People hate what they don't understand. Especially if they realize they're too stupid to understand.

I don't know why you'd criticize the 2010 A's at all. Yes, they can't hit their way out of paper bags, but they have a very good shot at >.500 after several years at 86-87 losses, they've got excellent young pitchers, and their divisional competition in '11 isn't going to be world-beating. If anything, it's this season that ought to get people respecting Beane's ability to make silk purses out of AAAA players.

Billy Beane should read Moneyball so he won't do stupid #### like throwing money at Coco Crisp.

(2) would Billy Beane have been better off if he had never provided Michael Lewis the access to write “Moneyball” in the first place?

nd really, given that teams like the Yankees owe a lot of their recent success to co-opting and improving upon many of Beane’s ideas, it’s rather amusing to see “Moneyball” slammed over and over again like it is.

(2) would Billy Beane have been better off if he had never provided Michael Lewis the access to write “Moneyball” in the first place?

UNLESS, of course, it has affected his ability to do business with other GMs (Kenny Williams comes to mind). Has it?

And, hell, it would be kind of cool to have Brad Pitt play you in a movie

I'd want Adrien Brody, but probably get stuck with David Arquette.

Kenny Williams was more than happy to hand over Gio Gonzalez and Ryan Sweeney to Beane just a couple of years ago

And, hell, it would be kind of cool to have Brad Pitt play you in a movie

I'd want Adrien Brody, but probably get stuck with David Arquette.

It's been a while since I read the book, but I don't remember Lewis making fun of sportswriters

This could be a fun hijack: If someone made a movie about your work and/or life, who would you want to play you, assuming a somewhat realistic match in terms of physical appearance?

This could be a fun hijack

This could be a fun hijack: If someone made a movie about your work and/or life, who would you want to play you, assuming a somewhat realistic match in terms of physical appearance?

It's been a while since I read the book, but I don't remember Lewis making fun of sportswriters. He definitely made fun of scouts, with their old-fashioned ways, but I don't remember him talking about sportswriters at all.

People used to come up to me all the time and say I look like Tim Robbins. Nowadays, I get a lot more John C Reilly comments than I want. I'm not sure what the next step in this progession is.

I'd want Adrien Brody, but probably get stuck with David Arquette.

People used to come up to me all the time and say I look like Tim Robbins. Nowadays, I get a lot more John C Reilly comments than I want. I'm not sure what the next step in this progession is.

I had a thing for Susan Sarandon.

All these journalists worked for years in sports, and it is hard work, not compared to digging ditches but compared to my job (college history professor.)

Given the time that has passed

No, it isn't. It is low pay, but it isn't hard. Sure, making deadlines are no fun, but we aren't talking about vast and documented research here.

Have you ever actually done it?

It's a lot of hours, particularly for a baseball beat writer.

A lot of hours doesn't equate to "hard" -- menial perhaps, but not hard.

Reporting is an ungodly of work if you're doing it right (i.e. right for the employer & the readers &, theoretically, your clip file; wrong for yourself as a human being with at least a pretense to a life, of course), & a good portion of it is conducted off the clock while management looks the other way out of necessity if the stories are to get done & done right.

and I didn't like being paid -- at most -- for 80% of the work I was doing.

Look, there is a reason the sportswriter is the low man on the totem pole in the industry

I didn't like the confrontational nature of some of the job,

This could be a fun hijack: If someone made a movie about your work and/or life, who would you want to play you, assuming a somewhat realistic match in terms of physical appearance?

At what point will columnists stop using a now seven year-old book as a hook to write about the A’s?

the sports guys pretty much have their pick of who wants to pay how much for the privilege of sucking their pica poles.

then the rock dudes are king. Hands down.

This. This is exactly why I left. I quickly grew tired of pissing matches with assclowns. I guess if we are throwing that in the mix, then the business might be the hardest in the world.

If someone made a movie about your work and/or life, who would you want to play you, assuming a somewhat realistic match in terms of physical appearance?

Thank you Billy Beane, for showing the Yankees how to win.

I assume he was expressing weariness with the assclowns part, rather than the interaction part per se.

But the article says the opposite of that.

I've been compared over the years to Mel Gibson (honest!

I've been compared to Mario Van Peebles which is odd.

My appearance has also been compared to Chad Lowe, but that was back in high school.

But for all those who bash it without having read it, the main tenets of Moneyball are a) OBP rules, and b) fat catchers who walk and hit homers are da bomb.

But the article says the opposite of that.

Really? (I didn't RTFA) For me the main tenet of Moneyball was finding hidden value and exploiting a market inefficiency. The Yankees don't do either of those things.

And really, given that teams like the Yankees owe a lot of their recent success to co-opting and improving upon many of Beane’s ideas, it’s rather amusing to see “Moneyball” slammed over and over again like it is.

1) That's not evidence; that's merely a statement without facts.

husky cather who gets on bas and has upper-decker power

I've been told that the closest celebrity I look like is Brendan Fraser. Which sucks, because I hate Brendan Fraser.

But for all those who bash it without having read it, the main tenets of Moneyball are a) OBP rules, and b) fat catchers who walk and hit homers are da bomb.

One of the other tenets is the Billy Beane is the coolest, slickest bond trader in a world of chumps.

In retrospect, the draft chapter is absolutely hilarious.