Cinematic Underdogs - 18. Don Shanahan's Top 5 Sports Films & Moneyball

18. Don Shanahan's Top 5 Sports Films & Moneyball

Explicit content warning

01/26/21 • 161 min

Cinematic Underdogs

On this special bonus episode of Cinematic Underdogs, we have the always sincere, insightful, & poignant Don Shanahan (https://www.everymoviehasalesson.com/ — Twitter: @casablancadon) on the podcast. If you are looking at the running time, your eyes are not lying: we dauntlessly enter Joe Rogan territory, enthusiastically chatting for nearly 3 hours. Don’t let this be intimidating though: you won‘t want to miss a single second of this ever engaging conversation that touches upon how auteurism, film criticism, American politics / socioeconomics, the shifting nature of popular mores, & the rise of technology is changing the landscape of sports / sports movies. Ultimately, our focal point is the 2011 film “Moneyball”, but this podcast episode far transcends the goings on of baseball diamonds / stats sheets—swinging at huge societal & existential questions.

To those of you who are inclined to jump around in search of certain topics, we’ve provided a cursory chronological breakdown of the episode below so that you can fast forward to segments that sound most appealing.

Enjoy!

0:00 Introduction / The Often Unrecognized Art of Film Criticism

We talk about film critics we idolize, the immense intellectual demands & productivity of the profession, & our own habits / regimens in regards to watching films.

23:30 Tree of Life Debate: Pretentious or Earnest Masterpiece / What If Terrence Malick Made a Sports Movie?

We discuss Don’s “Hot Take” on Terrence Malick’s polarizing “Tree of Life” as he posits that highbrow cinema, like overpriced whiskey, can be gratuitous overkill & repulsively off-putting.

34:45 Creatively Versatile vs. Redundant Auteurs

We deliberate and enumerate those auteurs who repeat themselves with each film, those who have a handful of narratives they recycle, those who reinvent themselves with every feature film.

45:45 Don’s Top-5 Sports Movies: Rudy, Field of Dreams, Rocky, Slap-shot, The Sandlot

While discussing Don’s top five sports movies of all time, we repeatedly dive into the greater context of cinema and auteurism: debating the ethical pitfalls of inaccurate biopics, the gradual conflation of documentary & fiction filmmaking, the redemptive quality of directors who return to their aesthetic roots vs. those we believe still need to, the sad state in which cancel culture infantilizes our individual prerogative to engage with art with intellectual autonomy, & the most carnivalesque barfing scene ever (hint: chewing tobacco is involved).

1:28:15 The Powerful Life Lessons, Nostalgic Allure, and Socioeconomics of Sports/Sports Films

We discuss the rise of a mercenary ethos in pro sports, the decline of blue collar sensibilities, & how the capitalistic narrative of sports in real life has affected sports movies.

1:39:15 The Negative Consequence of Politics Pervading Sports

We discuss sports as a cathartic release valve that traditionally brought people together, & how the heated intrusion of politics into the national pastime is detrimental to our collective psychological health & civic sense of togetherness. We also discuss the need for social programs that employee ex-athletes & serve underprivileged youth.

1:47:00 Moneyball

From here on out, we discuss the relevancy of “Moneyball’s” themes within the greater framework of American society and the MLB. Do the mathematical strategies / concepts behind “Moneyball” work? Is Billy Beane a hero or anti-hero? Was he successful or a failure? Should we rely on statistics instead of human intelligence / intuition? How do we adapt as data upends human skill, rendering us obsolete? Tune in to find out!

Enjoy!

0:00 Introduction / The Often Unrecognized Art of Film Criticism

We talk about film critics we idolize, the immense intellectual demands & productivity of the profession, & our own habits / regimens in regards to watching films.

23:30 Tree of Life Debate: Pretentious or Earnest Masterpiece / What If Terrence Malick Made a Sports Movie?

34:45 Creatively Versatile vs. Redundant Auteurs

We deliberate and enumerate those auteurs who repeat themselves with each film, those who have a handful of narratives they recycle, those who reinvent themselves with every feature film.

45:45 Don’s Top-5 Sports Movies: Rudy, Field of Dreams, Rocky, Slap-shot, The Sandlot

1:28:15 The Powerful Life Lessons, Nostalgic Allure, and Socioeconomics of Sports/Sports Films

We discuss the rise of a mercenary ethos in pro sports, the decline of blue collar sensibilities, & how the capitalistic narrative of sports in real life has affected sports movies.

1:39:15 The Negative Consequence of Politics Pervading Sports

1:47:00 Moneyball

Previous Episode

17. Moneyball (2011)

With technology and mathematics continuing to replace the human workforce, the relevancy of "Moneyball" far supersedes the baseball park. Nevertheless, while the plot of this Oscar-nominated film can feel numerically engineered at times, it never forgets its more sentient roots as a veritable sports movie. With statistically-driven montage sequences, an ecstatic portrayal of the Oakland A's record breaking twenty-game win streak, and the depiction of a ragtag team replete with unorthodox personalities, "Moneyball" balances its heady & arithmetical proclivities by adding all of the classic sports tropes we've come to love in this traditionally 'feel good' genre.

From the opening shots of the Oakland A's forlorn front office to its moody final close-up of a General Manager's staring straight ahead with bittersweet tears outlining his eyes, "Moneyball" is much more emotionally complex than your ordinary baseball flick. Written by Steven Zaillian ("Searching for Bobby Fisher") and Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network"), directed by Bennett Miller ("Capote" / "Foxcatcher"), and starring Brad Pitt (playing Billy Beane) and Jonah Hill (as Peter Brand), the film is a truly ensemble effort: with each member of the all-star roster pulling their weight. Even the smaller roles in the film—from Phillip Seymour Hoffman performance as the beleaguered A's coach Art Howe to Chris Pratt's performance as an aging catcher relocated to first base—fill in the margins of "Moneyball" with the necessary layers of subtext and texture the film needs to drive its philosophical home.

Recognizing the impact and moral weight that these players give the film, Jordan Puga and Paul Keelan analyze the many philosophical and ethical predicaments that are provoked by the growing popularity of SABRmetrics in baseball and beyond:

Have we become too consumed with empirical data and lost our instinctive human edge?

Was Billy Beane's all-in bet on the hypothesis that OBP trumps all other factors the predominant factor in spurring the Oakland A's toward their miraculous turnaround season?

And if the money is simply reallocated to overpaying GM's and sabermetricians in the aftermath of the growing prominence of this practice, has anything really been circumvented or changed?

These are big-time questions, and "Moneyball's" ambivalent ending—leaving the viewer stewing and pensive at best—serves as the ideal catalyst for meaningful discourse: providing a ton of existential pickles to be scrupulously parsed and pondered over.

As always, thanks for listening!

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