{"id":176,"date":"2011-10-03T14:07:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-03T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/?p=176"},"modified":"2011-10-03T14:44:36","modified_gmt":"2011-10-03T18:44:36","slug":"176","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/","title":{"rendered":"“Moneyball” and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt’s Triceps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as I demonstrate the similarities between the ballpark and the cathedral.\u00a0 At a baseball game\u2014as in church\u2014we sing hymns together, we stand up in unison, we pray, we eat bread, we drink wine (or beer), and we don\u2019t leave until after Communion \u2026 or after the seventh inning if our team is down by more than five.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes.\u00a0 I get it.<\/p>\n

But the metaphor frays around the edges quickly.\u00a0 Sometimes, a ground-rule double is not transubstantiation.\u00a0 It\u2019s just two bases.\u00a0 And the way advertisers beef up Yankee\/Red Sox games with umpteen commercials for TD Bank, Amica Insurance, and a ridiculous number of auto-glass repair shops, an 11-4, error-filled \u201cbattle\u201d between Bartolo Colon and John Lackey feels more like a tax audit than a trip to the mountaintop.\u00a0 (And by the way, how often do windshields break in Massachusetts?)<\/p>\n

Further, I\u2019ve always hated the way some movies labor to portray the game as a high spiritual exercise.\u00a0 The worst offender is the maudlin Field of Dreams<\/em>, a Kevin Costner vehicle that I love despite myself.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nIs this heaven?<\/p>\nNo, it\u2019s Iowa.<\/p>\nNo, seriously.\u00a0 It\u2019s just f*&%ing Iowa.<\/p>\nBaseball is a great game.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not a mystical ascent, a hajj<\/em> to Mecca, or a glimpse of nirvana<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s wood and leather and dirt and drunk fans and big-ego HGH-sippers who feel entitled to nine-figure contracts as payment for their doping.\u00a0 It\u2019s not religious.<\/p>\nWell, maybe sometimes it is.\u00a0 In fact, it was with thoroughly unexpected surprise that I found glimmers of the numinous peeking through the seams of what should have been the most irreligious baseball movie ever made: Moneyball<\/em>.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the trailer, just in case you haven\u2019t seen it already:<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Moneyball Trailer 2011 HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AiAHlZVgXjk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\nThis thoughtful, elegant piece, based on a book of the same name, tells the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics.\u00a0 Its thesis is simple: in the richer-take-all world of big cash baseball, a statistical approach to player acquisition can turn a poor also-ran into a contender.<\/p>\nIn 2001, the A\u2019s go to the divisional series in part by riding Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen\u2014rising stars who leave for bigger contracts at the end of the season.\u00a0 Upon learning from his owner that the team can\u2019t afford to replace such expensive talent, manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) turns to the numbers to find undervalued players.<\/p>\nWith the help of Peter Brand (in a likable, understated turn by Jonah Hill), an Ivy-League whiz kid, Beane makes the A\u2019s competitive by narrowly focusing on on-base percentage.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about flashy players, says Brand, or players who hit the ball hard, or \u201cfive-tool\u201d phenoms; get guys who can get to first\u2014by any means necessary.\u00a0 (In the book, the system is more complex\u2014and impressive.\u00a0 But the film must compress for time and drama.)<\/p>\nAnd eventually, the A\u2019s win.\u00a0 With a trifling $40 million-dollar payroll, they put together a 103-win season and return to the divisional series.\u00a0 (By contrast, the 2002 Red Sox spent $108 million on their roster and did not make the playoffs.)<\/p>\nBy this brief summary, Moneyball<\/em> should be the least religious baseball film ever made.\u00a0 It\u2019s a math movie.\u00a0 Brand and Beane wring the transcendent from America\u2019s game, reducing it to a spreadsheet\u2014all ratios and percentages.\u00a0 And the team\u2019s other scouts\u2014grizzled prophets from an earlier age of player development\u2014are artifacts of a dead faith.<\/p>\nNonetheless, Moneyball<\/em> shows Beane as (rightfully) superstitious regarding his mathematically sound roster.\u00a0 The manager will build his team and even coach them, but he won\u2019t listen to or watch their games.\u00a0 It\u2019s unlucky.\u00a0 When the A\u2019s are on, Brad Pitt goes to the gym.<\/p>\n(During the first of these workout scenes, I realized why my wife suggested we go see Moneyball<\/em> last night.)<\/p>\nHe keeps his habit (religiously) through the first nineteen games of the \u201902 A\u2019s record-breaking 20-game win streak.