Our Intern Saw Moneyball

Somehow, my intern received a pass to an early screening of Moneyball. Meanwhile, I'll watch it this weekend with the real movie-going public. I am a man of the people, after all. Also, I couldn't get a pass because nobody seems to know or care who I am. I will be demanding retribution in the future, jerks.

Anyway, this isn't about my sense of self-entitlement. I'll touch on that again during my review. Our intern, Filosofer, shared some quick thoughts about Moneyball and really enjoyed it. I'll have a much more detailed review after I see it. Fair warning, I was pessimistic before Keith Law dismantled it.

Without further ado, here are Filosofer's thoughts on the film based on the book written by Billy Beane about how he saved Oakland from certain doom at the hands of space robots using only math...


When Moneyball hits theaters Sept. 23, you might want to check it out.

If you’re a fan of sabermetrics (and, since you’re reading this blog…), how can you not love a movie about a book which focused on sabermetrics?

But the film doesn’t alienate non-sabermetricians. The statistics used in the game are actually fairly minimal. The ideas are there, but it’s essentially watered down to ‘walks are good.’ There’s a decent balance, though.

There was surprisingly little baseball shown in the film, but a lot of action within the front office that kept it interesting.

It would have been nice to keep a tally of how many chairs were harmed in the making of this film, though.

For as tense as some of the scenes can get, there were always comedic elements thrown in, and there was plenty of laughter throughout the two hours.

Fans of Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night will almost certainly enjoy Moneyball, even though it’s not just Sorkin’s screenplay. There are definitely some similarities between the two, but the dialogue is noticeably different.

Sports Night’s dialogue was typically quick, witty and cyclical. Moneyball’s tends to be more direct. Although the first time Beane tries to get his scouts on board with sabermetrics is very Sports Night-esque.

Also, isn’t it ironic that Steven Soderbergh got fired for wanting to use unorthodox methods of filming for a movie about using unorthodox methods?

Now I just need to figure out who I want to dress up as for my opening night viewing.

Thanks, bud. Man, how before its time was Sport's Night? Loved that show. Stay tuned for more Moneyball madness.

Our Intern Goes To A Nashville Sounds Game

Through the magic power of Twitter, we somehow acquired the services of our very own intern. We even pay him in potato chips. Filosofer will occasionally stop by with a post and you can follow him at @Filosomesa. The debut features a trip to a Triple A game. And I agree with the experience, well, except for the country music.

Since this is my first official post, I figured I'd give everybody a better idea of who I am. Then I realized that I'm not all that interesting a person and you guys would much rather hear about baseball than me. So I'll give you a recap of the first minor league game I attended instead.

It was a Nashville Sounds game. Now I know a lot of people don't like minor league stuff because it's usually more gimmicky, but a giant guitar shaped scoreboard is pretty damn cool. Their playing of country music was pretty awesome too. Now, I'm mostly into rock of various varieties, but there's a fair amount of country in my library as well. If you don't like country music, well... What the hell would you be doing in Nashville anyway?

Anyway, if you haven't been to a minor league baseball game yet, you need to go. I paid $12 for my ticket. Do you want to know where I sat? Front row, right behind the screen. And that's because that's where I chose. For $12, I could have chosen pretty much ANY seat in the stadium.

If I'm going to complain about anything at the game, it would be the bugs. I have a slight (read: huge) fear of bugs, and they were EVERYWHERE. On the other hand, this was Nashville, so if I have a slight (huge) fear of bugs, what the hell am I doing in Nashville anyway?

Now, I'm a subscriber to Triple A being a fairly dull league player-wise. It seems to me that those are either the prospects who were close but not good enough, or were good enough but are washed up now. So if you want big or soon-to-be big name players, Triple A isn't for you. I, on the other hand, could care less. Let's face it, one of my major hobbies is simulating baseball games through a variety of media. If there's baseball, I'm excited.

To speed this up, the Sounds won. Would I have cared if they lost? Maybe. Like I said, I'll watch anything, so I try not to cheer for one team too much.

Anyway, in the future I'll make some real posts. Until then, well, do whatever it is you do.