I Said I’d Never Do It

It had been all over the news leading up to this, but the date was finally here, it was September 11, 2011. I didn’t understand all the publicity it was getting. Who would want to watch a movie about losing. That’s what the movie represented to me. They should have just called it Titanic 2. Everyone knew how the story ended, and no one lived happily ever after. I’m sure you can guess, but yes, I am talking about the movie Moneyball. The story of the Oakland A’s in the early 2000’s and how they changed the game of baseball. It’s a story of the underdog A’s and how they had no money to compete with the mean horrible New York Yankees who were rich and could do whatever they wanted. I told myself I would never watch the movie. Why? Well, because I don’t want to ruin it for you, but in the end, they never won. I had been refusing to watch it for thirteen years and then something happened. I have no idea how, but clips of the movie kept showing up in my YouTube algorithm. I said I’d never do it, but I hit play on one of the clips.

What Happened Next

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but almost every day I would click on another clip. I was convinced that at this point I had probably seen the whole movie. Now I just had to make that final decision, do I just watch it or not? Good news, it’s not free anywhere to watch, I’m safe. Bad news, amazon has it for $7.99 and I have gift cards. I don’t think it counts if I don’t use my money to purchase it. So, this weekend, that’s what I did, I watched it. A funny thing happened; I learned from it.

What Did I Learn

The movie really is only about two characters, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. Brad Pitt oversees getting players for the A’s. He hires Jonah Hill away from Cleveland because he sees him in a meeting and notices how he thinks differently, and people value his opinion. I watched as those two people just made everyone angry. They continued to see value in people and places that no one else could see. A catcher who can’t throw? Not a problem, put him at first base. A pitcher who throws weird? We’ll take him! They both knew the numbers, they both knew what was important, but they kept seeing things that no one else could see. When they looked at the players, they only focused on the positives. Don’t get me wrong, they got rid of some people who didn’t fit in, but they focused on what they needed to. It was the perfect combination of old school meets new school. They weren’t afraid to upset some people. They had people who didn’t buy into what they were trying to do. They had a challenge; they took a whole new approach to fix it.

What Can I Apply

As I watched the movie, certain people came to my mind. Some people get so close to greatness, and then something happens. I hate thinking about all the times I’ve gotten distracted. I was so close, and then I let myself move a few degrees off course. In the movie, they knew the main objective. They had to win with players who were good, but cheap. When others were spending twenty million on someone, they could only spend about seven hundred thousand. Everyone wants to fight for something they can’t have instead of focusing on what they do have. They looked at the numbers and made the adjustments. In the movie, Brad Pitt hated to lose. He didn’t care about the money he made; he wanted to win. He was passionate in an obsessive way. I need to know my main objective; I need to know what I have to work with. I need to know the numbers and be passionate in an obsessive way trying to accomplish what I want. I need to continue to see value when no one else can. People are going to get mad; people are going to quit. But if I want to change the game, that’s what I must do. Changes are coming, life doesn’t always play fair. Status quo is unacceptable. I feel like it’s time to upset some people and accomplish something. I know I can’t do it alone; I need a team. Let’s go change the game, but unlike the movie, let’s actually win something!