Help this fan process her team's move
June 23, 2023 3:35 PM Subscribe
This long-time, dedicated A's fan has Feelings. I'm looking for two types of resources to help me deal: First, nuanced, in-depth writing (or video or podcast?) that explores and explains how this move to Las Vegas finally became a reality. Second, personal experiences of fans whose team moved away, or who moved away from their team.
I have followed the A's for over 30 years, attended hundreds of games with my family, watched or listened to thousands more. I was in the stands for Rickey's record steal and two games during The Streak, for fireworks, walk-offs and playoff heartbreak. Part of the appeal is that they are the perennial scrappy underdogs, consistently winning more games for less money than any other team (this season excepted, of course). Baseball season is part of the rhythm of my year, woven into the fabric of my life. Now, they are leaving me, and I'm taking it personally. Help?
First, I find that I'm itching to read cogent analyses of how the years-long process of trying to get a new stadium built anywhere in the Bay Area failed. Although I've followed the reporting fairly closely over the years, I've haven't been able to find anything that assembles the whole saga in a comprehensive, dispassionate narrative. A lot of what I've been reading boils down to finger-pointing between MLB, the commissioner, the owner, and the City of Oakland and while there's a lot of blame to spread around, I'd like to read/watch/listen to something that is less reactionary and more analytical. Perhaps then I can move from diffuse frustration to more focused and targeted vitriol. Can anyone direct me to this holy grail of sports reporting?
Second, are you a fan whose team moved away, or who moved away from your team? Did you continue to follow your team? How did you make the choice to stay a fan or to give them up? How did that decision work out for you? I am still deciding, although Mr. rekrap has expressed that he's taking the "they're dead to me" route.
Footnote that switching to the Giants is not on the table. I suspect their territorial greediness is part of the reason my guys are packing their bags.
I have followed the A's for over 30 years, attended hundreds of games with my family, watched or listened to thousands more. I was in the stands for Rickey's record steal and two games during The Streak, for fireworks, walk-offs and playoff heartbreak. Part of the appeal is that they are the perennial scrappy underdogs, consistently winning more games for less money than any other team (this season excepted, of course). Baseball season is part of the rhythm of my year, woven into the fabric of my life. Now, they are leaving me, and I'm taking it personally. Help?
First, I find that I'm itching to read cogent analyses of how the years-long process of trying to get a new stadium built anywhere in the Bay Area failed. Although I've followed the reporting fairly closely over the years, I've haven't been able to find anything that assembles the whole saga in a comprehensive, dispassionate narrative. A lot of what I've been reading boils down to finger-pointing between MLB, the commissioner, the owner, and the City of Oakland and while there's a lot of blame to spread around, I'd like to read/watch/listen to something that is less reactionary and more analytical. Perhaps then I can move from diffuse frustration to more focused and targeted vitriol. Can anyone direct me to this holy grail of sports reporting?
Second, are you a fan whose team moved away, or who moved away from your team? Did you continue to follow your team? How did you make the choice to stay a fan or to give them up? How did that decision work out for you? I am still deciding, although Mr. rekrap has expressed that he's taking the "they're dead to me" route.
Footnote that switching to the Giants is not on the table. I suspect their territorial greediness is part of the reason my guys are packing their bags.
I'm so sorry. My father grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, taking the ferry (yes, ferry) as a kid from New Jersey over to New York City and then the subway to Brooklyn for games. To this day he has a picture of Ebbets Field on his wall.
He has a whole bookshelf of baseball books, and among his favorites is The Boys of Summer. It's about the Brooklyn Dodgers, written twenty years after they'd moved to Los Angeles, by a reporter who'd fallen in love with them when they were in Brooklyn. It might help with the second part of your question.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 4:10 PM on June 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
He has a whole bookshelf of baseball books, and among his favorites is The Boys of Summer. It's about the Brooklyn Dodgers, written twenty years after they'd moved to Los Angeles, by a reporter who'd fallen in love with them when they were in Brooklyn. It might help with the second part of your question.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 4:10 PM on June 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
Stan Kroenke v STL is a rabbit hole with lawsuits.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:13 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:13 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The Ringer did an excellent piece on this.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:27 PM on June 23, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:27 PM on June 23, 2023 [12 favorites]
As a Seattle SuperSonics fan, I feel your pain. It sucks.