\u00a0 Only in the twentieth game does Beane\u2014accidentally learning that the team has taken an early eleven-run lead\u2014head up to the ballpark to watch what will be his crowning achievement.\u00a0 And what happens?\u00a0 The A\u2019s promptly give up all eleven runs.<\/p>\nEven in statistical baseball, the gods can still dip their fingers in the drink and stir.<\/p>\nReflecting on the streak later with Brand, Beane weightily asks what it all means.\u00a0 It\u2019s a trite question, but the filmmakers let it ripple in awkward silence for just long enough to make it substantial.<\/p>\nBeane ultimately demurs, claiming that the wins will mean nothing without a World Series ring to back them up.\u00a0 But the film is too tactful to state outright the other \u201cmeaning\u201d:<\/p>\nA twenty-game win streak means that baseball is magic.<\/p>\nStatistics tell us that such a streak in the majors is impossible.\u00a0 Too many variables keep any one team from stringing together so many victories.\u00a0 And yet in 2002, the most statistically determined team in history bucked math and delivered a miracle.<\/p>\nAnd that\u2019s a religious fact that Moneyball<\/em> only tacitly acknowledges.\u00a0 Or more properly, it lets the miracle pass by in reverent silence.\u00a0 Thus, I love<\/em> the scene when the unlikely hero Scott Hatteberg hits the home run that seals the streak.\u00a0 It is a polar opposite to the meretricious spectacle of Roy Hobbs\u2019s homer in The Natural<\/em>, with its exploding light bank and its tremulous soundtrack:<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Natural - Home Run Scene\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/88ft_enkr9c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\nIn Moneyball<\/em>, Hatteberg\u2019s scorching drive floats out of the Coliseum in dead silence.<\/p>\nWhich is really all that we can do when faced with spiritual experience.\u00a0 Awe.\u00a0 As Job replies to the deity in the whirlwind\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/09\/no-shelter-from-the-storm\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">beautifully addressed by Dr. Herling last week<\/a>\u2014\u201cI put my hand over my mouth\u201d (Job 40:4).<\/p>\nWe do the godhead a disservice when we compare it to a ninth-inning rally; and this is from a guy who was there for the <a href=\"http:\/\/scores.espn.go.com\/mlb\/recap?gameId=270513102\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mother\u2019s Day Miracle<\/a>:<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Moms Day Miracle.AVI\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2ClclZASorY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\nWe can\u2019t say anything about the true core of religion.\u00a0 It escapes our descriptive powers.\u00a0 We can just watch it fly out of the park.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" class=\"mcePaste\" style=\"position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;\"> \u00a0\nIt has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to point out that baseball is like a religion. <\/span>And when I teach RN 101 courses, I now bore myself when I point out the similarities between the ballpark and the cathedral. <\/span>At a baseball game\u2014as in church\u2014we sing hymns together, we stand up in unison, we pray, we eat bread and drink wine (or beer), and we don\u2019t leave until after Communion \u2026 or after the seventh inning if our team is down by more than five. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nYes, yes. <\/span>I get it. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nBut as the years have passed, the metaphor has frayed at the edges. <\/span>Sometimes, a ground-rule double is not transubstantiation. <\/span>It\u2019s just two bases. <\/span>And the way advertisers beef up Yankee\/Red Sox games with umpteen commercials for TD Bank, Amica Insurance, and a ridiculous number of auto-glass repair shops, an 11-4, error-filled \u201cbattle\u201d between Bartolo Colon and John Lackey feels more like a tax audit than a trip to the mountaintop.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nFurther, I\u2019ve always hated the way some movies labor to characterize the game as a spiritual exercise. <\/span>The worst offender is the maudlin Field of Dreams<\/em>, a Kevin Costner vehicle that I love despite myself. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C8-B5cyfK6A\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C8-B5cyfK6A<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nIs this heaven? <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nNo, it\u2019s Iowa. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nNo, seriously. <\/span>It\u2019s just fucking Iowa. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nBaseball is a great game. <\/span>But it\u2019s not the same as a mystical ascent, a hajj<\/em> to Mecca, or a glimpse of nirvana<\/em>. <\/span>It\u2019s a game.