A's vs. Giants

The A's played the Giants this weekend during interleague play. I grew up with both teams and was a die-hard fan of each team. Of all the metro areas with two teams, being a fan of both is most accepted in the San Francisco area. I've been asked many times how I could be a fan of both teams, and I always responded that they would never play each other when it counted. This was before interleague play and the 1989 World Series.

I was a full time bleacher bum at A's games, while sitting in the box seats at Giants games. When they tore out my bleachers to build Mt. Davis for the Raiders, I stopped going to A's games regularly, so now I still like the A's and cheer for them, I'm not the die-hard fan I once was. They're my second favorite team, and if I see the Giants play at the Colisuem, I'll cheer for the Giants.

Each team's fans seem to have unique view of the other team. A's fans are jealous of all the Giants popularity with the whole Bonds era and the new stadium. The Coliseum went from a fairly good place to watch a game to a pit once it was remodeled for the Raiders. I did see a great T-shirt, though from an A's fan point of view. It read, "Zero splash hits, four world titles." Giants fans on the other hand seem to have an arrogant dismissal of the A's and their fans. Oakland is the place where the saying is true: "there's no there there." Oakland is a place of inferiority complex compared to the most popular city in the world, and their place in the lowly American League west only reinforces that.