Not quite the same, as we had new ownership from Oklahoma who moved the team, but it's the same rent-seeking bullshit from rich owners as we've all seen before.
And so while we still love Kevin Durant for standing up for Seattle, we all hate the Oklahoma City Thunder, and always will.
posted by Windopaene at 4:46 PM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not quite the same, as we had new ownership from Oklahoma who moved the team, but it's the same rent-seeking bullshit from rich owners as we've all seen before.
And so while we still love Kevin Durant for standing up for Seattle, we all hate the Oklahoma City Thunder, and always will.
posted by Windopaene at 4:46 PM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
My grandmother was a Boston Braves fan her entire life and she wasn't the only one. I remember when she got cable TV in the 1990's. She could finally watch her Braves on TBS and loved telling me how good the Joneses (Andruw and Chipper) were.
She stayed with the Braves because she knew the players and, according to her, they played better ball than the Red Sox. I think she just didn't like Ted Williams.
posted by bCat at 5:31 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
She stayed with the Braves because she knew the players and, according to her, they played better ball than the Red Sox. I think she just didn't like Ted Williams.
posted by bCat at 5:31 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: What a great article, jenfullmoon, just the kind of thing I was hoping to read. Although I can't tell if it made me feel better or feel worse.
posted by rekrap at 6:13 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rekrap at 6:13 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Felt same! I followed the A's when my dad was alive, but am way out of the sports loop these days so I hadn't been aware of this whole mess. It's really sad.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:35 PM on June 23, 2023
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:35 PM on June 23, 2023
Best answer: I didn't lose a team but I did move away from my beloved Boston Bruins when I was 21. I've gone in and out of following closely over the years. When I lived in Seattle, I'd make the drive to Vancouver for their 1 road visit each year. When I lived in NYC, sometimes I'd see them play the Rangers at MSG. Pirate sports streaming exists if you don't want to pay MLB for whatever they offer - I watched most of this historic season that way.
But this is a loss and should be mourned as one. Maybe some kind of ritual farewell at some point?
posted by kokaku at 5:22 AM on June 24, 2023
But this is a loss and should be mourned as one. Maybe some kind of ritual farewell at some point?
posted by kokaku at 5:22 AM on June 24, 2023
I'm a native Clevelander and lived through the move of the Browns to Baltimore. I don't say that man's name ever. We were lucky and got an expansion team a few years down the line. IIRC, there was a similar situation with the stadium. I miss Muni a lot, but it was OLD.
Now I root for what ever team is playing the team from Baltimore, even if it means rooting for the Stealers :)
posted by kathrynm at 9:21 AM on June 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Now I root for what ever team is playing the team from Baltimore, even if it means rooting for the Stealers :)
posted by kathrynm at 9:21 AM on June 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Nthing what Defector has been writing, they are definitely focusing on the fan side of things, and relentless about pointing out the bullshit reasons for the move.
I moved away from my team(s). I was born in Michigan, and grew up torn between Detroit and Chicago sports. At 17, I moved to Illinois, and distance and televised games chipped away at my loyalty to the Pistons and vague well-wishing for the Lions. At 23, I moved overseas, and have had to come to terms with the fact that I will never have the kind of schedule that allows for watching games live. I've gone to stupid ends to avoid finding out scores, then trying to carve out time to watch Bears games two or even three days later. Because I can't bring myself to watch a game if I know the result, I had to kill the last bits of Lions fandom in me. If I watched one game, the ticker at the bottom would almost certainly spoil the other game for me.
Over the years (especially the last couple), I've just sort of lost track. I watched probably every Bulls during the Rose/Noah era, and have watched most Bears games for at least the last ten years, but I find it harder and harder to justify the amount of time I spend on watching a game. Time and distance eventually win out.
Several years ago, during a particular bad time for Japanese baseball, my local team was heavily rumored to be contracted. At the time, we were mostly passive fans, but it was still distressing. Luckily, they survived, and we've become much stronger fans since. It would be incredibly upsetting if they were to move, as we've become a home where, if there's a game being played, and we're not at it, we'll probably have it on in the background. I still feel bad for the two rival teams (the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix Blue Wave) that didn't survive that time, and were consolidated into one new team. It must have been devastating to their fans, and I'm not sure how I would have handled it.
