Category: Sports

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Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

My turn for this, I suppose.

The last A’s game I went to was September 2, 1996.  It was the Yankees vs. The A’s, and David Cone was coming off a stint on the DL/IL.  he pitched 7 innings of no-hit ball against the A’s but he was on a pitch count so he was taken out of the game.

The last time I was in the Arena was for a preseason exhibition game with the newly-formed San Francisco Spiders hockey team.  I can’t recall who they played, or the exact date, but it must have been in September of 1995.

The last time I visited the area was April 4th, 2021, for my first COVID-19 vaccination.

I recall other baseball and one basketball game I’d attended.

We were there the weekend in 1981 when the A’s opened the season with 11 straight wins.  I don’t recall if we were there for the 10th win on Saturday, or the 11th win of the first game of a Sunday double header.

My gaming group surprised our DM on his birthday by getting tickets to a A’s-Tigers game, as he was a big Detroit Tigers fan.

As for basketball, the one Warriors game that I attended at the Arena (the other was at the Shark Tank, of all places) was a Lakers-Warriors matchup where the only thing I really remember was that we had seats above and behind a backboard, and Magic Johnson scored on a breakaway right at us.  It might have been a slam dunk, too, but my memory fails me.  It probably was, though.

So those are my few stories about the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

And even though I’m not an A’s fan, I will miss them and the Bay Area rivalry with the Giants.

I’ve felt that feeling of loss, when we almost lost the Giants after the 1992 season.

Unfortunately, I don’t see a last minute save by local investors to keep this team where I feel they belong.

My heart goes out to A’s fans everywhere, but especially to the ones who live around the area and/or have been loyally attending games for years.

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Mays

Preseason, 1993, Giants Fan Fest (or what they held prior to Fan Fest):

They set up tables for autographs and I stood in a different line than my sibs.

After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, I left the line I was in and stood with my sisters in another line.

A few minutes later, the players started to come out and sit at the tables for autographs.  I can’t remember if we were in line for Darren Lewis or Royce Clayton.

The line that I had left?

Willie Mays started signing.

I was kicking myself (and continue to do so to this day) because I missed my chance to meet my Dad’s favorite player of all time, and possibly get a picture with him and an autograph for my Dad.

Later when I told my Dad what happened, he just kind of shrugged and said that it was okay.  But I was (and still am) upset with myself because even 31 years ago, Willie Mays was a big frickin’ deal to me.

He still is a big deal to me, even though I actually have no memory of seeing him play with the Giants.

Rest in Peace, Say Hey Kid.

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Day two

What, you thought I was gonna chronicle everyday that I’m living in an apartment?

The only major thing to report at this point is that a tech came by to try to install broadband internet but for some reason my phone lines(!) are screwed up and they couldn’t hook me up.

So now I’m currently running my phone as a wifi hotspot.  Which really isn’t good enough to watch TV, but good enough for web browsing.

So it looks like I’m going to get AT&T fiber (shudder) which I decided to get instead of Xfinity.

Because of scheduling I won’t get hooked up until Monday morning.  Ack.

In other news, I brought some of my sports games over and intend to resume play soon.

Also, the shower water pressure kinda sucks.

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Hullo?

Oh, hey, a blog entry.

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The year’s been relatively the same as the previous year, just stuff happening.

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Big thing that I’ve been doing is 3D printing another (updated) Transport Delta.

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One thing that I’ve noticed is a shortage of Zero Sugar Pepsi.  Maybe I’m imagining it, but I can’t seem to find 20oz bottles of it anywhere.

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Is it baseball season yet?

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I seem to have lost my tabletop games mojo, even though I want to play stuff, I get stuck in indecisive mode, trying to decide what to play.

 

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New Year Eve 2023

The Story So Far:

  •  woke up and watched Spurs beat Bournemouth.
  • weekly Target run, groceries and a Spider-Mobile and a LEGO Space set.
  • finished watching Space Battleship Yamato (2010) with Chloe, I must not have been paying attention when I first watched it, a lot was different from what I recall.
  • watched the 49ers clinch the #1 seed in the NFC.
  • watched some reaction videos for various stuff.
  • watching a 3+ day 3D print job continue on it’s way.

As with last week, I’m trying to figure out what to do now, with tabletop sports and starting the solo RPG being the top contenders.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ONE AND ALL!

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Expectations: NFL 2023

My expectations are simple:

I fully expect the 49ers to win the Super Bowl this year.

I hope the Broncos finish above .500 this year.

We’ll see how it goes.

 

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Vida

Among the players from my childhood who I remember, there is Vida Blue.

Looking up his stats, he had one of his best years (other than his 1971 Cy Young/MVP year) with the Giants in 1978.  It was one of this 6 All-Star appearance years, and led the Giants pitching staff in wins with 18.

Later his career brought him to TV and radio, doing pre or post games shows with the Giants, and he was usually paired with Bill Laskey, who was a teammate and close friend of his.  You could see their friendship during TV appearances and  hear it on the air when they did radio together.

I’ve never met the man, but from what I saw and heard of him, and from everyone who did know him, he seemed like a genuine nice guy, always friendly and smiling.

As Marty Lurie said to open his pregame show this morning, “We’ve lost a good one.”

Rest in Peace, Vida Blue.

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Random

Two straight days of playing tabletop sports games (Red White & Blue Racin’ and Ball Park Baseball), I would love this to continue.

We’ll see.

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Let the record show that I made it almost 14 months between visits to McDonalds for breakfast.

I was lazy this morning, and impatient (didn’t want to wait in line for a bagel).

I felt kinda gross after I ate there.

Here’s hoping it’s a longer time until my next visit.

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This is the longest I’ve sat and watched the Daytona 500 in a while.

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My promotion to my current position at work has changed the way I look at a lot of things, and I’m not sure why.

I feel like a grown-up.

It’s weird, but that’s just how I feel.

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Maybe it’s because I turn 56 this week.

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Elimination

This one hurts so much that I probably won’t get a postseason cap like I usually do.

I truly feel that getting swept by the Braves last week is what took the swagger away, and I began to think that getting knocked down to second place was not going to do well for my Mets.

Ah well.

126 days until pitchers and catchers report.

#LGM