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December 7, 2011 [LINK / comment]
Will they move the A's to San Jose?
(Sung to the tune of "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?") As the winter baseball meetings get underway, one of the biggest questions is whether the Oakland Athletics will be allowed to relocate to San Jose, which is in the territory of the San Francisco Giants. According to Ken Rosenthal (hat tip to Mike Zurawski), the decision time frame is being accelerated; see foxsports.com. Hopes are rising once again, but until a decision on that is made, the A's general manager Billy Beane will be biding his time, hearing trade offers from other teams, but not seeking out experienced players. See sfgate.com and MLB.com.
The city of Oakland deserves one last chance, but there just doesn't seem to be much political will or fan support to keep the A's there. After four full decades in Oakland, and four World Series championships, that's a real shame. More than likely, they will become the San Jose Athletics within the next few years. But unless an announcement is made soon, it would hurt the A's ability to sign top-quality players. Competitive balance would be adversely affected. As of 2013, the American League Western Division will expand from four to five teams, adding the Houston Astros. It's time for Commissioner Bud Selig to use what clout he has one last time before he steps down. Clearing the way for relocation of the A's would be another nice feather in his cap.
For a look at a possible San Jose stadium design, see sanjose.com; hat tip to Bruce Orser. It would be squeezed in by surrounding streets, with several unique design features.
Oakland Coliseum tweak
"After further review," I made a few more changes to the
Oakland Coliseum diagrams. Almost all of the tweaks were in the "Mount Davis" grandstand, built in 1996. In addition, I added a new football version, with the gridiron aligned from home plate to center field. That's how the Raiders do it in practice games in August, and perhaps on a few rare occasions in September.
FedEx Field has shrunk!
Speaking of football, the Washington Redskins made a major change to FedEx Field before this season began, tearing out large sections of the upper deck behind each end zone. That has reduced capacity from 91,704 to about 85,000, which is still pretty big. The new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas has about 80,000 seats, but can be expanded to over 100,000 -- or so they say. At last year's Super Bowl, they had to close several temporary seating sections for safety reasons. See the Washington Post.
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 08 Dec 2011, 1: 12 AM
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Category archives:
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This (or that) year's
blog highlights
March 9, 2011 ~ Life bird: (un-) Common Redpoll
March 31, 2011 ~ Batter UP!!! Opening Day 2011 is here!
April 3, 2011 ~
Legislators seek redistricting input (?)
April 18, 2011 ~
Tea Party Tax Day rally
May 1, 2011 ~ Confirmed: Osama bin Laden is dead!
May 25, 2011 ~ Governor visits Staunton
May 30, 2011 ~ Nationals WIN, then resume plunge
June 2, 2011 ~ Republicans declare candidacies
June 14, 2011 ~ Anti-tax dogma vs. fiscal sanity
June 23, 2011 ~ Nationals sweep Mariners; Riggleman quits
June 26, 2011 ~ Two extraordinary extra-inning games
July 8, 2011 ~ Nationals sweep the Cubs (almost)
July 26, 2011 ~ Debt ceiling showdown: farce majeur
August 1, 2011 ~ Leaders compromise on debt ceiling
August 20, 2011 ~ Baseball road trip 2011: Missouri
August 31, 2011 ~ Is Obama getting desperate?
September 11, 2011 ~ 9/11: Ten years later
October 1, 2011 ~ THREE "shots heard around the world"
October 3, 2011 ~ Hundreds of hawks, dozens of warblers, and three bears!!
October 10, 2011 ~ Kansas performs in concert at JMU
October 10, 2011 ~ R.I.P. Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
October 29, 2011 ~ The Cardinals are world champions again
November 5, 2011 ~ Washington Nationals: year in review
November 9, 2011 ~ Republicans gain, State Senate is tied (?)
November 28, 2011 ~ Newt gets real (?) on immigration
December 3, 2011 ~ Moneyball, the A's, and Billy Beane
December 14, 2011 ~ Libertarians don't get no respect *
December 31, 2011 ~ Those wintertime no-baseball blues
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
- Wild birds (LAST)
- War
- Science & Technology
- Politics
- Latin America
- Culture & Travel
- Canaries ("Home birds")
- Baseball (FIRST)
Also see: My blog practices.
Blog errata (Nobody's perfect.)