Fantastic Fans, Oakland

Fantastic Fans, Oakland Coliseum 

After San Francisco my dad and I headed across the bay to Oakland to catch the other Bay area baseball team the Oakland Athletics aka Oakland A's. I was not particularly looking forward to this stadium as it is old and in a not so good part of town and doubles as a football stadium for the hated Oakland Raiders. 


We arrived at the game very early again to watch batting practice. Although we arrived so early the gates weren't open yet. we walked through the parking lot and there were many friends tailgating which I'd never seen for baseball before but it is a cool idea. I guess when you don't know how traffic is going to be in CA you go really early to avoid it and to waste time before the game you tailgate. 

The Coliseum

The first thing you notice about the Coliseum is concrete. It is a massive structure built almost exclusively of concrete. It is not a pretty sight. There is not much life to the stadium at all. Walking around we saw a ring of champions memorial that lists the championships of the A's while in Oakland, the Raiders and also the Golden State warriors whose arena is next door. This was a cool display. It also had plaques for Hall of Famers such as Ricky Henderson, Rollie Fingers Dennis Eckersley, Reggie Jackson and a few others. Other than that there was nothing but boring concrete on the outside of the stadium.  However while I was there I couldn't help but think. I hate this place because its where the Oakland Raiders play their home football games. It looked ugly and very Raideresk. Even the music they played during the game was Raider sounding which didn't seem to fit the A's. the played "Let's go Oakland" on the loud speakers but it was a very deep sounding one almost evil sounding. I am sure that it doubles for "Let's go Raiders" during football season. 

View of the outside 

Once inside we watched BP no balls were hit to us this time as the walls are very high in the stadium and not many Home runs were hit. Once BP ended we walked around the inside and it was almost as boring as the outside with nothing really that special or spectacular just standard vendors and merchandise dealers. 

Look at all the concrete

The Fans

We then settled into our seats in the bleachers near game time. I quickly noticed that there were guys in the front row of the bleachers with all sorts of weird things that you wouldn't normally see at a baseball game like huge flags and drums and good luck elephants. Then the announcer started to introduce the visiting San Diego Padres. After each player from Padres was introduced the fans booed. This booing however wasn't mean or intended for bad or evil it was more just playful and showing support for the beloved A's. Next the hometown A's were introduced and the fans cheered loudly for each player. The umpires were introduced after the A's players and the did something I have never heard of before but is very clever, unique and yet funny. After the first umpire was introduced the fans all said "oh-no!" and did so for each of the following umpires. I laughed at this and just thought it was such a neat idea. 


There were a lot of kids at the ballpark as it was "Friday Night Fireworks" night. However I was surprised at  how the kids seemed to know who the players were and how to say their names and were following along with the game really well. All the fans were just enjoying the heck out of the game I think it didn't hurt that the A's won 10-2.

The Game

The A's won this game handily and Brandon Moss had his fourth game in a row with a home run and during the span he had 5 HRs He was red hot at this time. There was a very interesting thing to note about this game. As the game ended the scoreboard flashed congratulating the relief pitcher Evan Scribner on getting his first major league save. I was very confused as the score was 10-2, which is normally way too high of a score for there to be a save situation. I had failed to realize that he had pitched for 3 innings and kept his team in the lead for the whole time while closing out the game. This is a lesser known way to get a save and happens only rarely in today's day and age where relief pitchers come in frequently for an inning or less, sometimes even just one batter. The game was very fun because the A's won and the fans were very entertaining. 


After the game they allowed fans to go onto the field to watch the fireworks show. Dad and I went and got in the long line after the game and were escorted onto the field, which was a delightful surprise as we had no idea that there was even a fireworks show to begin with much less being able to watch it from on the field. It is a treat to be on a big league ball field because they are so well kept and the grass is so nice. 

The Fireworks show! 

I really enjoyed this game. It was a fun game because there was a lot of action and the fans were the best yet. It was also cool to go onto the field. However I have come to the conclusion that the Coliseum doesn't fit the A's. They are much too friendly, nice and fun for a place like that. The A's need a new ballpark that suites them better!