Moneyball Might not be Money for A’s Fans
I am writing this while being torn on whether to see the new A’s movie based on the A’s GM Billy Beane. Recently I heard during an interview that the ending of the movie has been Hollywooded up. That the movie is based upon the book but does not exactly follow the story 100%. For example Jonah Hill doesn’t actually play Paul DePodesta but plays a character based on him and several other people. Something like that I am OK with. However the idea that the ending of the movie being Hollywooded up might be too much for this A’s fans to handle. I lived what actually happened during those playoff runs with Billy Beane at the helm and let me tell you there were lots of good times and lots of bad times.
The Oakland A’s made the playoffs several seasons in a row but came up short every year. So even though I believe this movie is a story about one A’s season it actually is a compilation of several A’s season. Bottom line is the A’s blew it every season in the playoffs. Will that be represented? Will I have to relieve those failures in a movie theater or will Hollywood skip all that nonsense and just show the magical run to the playoffs those A’s teams had? Either way I don’t know if I will appreciate the outcome from a painful remembrance point of view or a movie goer who is upset because they changed the ending to make things more Hollywood.
I am also torn on how I want this movie to represent Billy Beane. While Beane does deserve credit for forever changing baseball he also has turned out to be a bit of a failure with the Oakland A’s. His system has never put the A’s into a World Series. Once they made the ALDS but never won a game. All those players Moneyball talks about never actually helped out the A’s. Maybe a bit here and there but Nick Swisher was not the savior of the Oakland A’s. Although his trade did land the A’s some nifty pieces. My point is while Beane deserves credit for some very positive things he also deserves a lot of the credit for the failures. In all honesty I don’t think Billy Beane’s legacy isn’t done yet. I think he still can turn the A’s or some other team if he ever chooses to leave and go to greener (more money to spend) pastures. Who really knows what Beane could have accomplished with an open check book.
To sum this all up, I want a movie that shows how brilliant Billy Beane can be but is also honest about his failures. A movie that shows how much fun those A’s teams were to watch in the early 2000s but doesn’t change the ending to something so positive that I have an empty feeling in my stomach because I know what truly happened. I also don’t want have to see that stupid play by where Jason’s brother decides not to slide.
I think those might be legit concerns for big A’s fans like myself who want to see this movie. Then again maybe I think too much and should just enjoy the film no matter what.
I am torn right now but I know in the end I will see the A’s movie. How many chances does one get to have a movie made about their favorite baseball team get made? I believe there is only four or five other teams that have had this opportunity.
Review to follow as soon as I get up the courage to see this movie.
Buy Oakland Athletics Tickets | Buy Oakland Athletics Apparel
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!