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThus, it was with unexpected surprise that I found subtle glimmers of the numinous peeking through the seams of the elegant new baseball movie, Moneyball<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the trailer, just in case you haven\u2019t seen it already:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Moneyball Trailer 2011 HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AiAHlZVgXjk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe film, based on a book of the same name, tells the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics. <\/span>Its thesis is simple: in the richer-take-all world of big cash baseball, a statistical approach to player acquisition can turn a poor also-ran into a contender. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nIn 2001, the A\u2019s went to the divisional series in part by riding the talents of Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen\u2014rising stars who all left for bigger contracts at the end of the season. <\/span>Upon learning from his owner that the team couldn\u2019t afford to replace its best talent, manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) turned to the numbers to find undervalued players. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nHe does so with the help of Peter Brand (in a likable, understated turn by Jonah Hill), an Ivy League-educated whiz kid who argues that Beane can keep the A\u2019s competitive by putting a laser-focus on on-base percentage. <\/span>Don\u2019t worry about flashy players, says Brand, or players who hit the ball hard, or \u201cfive-tool\u201d phenoms; get guys who can get to first\u2014by any means necessary. <\/span>(In the book, the system is much more complex\u2014and impressive. <\/span>But the film must compress for time and drama, as a two-hour stats lesson probably wouldn\u2019t sell too many tickets.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd eventually, the A\u2019s win. <\/span>With a trifling $40 million-dollar payroll, they put together a 103-win season and return to the divisional series. <\/span>(By contrast, the 2002 Red Sox spent $108 million on their roster and did not make the playoffs.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nBy this brief summary, Moneyball<\/em> should be the least religious baseball film ever made. <\/span>It\u2019s a math movie. <\/span>Brand and Beane wring the numinous from America\u2019s game, reducing it to a spreadsheet\u2014all ratios and percentages. <\/span>And the film characterizes the team\u2019s other scouts\u2014grizzled prophets from an earlier age of player development\u2014as artifacts of a dead religion. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nNonetheless, the film depicts Beane as (rightfully) superstitious. <\/span>The manager will construct his teams and even coach them a bit, but he won\u2019t listen to or watch their games. <\/span>It\u2019s unlucky. <\/span>When the A\u2019s are on, Brad Pitt goes to the gym and works out. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n(During the first of these scenes, I realized why my wife suggested we go see Moneyball<\/em> last night.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nHe keeps his habit (religiously) through the first nineteen games of the \u201902 A\u2019s record-breaking 20-game win streak. <\/span>Only in the twentieth game does Beane\u2014accidentally learning that the team has taken an early eleven-run lead\u2014head up to the ballpark to watch what will be his crowning achievement. <\/span>And what happens? <\/span>The A\u2019s promptly give up all eleven runs.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nEven in statistical baseball, the gods can still dip their fingers in the drink and stir. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nReflecting on the streak later with Brand, Beane weightily asks what it all means. <\/span>It\u2019s a trite question, but the filmmakers let it ripple in awkward silence for just long enough to make it substantial.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nBeane ultimately demurs, claiming that the wins will mean nothing without a World Series ring to back them up. <\/span>But the film is too tactful to state outright the other \u201cmeaning\u201d of a twenty-game win streak:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nA twenty-game win streak means that baseball is magic.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nStatistics tell us that a twenty-game win streak in the majors is impossible. <\/span>Too many variables keep any one team from stringing together so many victories. <\/span>And yet in 2002, the most statistically sound team bucked math and delivered a miracle. