Movie Mondays: Moneyball's Story to Tell

Moneyball has gotten some Oscar buzz a la The Blind Side, but in truth, the movie just doesn't have the emotional depth and intriguing nuances that would make it a contender in my humble opinion. However, I really enjoyed the movie. Not because the acting was great (it was okay) or because the storyline was excellently executed (it wasn't). No, I enjoyed this movie because I am glad it made me aware of Billy Beane's story--a guy who turned down the kind of money that very few of us would have the gumption to bypass no matter what the job or what promises we had made to ourselves or what was at stake.
This guy is the opposite of greed in a sport and culture that runs rampant with it. Beane could have taken the huge offer from the Boston Red Sox that would have made him the highest paid General Manager ever to that date. Yet, he decided to stay with the Oakland A's and their much more meager budget and less attractive stadium and facilities.
Sure, you could argue that Beane was stubborn and egotistical--he didn't stay because he is some noble guy that has a sense of obligation, but a narcissist that believes he is so great that he can make the impossible happen. Beane is still with the A's, going after a championship. You gotta admire the tenacity and bull-headedness.
I like that screenwriters Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) made Beane go off the deep end when a player was gyrating and having fun after a loss--behavior that Beane himself was known for repeatedly when he was a player.
However, I wish they would have shown this goofy side in the flashbacks of Beane as a ballplayer. I think it would have given deeper meaning to his anger. I also wish that they would have gone into a bit more about why Pitt wore a wedding ring throughout the movie yet did not have a wife. I assume it was to symbolically show that he was still pining away for his ex (nothing else indicated that this was the case). I was also confused about Pitt's character going to pick up his daughter via car one day, but the next time he saw her she was getting off and on plane. These disjointed scenes, unexplained behaviors, and underdeveloped backstories irked me.
I also wanted to know what happened to Paul DePodesta aka Peter Brand in the film. He was a huge part of Beane's success, and if I had to be frank, the movie makes it appear that Paul was really the brains behind the operation; Beane was just in a place of power where he could put DePodesta's ideas to use. Yes, he recognized the brilliance, but I thought Beane should have consulted with DePodesta about the Red Sox offer. I am also intrigued as to why DePodesta did not want his likeness or name used in the film. Did he and Beane have a falling out? Now I want to know this guy's story too!
Overall, I thought it was a good movie that deviated from the usual sports movie, and particularly baseball movie, model. Beane's story and innovativeness definitely needed to be shared with the world, which we have Micheal Lewis to thank for as he wrote the book that the screenplay was based on. Beane is a good guy with an interesting story worthy of being told.