Moneyball – The Review (and nitpicking!)
After the shocking (to me, at least) revelation that my wife wanted to see "Moneyball", I picked it up from Redbox and planned an evening viewing with the Mrs. The movie intrigued the hell out of me - having read the book, I knew that it read pretty much like a economics textbook (albeit an entertaining one, as author Michael Lewis has a way of doing that with very boring
topics), but Brad Pitt got behind it, Aaron Sorkin (*swoon*) had a hand in writing it, and damn it - the critics actually liked the thing. Next you'll tell me there's actually a critically-acclaimed movie about pro wrestling
.
So my wife didn't make it through the thing (she doesn't stay awake through too many movies in general, and "Moneyball" was over two hours), but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really well done to stay decently close to the book while still make a marketable and accessible film. The characters were likable, and while I wasn't crazy to see Paul DePodesta turned into "composite character" Peter Brand, I understand how doing something like that made the film easier to make more entertaining. In reality, DePodesta isn't nearly as "geeky" or awkward as Brand is, but Jonah Hill's portrayal of Brand loosened up a movie that could have easily gotten too dry. In terms of whether or not a non-baseball fan could enjoy it, I think just as long as you don't hate baseball you can watch without much of an issue.
THAT SAID, my nitpicks (and things you might be wondering about):
More Bunker, More Walking Dead
Yet another Walking Dead recap over at Pop Bunker - read it at your leisure.
The hot stove is starting to warm up over in MLB, with free agency having started over a week ago and awards starting to be dished out. May have a post up today if I feel up to it, but considering that Walking Dead recap was over 3000 words, it'll probably wait until tomorrow.
So, carry on and stuff.
Looking Back – The 2006 MLB Trade Deadline (Part 2)
Last time, we took a look at the first moves in July that teams were taking to make their push to the 2006 playoffs. Sometimes, striking early can pay off, because the market hasn't really been set and the whole range of potential trade targets is available. Additionally, you get those extra few weeks with your new player, giving him time to adjust to his new team and reaping the benefits of your upgrade.
And we hit the ground running again...
Looking Back – The 2006 MLB Trading Deadline (Part 1)
It's been a while since I've done a baseball post, and I want to try to get at least three of these out a week, so here's my opportunity to get the ball rolling. I haven't really prepared for this - ideally I'll keep article ideas in a queue so I have a topic when I need one - but for today I'll stick by an old reliable: dissecting old trades. I tend to write a lot about these things and there was a lot of activity in 2006, so I'm going to have to break this up into a few parts. Today - the early deals.