The Moneyball Song

Ben and I saw the movie "Moneyball" starring Brad Pitt on Friday.  I would recommend this baseball-themed movie even if you are not a baseball fan.  I enjoyed the dialogue that some great actors pulled off very well.  They made some awkward conversations and sarcasm very believable. I didn't know anything about the story, so the movie was engaging for me just learning about the General Manager of the Oakland A's and his attempt to field a team with a non-traditional approach.  He has run ins with the team scouts (funniest dialogue I think includes these guys sitting around a table discussing whom to add to the team), the team manager, and players.  "He's got an ugly girlfriend", one scouts says of a prospect. "That means he has no confidence. She's a 6 at best."  Also, it was fun to see the interweaving of actual baseball footage from the Oakland A's historic 2002 season (they won a record setting 20 games in a row) with the rest of the movie.  And, our friend Steve joined us for the movie and he went to high school with the hero of the 20th winning game in a row, Scott Hatteberg - a fun connection.

My favorite scene, though was the one where Beane, the A's General Manager, takes his 12 year old daughter Casey to buy a guitar. He encourages her to sing a song right there in the store and she sings "The Show", originally performed by Lenka. The words are poignant and moving as Casey sings- she has divorced parents, is just a pre-teen, and she has a dad whom she loves and wants to support and encourage in his own problems. Her singing is easily the most tender moment of the movie and her dad's admiration for her is so precious.  Maybe its because I have an almost 12 year old who herself loves to sing;  I was touched by this girl's courage to bless her dad with a little song. I think too, though, that her role in singing the song is meant to be something more significant. At the end of the movie Beane is driving in his car having just had a meeting with the owner of the Boston Red Sox who offered him more money than any general manager of any sport has ever before been offered.  He has a decision to make - go where the money is and have a good chance at a championship ring, or stay with the A's where he has been for many years.  Casey makes a recording of "The Show" for him and as he drives, he listens to her give her two cents about his big decision then mesmerize him again with the song.  That's how the movie ends - this precious voice singing "Just enjoy the show."

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go, can't do it alone
I've tried and I don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but I don't show it
I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down
I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show

Here's a glimpse of 13 year old actor Kerris Dorsey's voice singing The Show.