ATHLETICS

Like a comfortable old pair of shoes, we were so easy and familiar with our old home stadium that we stopped noticing how worn and out of style McAfee Coliseum had become.
Jim has been coming here since 1968 (the A's first season in Oakland), brought here by his grandfather Robert. Ann saw her first games here during the 1988 (Bash-Brothers) season, and the kids have been coming since they were mere months-old. We have seen so many games here, have watched so many players come and go, and have had our hearts lifted and broken so many times here, that it is what comes to mind for us when we think "baseball." And although, for us, today's game felt like coming home (and was as enjoyable as ever!), we began to see The Coliseum with new eyes, and wondered if it truly isn't time for the A's to have a stadium where they can feel as at-home as we do.

McAfee is a huge stadium, one of the last in baseball that accommodates both baseball and football games. It holds so many people (48,219 for baseball), that in 2006, the upper levels were closed off during the baseball season to provide a cozier atmosphere and a feeling of being more full, reducing capacity to 34,077.


Because the field is used for both sports, it has the largest foul territory in all of baseball, creating many foul-ball outs.




Today was Root-beer Float day, proceeds to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (does anyone else see the irony in this?) Carter enjoyed his very much!

Ann, of course, had to partake of her all-time favorite "baseball" food, a Saags Chicken Parmesan sausage.

Hopefully you remember Stomper, the A's mascot from Fanfest, because we weren't able to snap a pic of him today... but here is his puppet to spark your memory.

The A's have two diamond-vision screens to accommodate the football-layout of the stadium, which provides views of playbacks and stats to every seat in the house, even the bleachers. There are Bart races, Dot racing, Cap-capers, and other fun and games to keep the fans excited, and the A's often offer specials, such as today's $2.00 seats and $1.00 hot dogs.

The A's have a very loyal group of Bleacher Bums, who must be either independently wealthy, or live with their parents, because they ALWAYS seem to be here (no job?) They have choreographed routines for their flags, drums, horns, and songs that they execute with timing and precision that would put Esther Williams to shame. We sat right next to some 0f them out in the right field bleachers... a TERRIFIC place to watch a game with real seats, rather than benches, and quite close to the action.

We had a blast seeing our Oakland A's, and still love our stadium.

Here are the boys, enjoying their end-of-trip treats! The Beloves Amazing Baseball Adventure is complete. 18 Major League parks this summer!

Now (sigh!) home to face the unpacking portion of this adventure.



(P.S. We just received word that Jim has been selected to participate in an A's Focus Group at McAfee in two weeks. Now they can find out from the EXPERTS what to do about their new home!)