moneyball

Confession: I almost never go to movies. My husband and I just don’t have the money to spend twenty-five bucks on someone flashing their glaringly bright cell phone screen at us while some baby who’s way too young to be viewing Die Hard 17: Effing Die Already cries from the back row. This year, however, I made it to the theater quite a few times, for which I was very proud of myself.

Now, did I see anything remotely resembling a cinematic masterpiece? No, I saw things like Monte Carlo starring The Wizardess of Bieber Place, Blair Waldorf, and a woman who should’ve sealed herself in a box after Melrose Place got canceled so she could successfully preserve the one time in her life she didn’t suck at her craft. But still! There were probably some good movies out there this year, right? So tell us, in response to the Question of the Day: What Was Your Favorite Movie of 2011? Continue reading →

In baseball, there are the teams that can afford to pay any price for talent and then there are the teams not called “Yankees.” Michael Lewis spent part of the 2002 MLB season with the Oakland Athletics to see this practice in action. Lewis used the material from the time he spent with the team to write Moneyball. In 2011, a film based on the book was released.

Instead of looking for one player with a dream stat lines, Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane looks for players that in the aggregate would have the same stat line as a team that a superior team would. It’s a great way to save money, or just stay within budget. Despite having a payroll of $41 million, which was about one-third of the Yankees payroll, the A’s were playoff contenders Continue reading →

QOTD: Let’s All Go to the Movies 2011

Moneyballin’