Jeezum Crow, "Moneyball" is Being Made into a Movie?

How did I not hear about this? Why did none of you tell me? :-)

For those of you who aren't as into baseball as I am, Moneyball is a 2003 book by Michael Lewis that chronicles the baseball draft through the eyes of Billy Beane, the general manager for the Oakland A's. It attempts to explain why the Oakland A's were so successful in the late 90s and early 2000s despite having a payroll the size of a peanut (especially compared to teams like the Yankees and the Mets). It's a great read, and what's even better about it is that it ended up causing such huge controversies in the baseball world. It really shined a light on sabermetrics, which now is like one of the big wedge issues that divide baseball people. Sometimes it seems like you're either familiar with VORP, Win Shares, DIPS, OPS, and so on -- or you're stuck using antiquated measurements like AVG and RBI to measure a player's worth. And each side thinks the other is crazy. Just like so many other things in life :-)

Anyway, I'm not convinced the book will make a great movie, because it has no real plot. Soderbergh even says flat-out, "It needs a gimmick." That's not exactly a promising sign. But Soderbergh is a great director, so I'm really curious to see what he can do with it, and what kind of movie it ends up being.