Give Lew Wolff credit for avoiding a lot of scrutiny and backlash. Maybe it's because he did it just before Christmas and during a week where the 49ers are soaking up the rainy the Bay Area's sports saturation (full confession: I'm a Seahawks fan and rooting for the 12th Man tonight!). But Wolff's extended quest of "San Jose or no way" plans to move his Oakland baseball team has become such a Slurpee machine-slow process, he has "committed" the Athletics to five more years at the Coliseum earlier this week. The Coliseum's lease with the A's has just one more year remaining, so Wolff was able to buy himself more time.
It was an easy outlet for Wolff to say: "Well, Major-League Baseball doesn't care how long we're strung along and that team across the Bay is threatened, paranoid and trying to squeeze me, so I'll just use Oakland a little longer when there's no logical place I can take my team, stick around while my team's new ballpark is not being built and then hope I get my way."
Just not the most holiday cheery news for those of us who prefer the A's to stay in Oakland and receive what the fans and the franchise deserves: a new ballpark in the East Bay. I wouldn't be as outraged as some if the Athletics moved to San Jose. Keeping the team in the Bay Area should be what's most important to the endgame of possibly losing historically the Bay Area's most successful baseball franchise.
But when Wolff's letter suggests "I have no interest in listening to any stadium ideas in Oakland; so I'll just stash my suddenly exciting and contending club in this bland, tarp-infested dump and hold my breath until I get what I want," it's another kick in the groin for A's fans who have clearly and patiently waited long enough for a ballpark their team can truly call home.
It was an easy outlet for Wolff to say: "Well, Major-League Baseball doesn't care how long we're strung along and that team across the Bay is threatened, paranoid and trying to squeeze me, so I'll just use Oakland a little longer when there's no logical place I can take my team, stick around while my team's new ballpark is not being built and then hope I get my way."
Just not the most holiday cheery news for those of us who prefer the A's to stay in Oakland and receive what the fans and the franchise deserves: a new ballpark in the East Bay. I wouldn't be as outraged as some if the Athletics moved to San Jose. Keeping the team in the Bay Area should be what's most important to the endgame of possibly losing historically the Bay Area's most successful baseball franchise.
But when Wolff's letter suggests "I have no interest in listening to any stadium ideas in Oakland; so I'll just stash my suddenly exciting and contending club in this bland, tarp-infested dump and hold my breath until I get what I want," it's another kick in the groin for A's fans who have clearly and patiently waited long enough for a ballpark their team can truly call home.
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