Monday, July 23, 2007

Billy Beane...Newest MLS GM?


Lion In Oil (http://lioninoil.blogspot.com/) indicates that Oakland A's genius GM Billy Beane (and yes, he is a genius - just imagine the damage he could do if the A's actually possessed a payroll that didn't resemble that of the Marlins) is soon going to be running the San Jose Earthquakes. First, David Beckham...now Billy Beane?? What's going on here? America isn't interested in anything related to soccer! Yeah, sure Beckham packed the stands in his debut (if you want to call it that, considering he first entered play in the 78th minute) vs. Chelsea, but there is no way America is going to be tuning into Beckham's performances a year from now. America cares more about where he and Posh ate dinner last night than whether or not Beckham can still "bend it" into between the white lines.

Supposedly, Beane is a soccer junkie, and the owner of the A's just resurrected the San Jose Earthquakes last week. When the team starts off again in 2008, "Beane could use Major League Soccer as a laboratory, testing whatever theories of soccer analysis he might conjure up."

"Billy is going to be deeply involved in soccer for us," said Lew Wolff, managing partner of the A's and now the Earthquakes."We're actually looking at some of Billy's concepts on how to evaluate players. We're trying to find out how we can apply some of Billy's thinking."

It should also be noted that Beane's prowess has started to gain recognition outside of the world which is sports, as indicated by the fact that he was named as one of NetSuite's board of directors earlier this year. NetSuite co-founder Evan Goldberg cited Beane's ability to combine facts with instinct as an important factor in the decision to involve him in the company.

4 comments:

Norman P. Orlando said...

HA! I love it.....soccer is taking off in a big way. Hold on to your hats ladies and gents!

Anonymous said...

this blog site is done..chalk it up fellas.

Anonymous said...

wow....somehow i doubt that is really tommy reid writing that. norman p is angry!!

Norman P. Orlando said...

thanks for the newsflash captain obvious aka anonymous. I realize that its not Tommy Reid.