What better way to spend the hottest day of the weekend than to attend a baseball game. It was like a sauna sitting out in the afternoon sun. I can feel the perspirations forming on my head, dripping down the back of my neck through the stands of my hair (which in itself had a strange cooling effect). There’s no avoiding the sweaty and the uncomfortable when the sun is beating down on you like that. You just have to bear through it, making sure to have the appropriate sun protection.
Because the point is to watch a baseball game! Granted I’ve definitely got enough vitamin D to last me a week.
Did you hear the Oakland Athletics team is leaving Oakland for Las Vegas? It looks to be a done deal ever since the Nevada legislature approved a boatload of public money for a baseball stadium on the famous Las Vegas strip. For a Bay Area native, it’s sad to see yet another Oakland team leave (first went the football Raiders, also to Las Vegas). At least the Warriors only moved across the bay to San Francisco. As it stands, in a few years’ time there won’t be any major sports franchises in Oakland. The fans there deserve so much better.
Be that as it may, if we want to see the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum, then time is going to run out on that. My friend and I have never been to the Coliseum, so we figured this past Sunday was as good a time as any to do so. The San Francisco Giants - our local team - was in town from across the Bay Bridge for a series, so it’s kind of like killing two birds with one stone. The Coliseum is super easy to get to from San Francisco: park at Daly City BART station, then take either the Dublin-Pleasanton or Berryessa line eastbound. Get off at the Oakland Airport station, then it’s a short walk to the stadium.
The Oakland Coliseum is a decent stadium. Sure it’s really old by modern standards, but the amenities are all there. Improvements can be had, but I would say it’s not integral to the overall baseball-watching experience. I can see why the owners of the A’s would want a new stadium, though: to attract more than just baseball. Across town, Oracle Park - home of the Giants - play host to all sorts of other events such as soccer and concerts. That is revenue that the A’s do not see from the Coliseum, and presumable will from the new stadium in Las Vegas.
Still, sucks for the fans in Oakland.
The famous pedestrian bridge.