Reflections On The A's
If this is how sports works, we shouldn't be watching.
When I was two, some of my first words were “Seco Seco” (Jose Canseco). When I was three, I stood precariously on a folding stadium seat and yelled “Get a hit, Hubbard!” (And then promptly slipped through.) When I was four, my dad brought me down to the field, where Mark Mcgwire gregariously hoisted me up with his gargantuan arms. When I was a teenager, I sat with friends in the upper decks, surreptitiously sipping mixed drinks from gatorade bottles.
Derek Jeter broke my heart with the flip. My spirit soared during the legendary streak. I forged friendships at the Coliseum, I learned how to suffer and celebrate, and I learned what it means to be from Oakland.
Today, I watched the A’s play their last game. Not their last game in Oakland; their last game anywhere. Oh yes, I realize that there may someday be nine players going through the motions in Sacramento or Las Vegas, but the A’s are Oakland. Without Oakland, it’s two sad little stylized letters with an apostrophe. Honestly, John Fisher shouldn’t be allowed to keep the trademark.
Here’s the thing. Sports don’t matter. It makes no difference who wins the games and the players don’t represent the fans. Nothing is at stake. If we’re being honest, it’s a big waste of time and a distraction from more important things. Except. Except.
Sometimes, when people show up to the stadium, a city sees itself. It feels its own energy and learns what it is. We see ourselves in our neighbors. Now, this does not happen at all sports games, or with all teams. When half the spectators are tourists, gamblers, or people on business outings — it doesn’t happen. And it can happen at events other than sports games. But at the Oakland Coliseum, it happened nearly every day. This team mattered for this city — more, I dare say, than the Warriors or Raiders. The A’s, in more ways than I’m comfortable admitting, were Oakland’s There There.
What John Fisher destroyed is worth immeasurably more than the couple billion dollars he hopes to add to his pocketbook in the relocation. His actions are unconscionable. He has no moral right to move the team, and his name should be covered in shame forever. His way of doing business is the root of many ills in this country and beyond.
The whole “new stadium” saga is a red herring. Owners aren’t entitled to public money for new stadiums. (Oh, and please don’t listen to that propaganda about possums in the walls. The Coliseum is magnificent: a hulking, brutalist beauty. There was no better experience in American sports.) Major League Baseball and John Fisher just put their pocketbooks above Oakland. It is absolutely that simple.
I think the city really should have tried to seize the team through eminent domain; it’s probably too late for that now, but the state of California still can and should. (Gavin??) After all, what do public authorities have their powers for? To facilitate the designs of a billionaire who exploits the public, or to protect the public from people like that?
Look, I know seizing the team is a sad pipe dream. But please, let some flower bloom in the ashes of John Fisher’s greed.
I call on fans of all professional sports around the country to seize your power. Don’t be naive. Don’t give your team’s owner a pass. Don’t be a victim! Your current owner, or the next one, or the one after that, will rip the heart out of your community if they can make a billion bucks doing it. So here’s what to do, and if you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Oakland.
First, demand non-relocation agreements. Boycott, harass, pester and harangue your teams’ owners until the ink is on the paper. It’s not that much to ask. Confident that your team will never go anywhere? Great, then the owners should be happy to sign. They won’t sign? Then stop going to games. Get the ink on the paper.
Second, a hard one. Think hard about what deserves your support and what doesn’t. As a huge fan of America’s pastime I am sorry to say that baseball doesn’t. MLB was with Fisher 100% on this. So viewership is declining, the young generation isn’t getting the game? Let it wither. There is great baseball going on in Japan and Mexico. Oh and that Fisher-owned baseball enterprise in Sacramento or Las Vegas? The Fisher-owned soccer team in San Jose? The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic? Poisoned chalices. Drink not.
Third. Dear national sports media. You are in a powerful position to shift the culture here. Do it. Oakland is not a sad little story about a city that couldn’t build a new stadium. It’s an enormous stain on your industry and profession — a plank in your eye, too, until relocation blackmail ends. Do not be lackeys for the owners, do not be propagandists. (Tip of cap to Scott van Pelt and plenty of others.) The scandal around Fisher ought to build in the coming years, not fade.
Years ago, the Green Bay Packers became a publicly owned corporation. Ever since, the NFL has tried to prevent any other team from taking that route, because it makes the league’s job harder. But with that diffuse ownership structure, the Packers aren’t going anywhere. And that’s very simply how it should be.
Sports teams are about community. If American sports won’t live up to its obligation to American communities, well…let’s not let these franchises be the heart of our communities anymore. Laser that logo tattoo off your arm. Support live music. Go to the community theater.
And watch Premier League soccer.