 13, is shown with his uncovered face for one of the few times in the show's history.
[edit] Pop culture references
- The song Randy trains to is "You're the Best" by Joe Esposito, which is the tournament montage song used in The Karate Kid. Randy can be heard singing the chorus of "I'm [You're] the best, around" when he is fighting Bat Dad. The song is at a much faster tempo in the episode, however.
- There are numerous references to the 1976 film, Rocky and its sequels including;
- Randy telling his wife that he is afraid is very similar to the scene in Rocky III where Rocky tells Adrian his fear of facing Clubber, along with a similar scene in Rocky about the fight with Apollo. Also the preceding shot is an exact reproduction of the scene in the original film after he visits the ring before his fight with Apollo.
- Bat Dad is a pastiche of Batman, Thunderlips, Big Van Vader, & Apollo Creed (two of the characters are from the Rocky movies). Bat Dad calls himself "the ultimate little league trash talking father," which is a parody of Thunderlips, who called himself "the ultimate male." Bat Dad then says "I want you Marsh! I want you!" Apollo Creed said the same thing to his opponents. Bat Dad also states that he "fears no man & feels no pain" this is one of Vader's favorite quote. He is also similar to Vader in the fact that he's a masked fat man from Denver, Colorado and he throws punches like the wrestler.
- When Randy beats Bat Dad, the original score from the Rocky movies is used.
- Randy is wearing a sweatsuit identical to the one Rocky wears in Rocky, Rocky II and Rocky Balboa.
- Randy wakes up early wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants. He cracks open some eggs and pours them into a glass as if to drink them like Rocky Balboa did, but then he pours them in a frying pan to scramble them and drinks a beer instead. (John Candy did this once in a Rocky parody Second City Television sketch.)
- The last scene when Randy gets knocked down by Bat Dad, it is exactly the same as in Rocky V, even the ghost of Mickey appears and says "Get up Rock", except instead of saying afterward "Get up you son of a bitch, cause Mickey loves ya", Mick just says "Get up, ya bum!", after Randy gets back up he says the same line Rocky said in Rocky V after standing up to Tommy Gunn with 'Bat Dad' replacing 'Tommy' "Hey Bat Dad... I didn't hear no bell."
| Preceded by “Best Friends Forever” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “The Death of Eric Cartman” |