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd that\u2019s a religious fact that Moneyball<\/em> only tacitly acknowledges. <\/span>Or more properly, it lets the miracle pass by in reverent silence. <\/span>Thus, I love<\/em> the scene when the unlikely hero Scott Hatteberg hits the home run that seals the streak. <\/span>It is a polar opposite to the meretricious spectacle of Roy Hobb\u2019s homer in The Natural<\/em>, with its exploding light bank and its tremulous soundtrack:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Natural - Home Run Scene\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/88ft_enkr9c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nIn Moneyball<\/em>, Hatteberg\u2019s scorching drive floats out of the park in dead silence. <\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nWhich is really all that we can do when faced with real religious experience. <\/span>Awe. <\/span>As Job says in reply to the whirlwind\u2014beautifully addressed by Dr. Herling last week\u2014\u201cI put my hand over my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe best thing we can say about the godhead is not that it resembles a ninth-inning rally; and this is from a guy who was there for the Mother\u2019s Day Miracle:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/scores.espn.go.com\/mlb\/recap?gameId=270513102<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2ClclZASorY\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2ClclZASorY<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nWe can\u2019t say anything about true religion. <\/span>It escapes our ability to describe it. <\/span>We can just watch it fly out of the park. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as I demonstrate the similarities between the ballpark and the cathedral.\u00a0 At a baseball game\u2014as in church\u2014we sing hymns together, we stand up in unison, we pray, we eat bread, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>"Moneyball" and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt's Triceps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Moneyball" and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt's Triceps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"REELigion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-03T18:07:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-03T18:44:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"joshuapederson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"joshuapederson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Moneyball\\\" and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt's Triceps\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-03T18:07:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-03T18:44:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#\/schema\/person\/f2263cca337baaf418a8fb4e62f799f7\"},\"description\":\"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Moneyball” and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt’s Triceps\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/\",\"name\":\"REELigion\",\"description\":\"We're looking for religion in the movies. It's not hard to find.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#\/schema\/person\/f2263cca337baaf418a8fb4e62f799f7\",\"name\":\"joshuapederson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ffb80102aa452a71b35e39f07a2f347?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ffb80102aa452a71b35e39f07a2f347?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"joshuapederson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/author\/joshuapederson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Moneyball\" and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt's Triceps","description":"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Moneyball\" and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt's Triceps","og_description":"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/","og_site_name":"REELigion","article_published_time":"2011-10-03T18:07:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-10-03T18:44:36+00:00","author":"joshuapederson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"joshuapederson","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/","name":"\"Moneyball\" and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt's Triceps","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-03T18:07:10+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-03T18:44:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#\/schema\/person\/f2263cca337baaf418a8fb4e62f799f7"},"description":"It has become a truism\u2014especially in religious studies classes\u2014to note that baseball is like religion.\u00a0 And when I teach RN 101 courses, I bore myself as","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/2011\/10\/176\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Moneyball” and Religion, or Finding God in Brad Pitt’s Triceps"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/","name":"REELigion","description":"We're looking for religion in the movies. It's not hard to find.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#\/schema\/person\/f2263cca337baaf418a8fb4e62f799f7","name":"joshuapederson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ffb80102aa452a71b35e39f07a2f347?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ffb80102aa452a71b35e39f07a2f347?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"joshuapederson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/author\/joshuapederson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reeligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}