Lather, Rinse, Repeat
We’ve heard this one before. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale was on The Chris Townsend Show with guest host Brodie Brazil on Monday night. He indicated that something will happen in August, when the next owner’s meetings are slated to be held in Denver. Nightengale claims that if a vote isn’t held (Wolff has asked for one as a procedural matter), Bud Selig will rule on the matter. Nightengale noted that he has been wrong about this before (as have I), and at this point – 40 months into the debate – there’s little evidence to indicate that this will be resolved in short order.
The big admission of this apparent deadlock is that when asked about the situation during a press conference prior to the All Star Game, Selig replied that both teams still have numerous questions to answer. Seriously? At 40 months? Surely, the commissioner and his exploratory committee have had ample time to look at every option, look under every rock, comb every bit of the Bay Area landscape. Admittedly, there are plenty of questions for the contingent cities as to how they’ll complete the deals that will be necessary to host a new ballpark. Those issues aren’t under the Giants’ and A’s control, and they can’t see proper resolution until a decision on how to progress is made. Whichever way it goes, one team (and some city) is going to be upset. The longer this gets delayed, the more expensive the eventual solution becomes – whether it’s in Oakland, San Jose, or elsewhere.
Then again, why bother? It’s not as if the A’s matter to baseball. Inertia, thy name is Selig.
Was it 30,000 A’s fans in attendance today or 15,000 A’s fans and 15,000 Yankee fans?
Leave it to the newballpark commenters to take a historical weekend and piss all over it.
The A’s sweep is nothing short of glorious. But this blog has never been about discussing the A’s day-to-day goings-on. It’s about ballpark stuff. And we have to keep in perspective that half the crowd is rooting for the Yankees when they come to town. I had several Yankee fans (see other thread) confronting me in May when I started making fun of Pay-Rod.
@stanley Stanson: if the comments have become unreadable then don’t read them. People comment on things that interest them and they often go on tangents, it’s true of most comment threads. What’s your bother?
I wasn’t able to attend any of the games this home stand, save one, which was today. And what a day to attend. Awesome game, glad I got to see it. After the last few weeks, my four year old A’s fan has been telling us ‘cover me’ after he pretends to hit a home run or other hit, and then says ‘put a pie in my face!’
Based on what I heard of the previous three games (mostly A’s fans in attendance) I think all the Yankees fans got together and decided today was their day to attend. It was at least half Yankees.
What a series! Proudly attended all four victories
Hey everyone…. this team is something special!!!!!!! Go Yoeins! Go Reddick! Go Doolittle! Go folks who actually show up!
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One thing we should all remember in the “attendance discussions.” The people who deserve scorn (if that isn’t too strong of a word) are not the people who showed up. I was there Thursday night and it was electric, even if it was only 20k.
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I think we all know, for a privately financed stadium to work in Oakland, it’s going to take a lot of folks willing to buy a lot of tickets and pay a lot of money up front. In my opinion, this is the only context in which attendance really matters. If the Oakland crew wants to start an escrow account for folks to start putting funds in for future tickets, I am willing t put my money in.
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Otherwise, let’s freaking enjoy this stuff! Moneyball 2.0 is upon us and, for the first time in a few years, both the future and the present require sunglasses!
I get rather irritated by the comments that Rick Tittle made on the post-game about the reasons people are not attending, because bridges were being burnt. If the city had ever been serious about getting a stadium deal done they would have bit on one long ago instead of waiting for a hail mary that is not feasible like Coliseum City. So that fans that don’t show up because of some issue with Fisher and Wolff are blameless is rather stupid. If you are a fan of the team you still go, especially when your team needs a boost against the Yankees and Rangers. This is the chance of Oakland-Only folks to prove their point and its obvious that the passion behind their position isn’t strong.
Likewise, any comments to point out that the A’s are winning despite Wolff and Fisher are also stupid and that this is some story about Major League and Ricky Vaughan and Pedro Serrano are also, really stupid. The team had a plan to start anew, not to throw the season but to trim the fat and bring in younger blood that could be ready in a couple of years. Ownership let Billy go out and get Cespedes and to make the deals they did and will let them go get more guys if it makes sense. I’m not sure if it does so long as the deal is for someone who can help now, but will be under team control in 3-4 years.
@Nicosan – Oakland is a “tribal” city. We have a chip on shoulder; unlike any other (American) city i know. When someone openly court another city, Oakland is not going to embrace you.
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Selig and Wolff have both called the Coliseum “unfit” to house MLB. Are those kinds of statements going to peel dollar bills out of the hands of casual baseball fans?
Yeah, I have stopped listening to A’s Talk when Tittle hosts. Mainly for the illogical crap he spouts regularly, on just about any topic related to the A’s.
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The perception that the A’s owners don’t want to win is a myth propogated by folks who don’t want the owners to win.
Rick Tittle is a passionate Oakland A’s fan.
Some of the pro SF giants commentators enjoy fantasizing that the A’s will have difficulty beating the MLB ATE in court. One doesn’t have to be a legal whiz to know that it is on shaky ground. The presiding judge who last upheld the ATE even stated in the ruling that the upholding of the ATE should not be considered an endorsement of it – and it remained open to legal interpetation (hardly an endorsement of the ATE) Afterwards, the Tampa Bay owners group pierced it twice successfully.
Despite their false bravado, the giants mgt. would not be in a very comfortable postition if the A’s decide to challenge the ATE in court. Their argument that the A’s are moving into their so-called territory by moving 35 miles further away from AT&T Park would likely provide a good courtroom laugh. Also the fact that the ATE is on shaky legal groun – the giants ownership’s attempt at bluffing with a weak hand can easily be called.
And how much of the fan base is actually in Oakland, as opposed to Dublin? Los Gatos? Modesto? There is a lot more to a fan base than just Oakland, its not just a city’s team it’s a regional team. As a person who has been going to A’s games, I’m less interested in what Rick Tittle or Chris Townsend think about ownership and more interested in them being moderators of dialogue with fans. Towny and Tittle have their contrasting opinions, thats great.
BTW, Oakland doesn’t have a monopoly as a city above other’s with a chip on it’s shoulder. I lived in Philly for 4 years and I’m from the Central Valley: Bakersfield, Fresno and Stockton face a lot harder socio-economic circumstances than Oakland, yet all have A’s fans who care less about the image of Oakland and about whether the team is winning and also serving the greater fan base of the team. On those two measures, I would say they are doing pretty darn well.