It's a goddamn shame what's happening. There are few finer things in life than a summer evening at a ballpark, and I'm sorry that's being taken from you. It isn't right, even if it's how things go.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:21 PM on June 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
I moved away from my team(s). I was born in Michigan, and grew up torn between Detroit and Chicago sports. At 17, I moved to Illinois, and distance and televised games chipped away at my loyalty to the Pistons and vague well-wishing for the Lions. At 23, I moved overseas, and have had to come to terms with the fact that I will never have the kind of schedule that allows for watching games live. I've gone to stupid ends to avoid finding out scores, then trying to carve out time to watch Bears games two or even three days later. Because I can't bring myself to watch a game if I know the result, I had to kill the last bits of Lions fandom in me. If I watched one game, the ticker at the bottom would almost certainly spoil the other game for me.
Over the years (especially the last couple), I've just sort of lost track. I watched probably every Bulls during the Rose/Noah era, and have watched most Bears games for at least the last ten years, but I find it harder and harder to justify the amount of time I spend on watching a game. Time and distance eventually win out.
Several years ago, during a particular bad time for Japanese baseball, my local team was heavily rumored to be contracted. At the time, we were mostly passive fans, but it was still distressing. Luckily, they survived, and we've become much stronger fans since. It would be incredibly upsetting if they were to move, as we've become a home where, if there's a game being played, and we're not at it, we'll probably have it on in the background. I still feel bad for the two rival teams (the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix Blue Wave) that didn't survive that time, and were consolidated into one new team. It must have been devastating to their fans, and I'm not sure how I would have handled it.
It's a goddamn shame what's happening. There are few finer things in life than a summer evening at a ballpark, and I'm sorry that's being taken from you. It isn't right, even if it's how things go.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:21 PM on June 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but for me it was a good reminder that A's ownership has been horrible for a long time- and that big noises about moves don't mean the moves happen. It's an Oakland Athletics ownership timeline (that ends in 2015). Extremely infuriating in some ways- ownership has never been on the side of fans.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:15 PM on June 26, 2023
posted by oneirodynia at 3:15 PM on June 26, 2023
Best answer: Growing up a Cleveland Browns fan, I've lost my team twice: once to Baltimore and a second time to the Deshaun Watson fiasco. The first loss is more similar to what you're experiencing, but I see it's already been touched on in the thread, so I'll focus on the second. I was sitting with my father when the news hit that the Browns had completed the trade for Watson - a move that we had already believed would not happen. My father raised me as a Browns fan and it was a not small part of our relationship in many ways. I also have felt that the experience of being a Browns fan shaped my worldview in part (how's that for dramatic!) so we were not casual fans. At the same time, we decided together that day that we could no longer participate in any way with a franchise that made the choice the Browns made.
However, what I learned from my experience of choosing to stop being a fan is the criticality of deliberately making the choice. Reconcile yourself to what being a fan means to you, what part of yourself is shaped by the experience, and find a way to replace that piece that you're losing. It's a difficult experience, but I've found it has given me a sense of freedom that I did not anticipate.
posted by jondunc at 5:11 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
However, what I learned from my experience of choosing to stop being a fan is the criticality of deliberately making the choice. Reconcile yourself to what being a fan means to you, what part of yourself is shaped by the experience, and find a way to replace that piece that you're losing. It's a difficult experience, but I've found it has given me a sense of freedom that I did not anticipate.
posted by jondunc at 5:11 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
I hadn't seen this thread, thanks for pointing it out.
I really feel your pain; though never an A's fan what Fisher is doing to the team, to the fans and to the city is just beyond the pale. It's criminal.
Meanwhile, despite your footnote I have to say it: there's a wonderful team just across the bay, already with the beautiful bayside stadium, you could root for them!
(Go Giants!)
posted by chavenet at 2:26 PM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I really feel your pain; though never an A's fan what Fisher is doing to the team, to the fans and to the city is just beyond the pale. It's criminal.
Meanwhile, despite your footnote I have to say it: there's a wonderful team just across the bay, already with the beautiful bayside stadium, you could root for them!
(Go Giants!)
posted by chavenet at 2:26 PM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
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