I enjoyed the film Moneyball but nowhere near as much as Michael Hann. Funny thing is though, I would describe the book by Michael Lewis in much the same way as Hann as described the film. I maybe have some vague vestigial interest in sport, having been brought up in a Rugby League loving family (who attended all of the Bulldogs, sorry Berries, home games, a lot of their away games, and watched the Saturday night games on ABC, Sunday night games on 7, and the midweek Amco cup on 10, showing my age here), but really my eyes glaze over and I just nod when people are talking about “the game,” whichever one it was, and other than the Olympics, its, yeah, whatever. My interest in baseball extends to Malamud’s The Natural. Having said that, as soon as I read the blurb describing the book Moneyball, I knew I was going to love it, and I did. Reading it was a really fun experience. I don’t think my enjoyment was based on any sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. I can remember seeing John Carpenter’s The Thing, going in knowing I was going to love it, and I did. However, I recall the opening of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome with a wide Australian desert vista, thinking, I am going to watch this scene so many times, get used to this, I am going to love this – Mad Max II was one of my favourite films -, and then some way in, spending over an hour thinking, is this going to get any better? What is happening? Is this a kid’s movie? I have never been more disappointed. But Moneyball, I loved Michael Lewis holding my hand, I loved being taken through the wheeler-dealing, the focus and moving the chess pieces, without having any interest in baseball at all. Still don’t. Never will. So, not a review. just something I might have said if I was having a chat with someone about Michael Hann‘s piece. But everyone is chatting about the footy.