As vs. Rangers May 28th

Warms the soul, doesn't it? Even the sponsors push you away.

I can't say enough about the Oakland Experience. I was fortunate to find a train from San Fran to the ballpark. That was about the extent of the goodness. Sadly, I was genuinely looking forward to the game, as I am a big fan of Moneyball and wanted to see the team in action. What I experienced was dissapointment at every turn. I pity heavily the diehard A's fans who stick wth their team while they endure being put up in the miserable situation they've got. The foul areas are large enough for an entirely seperate ballgame to be played there. The seats are, for lack of a better word, caddywompous (I think that is how the word is spelled). They face the field at all sort of different angles. The scoreboard was small and awkward. The fish and chips I ordered seemed to be fried into one gigantic uniform ball. The concourses are reminscent of a prison or my high school's hallways, and the entire environment was as bland as the concrete exterior greeting incoming fans (excluding the numerous panhandlers also greeting the fans). Isn't it bad enough that the team is in the AL? The final straw of the night was when the As faced a golden save opportunity, and I remarked to a Georgia grad* I happened to sit next to when I'd snuck in behind home plate that at least I was going to get to see Houston Street pitch. Which I would have were he not on the DL. You may be thinking that there were no highlights, no beams of light, redeeming qualities about this experience, and you'd be close to correct. The runner up FotG wins simply for his resemblance to Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber.

The winner? ME, for catching a fly ball after sneaking down to home plate seats. Ok, I didn't have to sneak because there were barely enough people in the game to merit opening the gates, and I didn't exactly catch the ball, moreso had it smack my hands, ricochet off the stairs behind me and by the grace of God roll back to me. At least it didn't hit me in the face. Go me.

*Fan claims to have graduated in 1978, but said he was in school when Hershel was there, won the Heisman, and the National Championship. I didn't have the heart to debate him into the ground in front of his friends. Or expose him for the fraud that he oh so definitely is.