BURGER SCOOT

Well, they did it. The billionaire baseball owners voted unanimously to move the Athletics to Las Vegas. Barring any surprises, the team will be the Las Vegas Athletics by 2028. Sickening. Though, there’s still controversies: the proposed 33,000-seat ballpark that would be located on only 9 acres, architects claim that is not enough space to place a dome on it and where will the A’s play before 2028, when the Vegas stadium is supposed to be ready for Major League play.

What I like about the sports commentator Damon Amendolara is that he is passionate about this situation and is not an A’s fan. He sees this for what it really is: a con job. In the nearly twenty years under Fisher’s ownership, he never signed a free agent, didn’t re-sign his own talent, and didn’t invest in the Coliseum. Check out his passionate five-and-a-half-minute video below.

Here is the San Francisco Chronicle’s Scott Ostler on the podcast Foul Territory sayingFisher is “arguably the most incompetent, toxic, unfeeling owner in baseball” Ostler’s a columnist and even speaks like one: not as angry as Amendolara but knows the Bay Area very well.

Finally, Brodie Brazil’s view: November 16, 2023: “a date that will live in infamy” with A’s fans. “This was so much more than a gut punch.”

“On a day like today how would Ray Fosse be feeling; how would Dick Callahan be feeling; how would Roy Steele, the “Voice of God” at the Coliseum, be feeling if any of them were alive to see this? It’s important to bring up those names in this situation because I think they would be saying things right now…”

As I write this and double-check the quoted material above, I noticed there’s a recording of Rob Manfred press conference about the vote. I think I can live the rest of my days slightly happier if I didn’t watch what that jackass has to say, so I’ll pass. No more YouTube for me for a few days.

Still, I am currently reading Jon Pessah’s The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball’s Power Brokers. I don’t know why I’m reading this book let alone bought the title in the first place. I have so little interest in the business of baseball and that goes back to when I was a kid and Charlie O. Finley was the owner of the A’s. I would hear about Finley’s feuds with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. I don’t remember any of the details, only that it was the boring side of the sport.

I was young and ignorant way back then; the business of baseball is horrible and for any Oakland A’s fan who might have disagreed with me yesterday, they have got to agree with me today, November 16, 2023: all 30 owners unanimously voted to move a team. Fans will be lost, jobs will be lost, memories will surely take on a bitter taste. 

I’ll still stay tuned to any significant news coming out of Oakland, Las Vegas, or the Commissioner’s office in NYC, but baseball will change for me. I will try to watch more of Sacramento’s AAA team, the River Cats; and I’ll try to enjoy the Sacramento City and Sac State college teams (though the many errors and the sound of composite bats remind me I’m not watching major league teams. Lastly, there are occasional trips to San Francisco Giants games. It is a beautiful park even if I can’t stomach rooting for the home team.

Finally, there are my two fantasy teams (the easy to play ESPN league and the so-hard-it’s-kinda-not-fun CBS league). I’m trying not to be a John Fisher in either league, but I finished almost as poorly in the CBS league as my A’s did. The big difference is as an owner, I wasn’t trying to lose like Fisher appears to be doing. I have a date to meet one of the senior “owners” of the hard league before the 2024 draft. Hopefully, between following all of baseball and my two fantasy teams I will begin to forget about my A’s. Now, what do I do with all of this merch, especially the cap I wear every day and my go-to coffee cup I’m drinking from right now?