You might have heard of this David Beckham fellow by now.
His face is all over this newspaper, and everywhere else in town. His corporate sponsors, the ones that have rewarded him with riches beyond belief, hope and pray that he compels you to think about soccer.
Billy Beane could change the way you think about soccer.
Yes, that Billy Beane. It's getting old, this business of running a contender at half the price. This isn't the year to brag about it, not with his A's on pace for their first losing season since 1998, but this is a reasonable time for the general manager to try something new.
Try a foreign language. Translate "Moneyball" from baseball to soccer.
Beane isn't running out on the A's. But he loves soccer, and his boss bought the San Jose Earthquakes last week. When the Earthquakes kick off next year, 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."
In the community of veteran baseball executives and scouts, in which Beane is not beloved, this will seem like so much chutzpah: \o7The genius still hasn't won a World Series, "Moneyball" canonized him and now he thinks he can run two teams at the same time.
\f7That would be a bit overstated. The A's remain Job One. Wolff chuckles at the thought that Beane could stretch himself too thin for the A's good.
"Billy's focus on baseball is overwhelming to me," Wolff said.
Even as he challenges conventional baseball wisdom, Beane respects the game too much to say he could run a major league team as a part-time job.
"I certainly have my hands full here," Beane said.
That he does, because the A's are an uncharacteristic mess.
If the A's fare poorly in the first half, no one pays much attention. The A's roar to life in the second half, just as surely as the Angels put a monkey on the scoreboard. Since 1999, the A's boast the best record in the majors after the All-Star break.
Not this year. They've lost 10 of their last 12 games, and Beane might not be able to roll enough sevens to work his magic in the second half.
"How about the third third?" Wolff said. "Billy keeping us where we're at has been amazing."
