juice & snacks

Piggybacking of of Juice’s last post, here is a post dedicated to my love of A’s baseball.

For me, being an A’s fan goes back a long time. We went to our first A’s game back in elementary school when we got free tickets for being good students. I remember that day vividly. My dad upgraded our tickets so that we were sitting field level just beyond 3rd base. I don’t remember the details of that game, but I remember it being great baseball weather, and a nice father, son and daughter outing.

For the next few years after that, our family got weekend and holiday season tickets. Every weekend the A’s were in town, my mom would pack up some Red Vines for my brother and I and we’d head to the park. This was my first taste of tailgating and boy are there some good memories. These were the days of Big Mac, Hendu, Stu, Eck, Canseco and the list goes on so they were some exciting times, including some playoffs and the World Series where we swept the Giants.

After that, there was a period of time when other interests in life took precedence and my love for A’s baseball got buried, but a few years ago it was reignited when I took Juice to his first baseball game. It had been such a long time, but I was reminded why I love the A’s.

 

1. The enthusiasm the players have for the game. I love that they go out there every day to play the best baseball they can and go for it no matter how the stats may be stacked up against them. It makes for exciting baseball and make you believe that they always have a chance to win the game because they are not going to give up. It is just so refreshing to see among all the primadonnas in the sport.
    
2. The Coliseum is such a great, family friendly venue. We may not have the best food in all of the MLB, it’s a place you can feel comfortable to bring your families and have a good time. While you may run into your occasional punk or heckler here and there, they are few and far between and the population of these types is much smaller than my experiences in other parks. Not that A’s fans aren’t loyal to their team, but there is a friendly commraderie and  for the most part, people are just there to have a good time and root for the A’s.
    
3. Same as number 5 for Juice. It’s great to cheer for a team that is not expected to win, but always has the potential to do so. I also like the unpredictability of the A’s. You never know who will be on the roster at the beginning of the season and you never know what they will bring to the park on any given day. I also kind of like that our team isn’t the most popular team in the Bay or even all of baseball. It makes being an A’s fan through thick and thin even that more unique.