Maybe this was you, maybe it wasn’t. But when the Buffalo Bills hired general manager Brandon Beane, did you think of the movie Moneyball?
The flick starring Brad Pitt is based on a true story about an actual general manager of a sports team, Billy Beane, who’s still in the Oakland Athletics front office as their executive vice president of baseball operations. Previously he held the title of general manager, so you might see where this connection is going. The film highlights the Athletics’ success during Billy Beane’s run as general manager by using advanced sabermetrics and analytics to find good players on a tight budget.
The Bills’ Beane appeared on the Barstool Sports podcast, Pardon My Take on Friday. The podcast tossed an interesting question his way. Did people think when he was hired by the Bills that maybe he was connected to the Athletics’ Beane? Actually, yes, Beane said.
“No relation… you know, I’ve been asked many times… it’s funny, it really came up when I got the job, from people that didn’t know me in Buffalo, asking that question,” he said.
But Beane also added that he actually wasn’t mad about it, maybe even suggesting that his name helped him get the job in the first place.
“You know, you’ve got to say that there’s some percent, not zero. Cause people probably said, they probably just make the assumption, ‘he must be kin to Billy Beane,'” he said jokingly.
Whether or not the Pegulas actually thought or asked their GM hire if he was related to Billy Beane, we’ll never know. But probably not. Regardless, the Bills’ Beane has certainly brought continued success to Beane line of success as general managers in recent years.
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