Writing about and obsessing over the stadium saga is enough to make anyone lose their religion. Still, sometimes there’s a little glimmer that shows that even those on high are at least paying attention to us.
Our own editor-at-large took to sending a missive to one A. H. “Bud” Selig on Sunday, asking for some clarity on the situation. The letter was posted on Athletics Nation. Here’s the final plea:
On the eve of your organizations annual Winter Meetings I ask that you make the case for one of the two scenarios. If the local media is to be believed, your stadium panel has done a thorough and exhaustive search that has considered timing, financing, revenue impacts, traffic, political support, and even the height of light towers and the path of airplanes. There are no more angles to explore. No new rocks to turn over. It all comes down to you and your willingness to make either Bill Neukom or Lew Wolff, and their respective partners, miffed. Please do so at some point in the next two days so we can all move on from this unnecessary purgatory.
While it looks for the moment as if those prayers won’t get answered, at least Jeffrey got a reply from someone else in know, in this case Lew Wolff. For those who aren’t aware, Wolff reads AN and this blog (not so sure about all of the comments), mostly to get a read on how the fans are feeling about all matters Athletics – especially the ballpark stuff. Will we get some kind of judgment in the next week or ten? I have no clue. Regardless, it’s good to know that someone’s noticing the little guy. Kudos, Jeffrey, as always.
newballpark.org 
That’s an excellent letter, Jeffrey, and it sums up my feelings perfectly. Unfortunately, Lew’s reply reminded me to stop hoping for or expecting anything ever. I know someday something will happen, but this whole process is too vague and undetermined for me to hang on any further bits of news. I’ll still read this blog daily to keep up, but my emotional investment in anything related to the stadium is zero until shovels hit dirt. Sadly, that approach is starting to encroach on my feelings about the team in general. If MLB can’t be bothered to worry about or discuss the A’s, maybe I shouldn’t either.
After the first Cisco Field press event for the Fremont site in 2006, I’m definitely not assuming anything anymore. The San Jose tease was fun for a without any new substantial updates, we’re left in this state of perpetual speculation and ranting– and for some, flat out sensational assumptions.
.
The articles/analysis here are very well worded. I saw that ML went to UCSC. I covered state news for City on the Hill Press (UCSC’s main paper) for a few years. If having to report news teaches you anything, it’s to stick to the facts, employ even tempered journalists prose and double-check what you’re saying because if it’s misleading (intentional or not), you’re jeopardizing the trust your reads have in you. The rapport AN and this site have with Lew Wolff speaks to their integrity as a news resource. When all of this is over, there’s definitely enough material to compile and shape into a book. It’d be even better if A’s ownership endorsed it and backed its publication.
@Briggs – that is very, very, interesting. AN is definitely “in bed” with ol’ Lew. But i’m not ready to put ML in that category yet. I asked the folks at AN (Nico) to put up a link to “pro-Oakland” stadium sites … nothing ever happened. This site, does link to pro-Oakland sites. That’s part of the reason i have spent so much more time here, than AN, as of late.
So Wolff follows this blog? Good. Now I can really tell him I feel about him and the team he owns– the team I once loved so dearly.
Lew, please put the A’s, their history and the loyal (but abused) fans ahead of your San Jose obsession from day 1, your big real estate deals, and your gotta-make-a profit-every-year mentality, and maybe 95% of the bay area won’t hate you so much. You really don’t belong in the game of baseball, or sports for that matter. Please sell.
There’s only so many Walter Haas’ that come along in life, and your obviously not in the same class, but Bob Piccinini comes the closest, and he may be the one to save the team and keep them in their rightful home.
@Briggs – I’ve always preferred the Fish Wrap Live! personally. Just kidding.
Seriously, there are times that we break news (rare), and times we serve as analysis (most of the time). I’ve had numerous people tell me that after it’s all over, a book should be made out of it. My only issue with that is that it probably means that the 5, 6, 7 years of this site’s work will be condensed into a single chapter. After editing, maybe that’s all that’s needed. I certainly hope not.
@David – I link to sites that keep up with the issue(s) and other tangentially related sites. For instance, I removed Baseball Oakland early on because linusalf was so lousy at keeping the blog section updated. He’s at it now, but the output is still irregular at best. I kind of agree with how AN has treated the blogroll. It isn’t enough to jump on a soapbox on occasion. There needs to be substance there too. I’m glad we’ve earned that trust from the community.
As for Wolff, he’s trying to get his message out. We’re thoroughly cognizant of that. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop covering Oakland or the East Bay. It does mean that he’s already tuned out the jk-usa’s of the world.
@ML–with all due respect, there’s a lot of jk-usa’s out there who feel the same way as I do about the A’s ownership. And most of the bay area press, outside of the Mercury News, have the same sentiments. Lew can’t tune that out, cuz it’s there everywhere he looks and reads. And there was Jorge Leon, who Lew chatted with one game (the perfect game to be precise), and Lew sounded like a total disrespectful, senile out-of-touch old man during that meeting, unless Jorge was lying, and I honestly doubt it.
@jk-usa – That doesn’t mean it’s affecting his bottom line decision making. Wolff is not going to be able to sell the Oakland-only people such as yourself about San Jose. You’ve made your minds up long ago. And he experienced that first hand with Jorge Leon. All I know is that I’ve met Lew Wolff multiple times, and he didn’t seem out-of-touch or senile. Now if someone wants to characterize him in that manner to further his/her agenda, that’s fine. It doesn’t further the discourse, that’s for sure.
Hoo boy, here we go again.
Ed.: I’m deleting Troy Johnson’s comment because of the flame war it will surely ignite. Sorry Troy, you’ll have to start that somewhere else.
I think it was the Holy Grail references that sent him over the edge
This is the greatest headline ever.
@Jeffrey – I’m glad someone noticed.
@ML Sorry to violate your site’s Etiquette. I wasn’t trying to start a firestorm just a heart felt honest opinion.